This is the story of no ordinary life...Josephine Baker emerged from sordid poverty and racial intolerance in early 20th-century St Louis to delight audiences across the world with her exuberant dancing and clowning, becoming a genuine and much-loved star of the stage.After becoming talk of the town in the USA, Baker moved to Paris and caused a scandal with her sexual frankness in the debauched cabarets, including the infamous Folies Bergere. Her reputation grew as she continued to tour, at once seen as a symbol of liberation and a demon of licentiousness.Her life would continue to develop in the most unexpected and unusual ways - she received the Legion D'Honneur for her role in World War II, and a Josephine Baker day was dedicated in the US in recognition for her work for racial equality.This remarkable story of rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches stands as a shining example of the power of human endeavour.