Rita Spears was a young girl who attended Bessie Street School in the early 1960s. She was a classmate of Lucille Hewitt's and on 8th April admitted to Lucille that she fancied their teacher Ken Barlow. Lucille, a neighbour of Ken's, got a photograph of Ken for Rita. Ken was aware of Rita's crush on him and hoped it would burn out during the Easter holidays but she turned up at his house to return a book, dressing to attract him. Fortunately, Ken managed to fob her off.