Superstar Barbra Streisand credits her long fingernails for giving her fame - by helping her avoid a career as a typist.

THE WAY WE WERE singer's worried mother tried to steer her into a job which involved typing, something the young Streisand rebelled against.

She says, "Mum said, 'You've got to study typing. That's what you're going to do with your life.'

"I grew my fingernails long so I couldn't study typing. To this day, I can't type. I write everything in longhand."

10/09/2003 21:20