ADMINISTRATION:
Celebrity
Drawings by John Moss
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Manchester
Celebrities
Television, Film, Media & Broadcasting
(7)
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Richard Madeley

Judy Finnigan
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Richard
Madeley & Judy Finnigan
(Birth
dates unknown)
Richard Madeley had begun his career as a journalist working
on local newspapers in Essex and London and joined BBC Radio
Carlisle at 19 as a news presenter on the "Lookaround" programme.
His break into TV was at Yorkshire Television, where as a young
presenter he fronted the "Calendar" programme - acknowledged
to be one of the best regional news magazine programmes in the
UK at that time.
He went on to leave YTV and joined Granada
Television in Manchester for a new local news programme
called "Granada Reports" where he met fellow reporter
and presenter, Judy Finnigan.
Judy was born and raised in Manchester and had studied English
and Drama at Bristol University. She had joined Granada TV as
a researcher in 1971 and in 1974 moved to Anglia Television
in Norwich to become its first female reporter. In 1980 she
came back to Granada and Manchester to work on several programmes
including "Flying Start" (with Anthony
Wilson), "Granada Reports" and "Scramble".
Richard and Judy met at Granada in 1982, were married in 1986
and set up home in Didsbury village in south Manchester, where
they became familiar figures. They began co-presenting a new
Granada show called "This Morning" in 1988, and proved
to be a great success and they became instant celebrities -
the undisputed king and queen of daytime television in the UK.
Originally broadcast from Liverpool's Albert Dock, the show
went on to celebrate its tenth birthday by winning a National
Television Award for Best Daytime Show in 1998. The programme,
(and Richard & Judy), moved to London in 1996. After presenting
"This Morning" from London for about 5 years, they were
tempted to move to Channel Four to host a new early evening
programme called, surprisingly "Richard & Judy".
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Bob Greaves
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Bob Greaves
(Birth
date unknown)
Bob Greaves joined Granada Television in Manchester as a News
Editor in 1964. He had previously worked as a journalist on
the Sale & Stretford Guardian, the Nottingham
Evening News, and the Daily Mail (in Manchester).
He also was a soccer reporter for several national newspapers,
including the Mail on Sunday.
Greaves, is best known regionally as a well known jovial local
television broadcaster, and has been a regular face on Granada's
regional programmes since the late 1960s, with news bulletins
and other programmes such as "Put it in Writing", "Police
File", "Six-O-One", "Newsview", "Exchange Flags" and "Scene",
the latter dating back to 1967.
From 1973 through until the mid-1980s he regularly presented
"Granada Reports" and after that "Granada Tonight".
He was also the presenter for the majority of Granada TV's major
regional outside broadcasts, including the Royal visit to "Coronation
Street". Known as "Mister Granada", he has also produced
and presented many personal television series including "Bob
About", "Family Trees", Bob's Bygones", "World on a Plate"
and "Bob's Century".
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Books, VHS
& DVDs of
Thora Hird
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Dame Thora
Hird OBE

(1911-2003)
Born
in Morecambe, Lancashire, on 28 May 1911, Thora Hird is a grand
dame of the British theatre and television.
Having,
(as she put it) "trod the boards since the age of eight",
she was a veteran of show business, respected and widely liked
and became an established and much-loved British institution.
Her first
known stage performance was at Morecambe's Royalty Theatre in
1931 - it was here that her talent was spotted and she was signed
up by the Rank Organisation as a promising young actress.
He film
career began in 1948 when she acted in "The Black Sheep
of Whitehall" with comedian Will
Hay.
In a long
career she has appeared in more than 80 other films including
"The Quatermass Experiment" (1955), "The
Entertainer" (1960), "Over the Odds",
"A Kind of Loving" (1962), "Terms of Trial",
"Rattle of a Simple Man", "Some Will Some Won't",
"The Nightcomers" and "Consuming Passions".
She had
a brief time playing Shakespearean roles, notably as the Nurse
in "Romeo & Juliet".
She has
also made guest appearances in many UK television shows including
"Meet the Wife", "Dinner Ladies", "That's
Showbusiness", "One Foot In The Past", "All
Creatures Great & Small", "Blankety Blank",
"Momento Mori" and "The Frank Skinner
Show".
She won
a BAFTA award for Best TV Actress 1987 in Alan Bennett's "Talking
Heads" and a second honorary BAFTA award in 1993. Bennett
actually wrote many short plays and monologues specifically
with Thora Hird in mind, including "Waiting for the
Telegram".
As a devout
Christian during the 1970s she was presenter of many BBC Television
religious programmes including "Your Songs Of Praise
Choice" (later known as "Praise Be!"),
"Songs of Praise", and "Hallelujah".
She was
the subject of BBC1's "This Is Your Life" at
Christmas 1996. More recently she has played the role of Edie
in "Last of the Summer Wine" for which she
is, perhaps, best remembered.
In 1983
she received and OBE (Order of the British Empire) and in 1993
was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) for her
contributions to the Arts.
She was
the mother of actress Jeanette Scott and thereby ex-mother-in-law
of singer Mel Tormé.
She was
married to James Scott for 59 years until his death in 1994
- he was also her manager for much of that time.
Increasing arthritis had curtailed her activities in her later
years and her appearances had been somewhat limited as a result.
After suffering
a stroke in the first week of March 2003 she was moved to a
nursing home in Twickenham, South West London, where she died
a week later on 15th March, aged 91 years.
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Violet
Carson OBE

(1898-1983)
Violet Carson, actress, pianist, radio star and stalwart of
the early days of "Coronation Street", was born in Corporation
Terrace, off Oldham Road, Manchester in 1898.
After studying
the piano for several years, she began her professional career
playing piano accompaniments for silent movies in local cinemas.
By the 1939
she had become known on radio, and spent the war years touring
factories and army camps to entertain workers and soldiers.
She continued
in this role as pianist for Wilfred Pickles' "Have a Go"
radio quiz.
After the
war she appeared regularly in BBC radio's "Woman's Hour",
before being chosen in 1960 to fill the role as Ena Sharples
in Granada television's planned new "Coronation Street"
show.
Her portrayal
of this strong gritty northern character endeared her to millions
of fans, and it is for this role that she is probably best remembered.
It was planned
to be a short event, but she actually played the role for 20
years and more than 2000 episodes of what was to become one
of Britain's best-loved and longest running soap operas.
In 1965
she was awarded the OBE and was made an honorary MA at Manchester
University.
He last
few years were dogged by poor health and she died in 1983, aged
85, at her retirement home in Blackpool.
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Jimmy Saville
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Sir Jimmy
Saville
(Born
1926)
Sir James (Jimmy) Saville was actually born in Yorkshire on
30th October 1926, but he has had a long association with the
city of Manchester, and appears here as an "honorary" Mancunian.
An ex-Yorkshire
miner, for many years he was a familiar figure cycling around
the city of Manchester or from his council flat at number 301
Great Clowes Street in Salford 7.
By then,
somewhat of a recluse in private life, and already a wealthy
man, he figured largely in the Manchester Nightclub scene in
the highest days of disco dancing; he was also manager of the
Ritz Ballroom.
He had made his first appearance at the Plaza Ballroom in Oxford
Street in the late 1950s.
His multicoloured
streaked hair made him a hit with Manchester clubbers as well
as at teenage pop sessions which he ran at Belle Vue. After
a brief spell as disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg he was Britain's
best loved and highest paid DJ, earning over £40,000 a year.
He came
to the nation's attention when he presented BBC Television's
"Top of the Pops" and later his long running
television series "Jim'll Fix It", and was knighted in
1990.
He still
lives alone, is a dedicated cigar smoker, a Roman Catholic,
confesses to having about 8 different dwellings throughout Britain
and prefers single roomed flats or bedsits. He is a member of
MENSA with a reputed IQ of 150.
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Gordon Burns
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Gordon Burns
(Birth
date unknown)
Gordon Burns is a journalist by trade, though he has had a long
and successful involvement with political and current affairs
programmes, and is, in the minds of local people, indelibly
associated with Manchester regional television news.
His newspaper
career began at the East Antrim Times and Belfast
Telegraph in Northern Ireland (where he was born) before
moving on sports reporting in BBC Radio's London studios on
shows like "Sports Parade" and "Sports Report".
After becoming a freelance journalist and broadcaster, he moved
on to report for the "Today" programme on Radio 4, for
the BBC World Service and for South East Regional News.
Next he
was anchorman for Ulster Television's nightly "UTV Reports"
through the first four years of the "troubles". At Ulster
he was given his own live chat show "The Gordon Burns Hour".
He then moved on to present Granada Television's evening news
magazine, "Granada Reports" and was the reporter on many
award-winning "World in Action" programmes.
He has presented
ITV's top rating quiz show, "The Krypton Factor" since
the early 1980s. "The Krypton Factor" regularly appeared
in the top twenty rated television programmes since it began
in the late 1970s, and often attracted audiences in excess of
15 million people.
Recently
he moved over to the BBC, where he currently acts as anchor
presenter for "North West Tonight", their nightly news
programme, which has the highest viewing figures for any BBC
regional news programme in the UK.
Other shows
with which he has been involved include many quiz shows like
"Cluedo", "Relatively Speaking" and "A Word
in Your Ear", as well as light entertainment shows like
"Surprise Surprise" (with Cilla Black), and regular election
and other political programmes including "Searchline",
(which he hosted for five years).
He is a
keen golfer, a football supporter at Manchester and Liverpool,
as well as being a cricket lover. He is married with two children,
a son and a daughter.
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