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Betty Driver

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Last broadcast on Fri, 28 Jan 2011, 09:00 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).

Synopsis

Episode image for Betty Driver

Kirsty Young's castaway is the veteran Coronation Street actress Betty Driver.

For more than forty years she's been pulling pints and dishing up her hot-pot in the Rovers Return. But her career in showbusiness started decades before she took up residence on Britain's most famous street.

She was a child when her mother put her on the stage and she toured the country with an act that showcased her stunning singing voice - it brought success but not happiness. "I did it for over twenty years," she says, "and hated every day of it." Although she has been working now for an incredible 80 years, she says: "I just love work and I will never retire. They'll have to shoot me to get rid of me!"

Record: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat Minor.
Book: Rebecca by Daphne du Murier
Luxury: Eau de Soir perfume by Sisley

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Music played

  1. Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Hammerstein II I’ll Take Romance

    Artist: Betty Driver Composer: Hammerstein/Oakland

    Up with the Curtain, ASV
  2. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor

    Artist: Stephen Hough with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska

    Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 - 3 - Romantic Piano Concerto, vol. 50, Hyperion
  3. Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Night and Day

    Composer: Cole Porter

    Ella Fitzgerald: Cole Porter Songbook, Verve
  4. Johann Strauss II Johann Strauss II Thunder and Lightning Polka

    Artist: Sir Harry Mortimer (with the G.U.S. (Footwear) Band

    Championship Bandstand, EMI
  5. Winifred Atwell Winifred Atwell Black and White Rag

    Composer: Botsford

    Queen Of The Ivories: Black & White Rag, Sanctuary records
  6. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky the Overture to Swan Lake

    Artist: Leonard Slatkin conducting the St Louis Symphony Orchestra

    Swan Lake, RCA
  7. Hoagy Carmichael Skylark

    Composer: Carmichael/ Mercer

    Too Marvellous for Words: Capital sings Johnny Mercer, Capitol, C 496791
  8. Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms The Adagio from the Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major.

    Artist: Steven Isserlis

    Cello Sonatas, Hyperion

Broadcasts

  1. Sun 23 Jan 2011
    11:15
  2. Sun 23 Jan 2011
    11:30
  3. Fri 28 Jan 2011
    09:00

More details

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Duration

45 minutes

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