Victoria Beckham has made no secret of the fact that performing on stage is not where she feels most comfortable, preferring a coy bow at the end of her New York fashion week catwalk shows. But she has now revealed that such was the extent of her unease during her days with the Spice Girls, that her microphone used to be turned off during concerts.

“They used to turn it off and just let the others sing," Beckham said in an interview with Claudia Winkleman at the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London on Thursday evening. Not that the former Spice Girls seemed to mind: "I got the last laugh - and now my mic is well and truly on, finally.”