Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actress known for her long-running role as barmaid Betty in Coronation Street for over 40 years, starting as a child singer and film star.
On the island
Eight records
I want to apologise to start with for playing this piece of music, which I can't stand. I can't bear my voice. I hated it when I did it when I was eighteen, and I'm ninety now. And oh, I just can't bear it. But all my friends like it, you see...
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23Favourite
Great friend of mine, a world class pianist. Oh, I just think he is so, so wonderful, and I would love you to play the um Tchaikovsky's piano concerto. It's gorgeous.
Oh, I think she's I thought she was so wonderful. Apparently she lived on the borders of Canada and America and she used to get Coronation Street and she watched every episode. She used to write to us, we sent her tapes and photographs and she was such a a brilliant technician.
Brass bands. Oh, I love brass bands. Now, I used to have a pub in Derbyshire, so I had to travel r from Derbyshire to Granada. I stopped at some traffic lights and I could hear brass band music...
My great dearest friend, a black girl called Winifred Atwell. She was a classically trained, but she made her name by playing honky-tonk music. I used to always have her on my variety bills, because we were great friends...
Ballet. I'm a very romantic person. You wouldn't think to look at me big and fat and old, would you? But I am very romantic. I love romantic music. I love Russian composers.
Fabulous singer, lovely pianist, and he had a quaint voice, slightly hoarse and lovely. He used to. Do one little song that I absolutely fell in love with, and it was called Skylark.
Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99: Adagio affettuoso
Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough
Stephen Isselis Cello player Gosh, he's a great friend of Stephen Hoff, the pianist... And of course Stephen Isselis is such a sweet man... and he walks on with this little battered cello. And of course it's the one instrument in the whole orchestra that makes me cry, because it always sounds so lonely...
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:48Does retirement hold no appeal?
I just love working, and I n will never retire. Ever, they'll have to shoot me to get rid of me.
Presenter asks
1:58What is it about the work you love so much?
I've made tremendous friends. I mean, when you're in the theater, when you're doing variety, you work for a week and you meet somebody, you may never meet them again. So you don't really make friends. When I join the street, I've made friends and I'm the happiest person in the world. It's just like a big family, and I... Just love it.
Presenter asks
3:05Do you remember getting that first call for Coronation Street?
Oh, yes, it was amazing. We took a little pub in Derbyshire and uh one day the phone went and it was executive producer of Coronation Street. He said, Could I come and see you? I said, No, don't be so daft, it's a pub, of course you can come and see me Yes, come on So he came round, I said, Wha what's the matter? He said, Well, you're pulling pints here, why don't you come and pull pints and the rovers return? I said, Where's that? He said, In Coronation Street. I said, Yes, and well, we'll probably do about six episodes and I'll be back. Forty-one years later, I'm still churning out hot pot.
The keepsakes
Presenter asks
6:23Did you ever say to your mother, "I don't want to do this"?
Yeah, every day. She said, You're going to do it no matter what. No love attached at all, I mean nothing. We never got a kiss, we never got a present, nothing.
Presenter asks
6:49What did your father have to say about this?
Well, my mother was so strong that I think my dad just he just gave up. He was a sweet person, but he just gave up. She was so so domineering that there was nothing you could do about it.
Presenter asks
23:21Did you call it a nervous breakdown or did you just think "I can't cope with my world any more"?
I just couldn't cope any more. I just passed out on the stage while I was singing. I just blacked out. And of course they drew the curtains over, and my mother threw a cup of water all over me, and said, Come on, get up, you damned fool Stop play acting. And so you you you had to go home because you couldn't you you physically couldn't. I just I just couldn't cope anymore. It was... I w I got agoraphobia. Yes. I was eighteen months and uh I wouldn't go through the door.
“I was the meal ticket for the entire family my mother, my father, my grandma, my granddad, my aunts, everyone. They all had a nice little share of my money.”
“I have a very good sense of humour and I think that's what's got me through life.”
“If I never do anything else in my life, I think I've done something wonderful there by bringing those boys back to life. Unforgettable.”