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1-50 of 83
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jean Margaret Hodgkinson, known by the stage name Jean Alexander, was a British television actress. She was best known to British television viewers as Hilda Ogden in the soap opera Coronation Street (1960), a role she played from 1964 until 1987, and also as Auntie Wainwright in the long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 1988 to 2010. For her role in Coronation Street (1960), she won the 1985 Royal Television Society Award for Best Performance, and received a 1988 BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actress.
Alexander was born at 18 Rhiwlas Street Toxteth, Liverpool, in 1926, to Nell and Archie Hodgkinson; her father worked as an electrician and the family lived in a terraced house with no indoor lavatory. Alexander had an elder brother, Kenneth. She aspired to become an actress from an early age, and later said that she was inspired by variety acts she saw at the Pavilion theatre in her home city. She attended St Edmund's College for Girls in Princes Park, Toxteth and as a teenager, she joined an amateur theatre group and took elocution lessons.
Alexander spent five years as a library assistant in Liverpool before she began her acting career in 1949 at the Adelphi Guild Theatre in Macclesfield. She first appeared as Florrie in Sheppey by Somerset Maugham. She later worked in rep in Oldham, Stockport and York. Most of her parts were minor, and she also worked as a wardrobe mistress and stage manager. Her television debut is variously given as in the police series Z-Cars or in Deadline Midnight.
Alexander first appeared in Coronation Street in 1962 in a minor role as a landlady. Two years later, she returned to the programme as Hilda Ogden. She started playing the role on 8 July 1964, finally leaving on 25 December 1987. Ogden became highly popular with viewers and Alexander was often identified with her character.
The British League for Hilda Ogden was established in 1979 by Sir John Betjeman, Willis Hall, Russell Harty, Laurence Olivier and Michael Parkinson, among others. In 1984, hundreds of fans sent her condolence cards after the death of her on-screen husband Stan Ogden, played by Bernard Youens, who had died a few months before his character was killed off. In 1985 she received the Royal Television Society Award for her performance on Coronation Street. When she decided to leave the show in 1987, fans started "Save Hilda!" campaigns; however, many did not realise that she had made her own decision to depart. Her final scenes in the programme were aired on 25 December 1987, attracting nearly 27 million viewers, the highest number in the show's history.
In 2005 the UK TV Times poll voted her as the "Greatest Soap Opera Star of All Time".- Gilly Coman was born on 13 September 1955 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Bread (1986), Springhill (1996) and Priest (1994). She was married to Phil Cutts. She died on 13 July 2010 in Caldy, Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
Dean Sullivan was born on 7 June 1955 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Brookside (1982), Reuben Don't Take Your Love to Town (2004) and Wings. He died on 29 November 2023 in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, UK.- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Ken Dodd was born on 8 November 1927 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Hamlet (1996), Cruella (2021) and The Ken Dodd Laughter Show (1979). He was married to Anne Dodd. He died on 11 March 2018 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bill Dean was born on 3 September 1921 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Gumshoe (1971), Scum (1979) and The Good Companions (1980). He died on 20 April 2000 in Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Ken Jones was born on 20 February 1930 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Doing Time (1979), Melody (1971) and The Liver Birds (1969). He was married to Sheila Fay. He died on 13 February 2014 in Prescot, Merseyside, England, UK.- Dustin Gee was born on 24 June 1942 in York, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Madhouse (1980), Rock Follies (1976) and Who Do You Do (1972). He died on 3 January 1986 in Southport, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Ray Dunbobbin was born on 31 March 1931 in Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for I Didn't Know You Cared (1975), The Liver Birds (1969) and Brookside (1982). He died in August 1998 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Writer
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Carla Lane was born on 5 August 1928 in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, UK. She was a writer and producer, known for Bread (1986), The Liver Birds (1969) and The Last Song (1981). She was married to Arthur Hollins. She died on 31 May 2016 in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Gerry Marsden was born on 24 September 1942 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Zodiac (2007), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) and Beast (2017). He was married to Pauline Behan. He died on 3 January 2021 in Arrowe Park, Merseyside, England, UK.- Julia Lennon (née Stanley; 12 March 1914 - 15 July 1958) was the mother of English musician John Lennon, who was born during her marriage to Alfred Lennon. After complaints to Liverpool's Social Services by her eldest sister, Mimi Smith, she handed over the care of her son to her sister. She later had one daughter after an affair with a Welsh soldier, but the baby was given up for adoption after pressure from her family. She then had two daughters, Julia Baird and Jackie, with John 'Bobby' Dykins. She never divorced her husband, preferring to live as the common-law wife of Dykins for the rest of her life.
She was known as being high-spirited and impulsive, musical, and having a strong sense of humor. She taught her son how to play the banjo and ukulele. She kept in almost daily contact with John, and when he was in his teens he often stayed overnight at her and Dykins' house. On 15 July 1958, she was struck down and killed by a car driven by an off-duty policeman, close to her sister's house at 251 Menlove Avenue. Lennon was traumatized by her death and wrote several songs about her, including "Julia" and "Mother". - Louise Duprey was born on 26 April 1957 in Liverpool, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Coasting (1990), Coronation Street (1960) and Dancin' Thru the Dark (1990). She was married to Geoffrey Kasseum. She died in February 2000 in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Jim's father, Joseph "Joe" McCartney (born 23 November 1866) was a tobacco-cutter by trade when he married Florence "Florrie" Clegg (born 2 June 1874) in the Christ Church, Kensington, Liverpool, on 17 May 1896. Joe never drank alcohol and went to bed at 10 o'clock every night, and the only swear word he used was "Jaysus". Florrie was known as "Granny Mac" in the neighborhood and was often consulted when families had problems.
Jim was born at 8 Fishguard Street, Everton, Liverpool and was the third of seven children. The McCartney children were John (Jack), Edith, James (Jim), Ann, Millie, Jane (Jin), and Joe (who was named after a brother who died in infancy). Shortly after Jim's birth, the family moved to 3 Solva Street in Everton, which was a run-down terraced house about three-quarters of a mile from the Liverpool city center, where Jim attended the Steers Street Primary School off Everton Road. After leaving school at 14, Jim found work for six shillings a week as a cotton "sample boy", at A. Hannay & Co., a cotton broker in Chapel Street, Liverpool. Jim's job entailed running up and down Old Hall Street with large bundles of cotton that had to be delivered to cotton brokers or merchants in various salesrooms. He worked 10-hour days, five days a week, although he received a bonus at Christmas that was almost double his annual salary.
When World War II started, Jim was too old to be called up for active service, as well as having previously been disqualified on medical grounds after falling from a wall and smashing his left eardrum when he was 10 years old. After the cotton exchange closed for the duration of the war, Jim worked as an inspector at Napier's engineering works, which made shell cases that were later filled with explosives. He volunteered to be a fireman at night and often watched Liverpool burning from his rooftop observer's position. He met his future wife, Mary Patricia Mohin, during an air raid on Liverpool in 1940, when he was 38 years old and had settled into what his friends thought was, "a confirmed bachelorhood." Mary had been too career-conscious to think of marriage either, and at age 31 she was considered a spinster. They met in June 1940, at 11 Scargreen Avenue, West Derby, the McCartney family home. Mary was staying with Jim's sister Jin because of the lack of accommodation in Liverpool at the time. After the war he worked as an inspector for Liverpool Corporation's Cleansing Department before returning to the cotton trade in 1946.
Jim and Mary were married on 15 April 1941 at St. Swithin's Roman Catholic Church in Gillmoss, West Derby, Liverpool. Their sons Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) and Peter Michael McCartney (born 7 January 1944 and later known as Mike McGear) were both delivered in the Walton General Hospital in Rice Lane, Liverpool, where Mary had previously worked as a nursing sister in charge of the maternity ward. After she had been diagnosed with cancer, Mary still carried on cycling to work, but often doubled up in pain and had trouble breathing. The day Mary was scheduled to have a mastectomy operation, she cleaned the McCartney house and laid out her two sons' school clothes, ready for the next day. She said to Dill Mohin, her sister-in-law: "Now everything's ready for them in case I don't come back." Mary died of an embolism on 31 October 1956, after an operation to stop the spread of breast cancer. Her last words to Dill Mohin were "I would love to have seen the boys growing up." Mary was buried on 3 November 1956 at Yew Tree Cemetery, Finch Lane, Liverpool.
Eight years after Mary's death, Jim married Angela Williams on 24 November 1964. Williams had a daughter from a previous marriage, Ruth McCartney, whom Jim legally adopted.
Jim died of bronchial pneumonia on 18 March 1976. His second wife Angela said that his last words were "I'll be with Mary soon." Jim died two days before a Wings European tour, and his elder son was unable to attend the funeral. Jim was cremated at Landican Cemetery, near Heswall, Merseyside on 22 March 1976. - Eric Bristow was born on 27 April 1957 in Hackney, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Heartlands (2002), Never the Twain (1981) and The Unipart British Professional Darts Championship (1981). He was married to Jane Higginbotham. He died on 5 April 2018 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Andy Devine was born on 28 February 1942 in Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Emmerdale Farm (1972), Queer as Folk (1999) and Coronation Street (1960). He died on 27 January 2022 in Southport, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Additional Crew
Josie Jones is known for Everyday (2012). She died on 23 March 2015 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Janice Long was born on 5 April 1955 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Lift Off! (1984), Stopwatch (1978) and You Bet! (1988). She was married to Paul Berry and Trevor Long. She died on 25 December 2021 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.- Ken Hodgkinson was born in 1924 in Toxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. He died on 4 October 2017 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Ina Clough was born on 10 November 1920 in Bournemouth, Dorset, England, UK. She was an actress, known for FairyTale: A True Story (1997), The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986) and Emmerdale Farm (1972). She died on 25 January 2002 in Crosby, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Additional Crew
Albert Pierrepoint was often called the official Chief Executioner of the United Kingdom. The Home Office called him the most efficient executioner. Despite the US release title of the 2005 movie about him he was not the last hangman, executions continued for over eight years after his resignation.
Between 1932 and 1955 he conducted or assisted at about 450 hangings, following in the footsteps of his father Henry and uncle Thomas who were also executioners. Albert gained a reputation as a swift and efficient executioner, and he aimed to minimise the length of time the condemned person had to suffer fear - his record for removing the condemned prisoner from his cell until "the drop" was seven and a half seconds.
He resigned in January 1956 over a row about his fees (he was paid a fixed rate per hanging, rather than a salary), and his reputation was such that the government wrote to him to beg him to reconsider his resignation.
Pierrepoint appeared as himself in the 1961 BBC documentary, "The Death Penalty" (ironically, he had come to believe that the death penalty was not a deterrent to crime, as most murders were committed in the heat of the moment rather than premeditated; however, he kept his opinion to himself until the 1974 publication of his autobiography, "Executioner: Pierrepoint"). Pierrepoint was first portrayed by Clive Revill in "Let Him Have It" (1991), and later by Timothy Spall in the 2005 TV biopic, "The Last Hangman".- Harry Goodier was born on 2 April 1925 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Mallens (1979), Emmerdale Farm (1972) and Poirot (1989). He died on 30 September 2005 in Sefton, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Freddie Marsden was born on 23 November 1940 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Zodiac (2007), Beast (2017) and Supernatural (2005). He was married to Margaret Naylor. He died on 9 December 2006 in Southport, Merseyside, England, UK.- Arthur Clayton was born on 29 January 1902 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Green Eyes (1934), The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921) and Nu-Ma-Pu - Cannibalism (1931). He died on 19 February 1955 in New Brighton, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Gladys Ambrose was born on 28 December 1930 in Everton, Liverpool, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Brookside (1982), Coronation Street (1960) and Red Letter Day (1976). She was married to Johnny Votel. She died on 4 July 1998 in Knowsley, Merseyside, England, UK.
- Zoe Tynan was born on 20 May 1998 in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. She died on 30 August 2016 in West Allerton, Merseyside, England, UK.