This Is Your Life: Betty Driver

Betty DRIVER (1920-2011)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Betty Driver, actress and singer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London's Euston Station, having travelled from Manchester and been led to believe her sister Freda was taking her to a dog show.

Betty, who was born in Manchester, began performing professionally at the age of 10 and was touring the UK in a revue called Mr Tower of London at 15. Her West End debut in the CB Cochran revue Home and Beauty led to appearances in several films during the late 1930s, including Penny Paradise, Let's Be Famous and Facing The Music. Throughout the 1940s, Betty was a prolific presence on radio, singing with the top dance bands of the era.

After her success as a singer, releasing several hit records, and various television and film appearances, Betty retired from show business to run a pub in Derbyshire with her sister Freda. However, she achieved national attention again in 1969 when she was persuaded to play the role of barmaid Betty Turpin in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

"I didn't recognise you with that awful hat on!"

programme details...

Edition No: 428
Subject No: 425
Broadcast date: Wed 11 Feb 1976
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 21 Jan 1976
Venue: Euston Road Studios
Series: 16
Edition: 14
Code name: Chauffeur

on the guest list...

Freda - sister
William Roache
Stephen Hancock
Neville Buswell
Anne Kirkbride
Bernard Youens
Jean Alexander
Helen Worth
Maggie Jones
Bryan Mosley
Kathy Jones
Thelma Barlow
Barbara Mullany
Harry Kershaw
Beryl Reid
Arthur Stracey
Thelma Durrant
Betty Hill
Lena Brown
Jack Watson
Andrew Faulds
Tony Britton
Martin West
Lesley West
Jack Howarth
Carl Yale
Mabel - aunt

production team...

Researcher: Tony Lee
Writer: John Sandilands
Director: Royston Mayoh
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Street Life

from Elsie Tanner to Eddie Yates

ITV This is Your Life

A special edition celebrating ITV's 21st anniversary

Stephen Bourne, writer, discusses Betty Driver and her appearance on This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in March 2016

Screenshots of Betty Driver This Is Your Life

Betty Driver recalls her experience of This Is Your Life in her autobiography...

I've only known Charles, Michael, Mark and Brian a relatively short time so none of them appeared on my This Is Your Life back in 1976.

Freda, of course, planned the whole thing and had to get me down on the train to Euston where the 'grab' was to take place. Freda said we were going to a champion dog show and she had me trapped in the train, pretending she'd lost her gloves, until everyone else had got off.

Then she walked me down the platform and there was Eamonn Andrews done up like a news vendor with a huge newspaper board on which was written 'Big Surprise for Betty Driver'. I was stunned! All I can remember was worrying that they'd bring my husband out!

Of course, Freda had seen to it that they didn't but lovely Jack Watson came on, and Beryl Reid, and – to my absolute horror – Lena Brown, the whistling woman from Let's Be Famous. When she came on I nearly had a heart attack. Goodness knows where they'd dug her up from!

Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is Your Life: The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book...

Rover's Return barmaid Betty Turpin – actress Betty Driver – had a night off from pulling pints when we surprised her on the evening of 21 January 1976. She was visiting London for a dog show.

But the newsvendor at Euston Station was Eamonn Andrews. And in the Big Red Book was a story which must have astonished her younger 'regulars'.

Betty had been a child star of the Thirties and a singing star of the Forties and Fifties. As a schoolgirl she had attended the same singing and dancing class as Beryl Reid.

Before Betty was even seventeen, the legendary showman C B Cochran had signed her for West End revues, and she appeared in the film Penny Paradise in 1938. For seven years, she was top vocalist with the famous Henry Hall Orchestra – he of 'Tonight is my guest night' fame. Though in poor health, Henry talked to Betty in our studio on a special telephone line [Bigredbook.info editor: Actually, Henry Hall was too ill to even send a telephone message, and does not appear in the programme].

Betty had been managing a real-life pub with her sister, Freda, when tempted back into the business via Coronation Street.

Series 16 subjects