Nor was the decision to move to France easy. "I did not want to leave England. But I was being suffocated artistically. I couldn't get away from this little girl thing. I had even thought of giving up my career completely, at one time."
In 1961 Petula found herself in Paris, married, pregnant and broke. The change was made. One agonising night this most English of English girls, who knew no French. found herself on the stage of the Olympia Theatre "singing rather badly and with a terrible cold. I had practised Bon soir, mesdames et messieurs endlessly, but I could not get it out on stage." But the concert was a huge success.
Within three weeks she had made her first record by learning French phonetically. The English girl with the English accent turned out to have remarkable French appeal. In a desperate attempt to assimilate French slang, she was even driven to seek the help of a hypnotist. That worked well for her, too. She had her first baby. Barbara. and then toured France. sometimes giving three shows a day. Then she went on to the rest of Europe and North Africa and Canada.
In the process she learned much about her craft. Brought up in the English music hall tradition of "a bright dress, sequins. comedy act and big ballad", she found singers like Piaf were a complete revelation.
"She performed from within herself. Others did, too, like Aznavour and Brel. with whom I later worked. I realised I had to find myself out.
After three years abroad she came back to Britain to do a Sunday Night at the London Palladium programme. "Suddenly a feeling came from the audience - `so you've been away, you have done well and we are proud of you'. It was wonderful."
In 1964 her record Downtown shot to number one in the U.S. hit parade and she made the headlines with concerts in America. Two films, Finian's Rainbow with Fred Astaire and Goodbye Mr. Chips with Peter O'Toole followed.
But life still centred on Paris. where Claude was at the heart of French show business - one of "la vieilleeille garde", as he likes to put it. along with their great friend, Sacha Distel. And the nonstop hectic round became too much for Petula. "I used to go home late and tired to our Paris flat and find the house full of people. Very weird."
So the family sought the quiet of Geneva
where seven years ago a son, Patrick, was born to join Barbara and their second daughter. Katherine. They now' live at the top of a luxurious apartment block complete with a nuclear fall-out shelter.
On entering on the twelfth floor. the visitor is confronted by heaxy gold-framed paintings arrayed on the walls. But the adjoining living area. surrounded by glass and outside that by a terrace, is light with avocado green carpeting and low-slung cushion chairs. At a flick of a switch the blinds reveal Mont Blanc to the south and Lake Geneva to the north.
Life revolves around work and the family. Both Katherine. who is now 17, and Barbara, 18. who were educated at the French International School in Geneva are set on pursuing drama careers in Paris. `They are both very beautiful," explains Petula. "They have seen the rough side of the business, the travelling, the tiredness, so if they chose it. they would know what they were letting themselves in for."
Barbara has just recovered from a motorcycle accident in St Tropez last August. "We all ride motorbikes. says Petula. "It's nice going cross country on them in the autumn.
They are very much an outdoor family. Claude is a keen tennis player and young Patrick is already a rather better skier than his mother A parental discussion about the merits of the girls' latest suitors, into which Patrick enters with a will, is spattered with references to their ability as tennis players.
The family is surrounded with helpers - cook, housekeeper, nanny. secretary, au pairs. "We have always had very special people around us. people we like, people we employ who like us.' says Petula.
Having all the appearances of wealth, the Wolffs wear it with ease swinging effortlessly from driving in the Rolls to lunch at the Restaurant Girardet in Crissier (where the cook- ing is of breath-taking delicacy), to enjoying Kentucky Fried Chicken and tea in Wimbledon.
Whether adding to her success will become an over riding obsession remains to be seen. But the odds must be against it A show busines' marriage and family is not kept together for 19 years without much tolerance and many concessions "I have inner discipline." says Petula. "If I did not I would have gone under very early on.