Betty and freda driver

This isn't the first and only time the sisters supposedly encountered extraterrestrial life either, as Hanson's book also refers to a time Betty and Freda were supposedly followed by a UFO whilst driving near Ellesmere Port. Read more news, spoilers and gossip on our Coronation Street homepage. Digital Spy Soap Scoop video - hit play below for all the latest Coronation Street spoilers, as Tim and Gina step up the fight against Duncan, and Audrey blames Claudia for her missing money.

Want up-to-the-minute soaps news, spoilers and gossip on your social feeds? He was a lovely man, such a gentleman, but I really don't know how they kept their lines from Arthur, him and Clive Dunn. It wasn't the first time she'd had to cope with the showbiz ego. Driver was 11 when she was pushed on to the stage by an overbearing mother, and it wasn't long before George Formby, a colossal star at the time, heard about this precocious child working the variety halls of the north of England.

Ooh yes, wonderful. It meant going to London and I'd never been to London. So down I went to this little film studio at the back of a garage on Albany Street, which wasn't how I thought films would be. Anyway, I sang a song and did quite well, but Beryl, George's wife, also had to be in the film, singing and dancing.

Dreadful, she was. A monstrous woman, and very jealous, although very clever. She ran the business side of his life, and everything else, really.

But when she saw my bit in the editing room she said, 'Either that kid goes or I go'. Well, I've never been so heartbroken. I cried all the way back to Manchester. And when the film came out [in ] my name was on the credits but I wasn't in it.

Formby, as always, had been forced to kowtow to Beryl. Everything she said, he did. But later I joined Henry Hall's dance orchestra, and I was with him for seven years. One week George Formby was invited to be in the show, and naturally Beryl had to be in it with him, so I said to Henry, 'Where's she going to dress? In the end she was very friendly. By the outbreak of war, Driver was top of most variety bills she played on, and once, after performing at an RAF airfield south of London, she recalls being asked by the officer in charge if she would like to see some planes.

He said they were called Spitfires, and I said, 'Ooh, what a wonderful name'. They looked so pretty, those little planes, and then he said, 'Would you like me to name two planes after you? They wrote Betty on one and Freda on the other, and later, you know, a lot of them crashed and the boys were dead, and I didn't like to think too much about what had happened to them. But many years later, long after I'd joined Coronation Street, the fellow who ghosted my autobiography took his two sons to a museum right next to Granada Studios in Manchester and one of the boys said, 'Look dad, why does one of these say Betty and the other say Freda?

Isn't that amazing? They have followed me from , or whenever it was, right to the end of my life. I told that story to the producers at Granada, and they couldn't give a bugger. But don't you think it's a sweet story?

I confirm that it is indeed a remarkable story, and ease her gently on to the next phase of her life, the variety shows of the s, when her friends and co-stars included Frankie Howerd and Tommy Cooper. One day the producer said, 'Look, I'm going to take the show to Hamburg, do you fancy coming? But Frank was a terror. He took me to this little club, where there were the most gorgeous-looking girls serving drinks, really breathtaking, and one of the girls comes and sits on his knee and was kissing him and mauling him.

Actress Soundtrack. See full bio ». Filmography by Job Trailers and Videos. Share this page:. Remembering the Stars We Lost in Around The Web Provided by Taboola. Create a list ». Cast of Coronation Street. See all related lists ». Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDb page. Find out more at IMDbPro ». How Much Have You Seen? There were also rumours that Driver was to retire, however these were confirmed as false. Driver vowed in September never to retire stating that: "If I retire, I'll be dead in six months with boredom" and stated she still "loved" being part of Coronation Street.

On 11 May , Driver was rushed to hospital, suffering from pneumonia. She died on 15 October, aged 91, after around six weeks in hospital. Sign In. Edit Betty Driver. Showing all 28 items. Older sister of Freda Driver , whom she lived with in Cheshire, England until her death. As a young singer she was often likened to Gracie Fields , partly due to her being signed up with the agent sister of Fields' husband Archie Pitt when she was only Despite this, the two only actually first met in the s.

Badly injured her spine and hip during the making of the Granada sitcom Pardon the Expression , requiring osteopathic treatment. Had practically given up show-business to run a pub in Whaley Bridge, near Manchester, with her father and sister when H.

Kershaw asked her to join the cast of Coronation Street in Holds the record for playing the longest-serving soap character to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, having won the award at The British Soap Awards in for 41 years of playing Betty Williams on Coronation Street In total she appeared in the part from June to May Became pregnant during her marriage to Wally Peterson, but suffered a miscarriage.