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!"

Choices

1.

Oscar Hammerstein II

I’ll Take Romance

Artist: Betty Driver Composer: Hammerstein/Oakland

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2.

Castaway's favourite

Tchaikovsky

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor

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

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3.

Ella Fitzgerald

Night and Day

Composer: Cole Porter

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4.

Johann Strauss II

Thunder and Lightning Polka

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

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5.

Winifred Atwell

Black and White Rag

Composer: Botsford

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6.

Tchaikovsky

the Overture to Swan Lake

Artist: Leonard Slatkin conducting the St Louis Symphony Orchestra

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7.

Hoagy Carmichael

Skylark

Composer: Carmichael/ Mercer

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8.

Johannes Brahms

The Adagio from the Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major.

Artist: Steven Isserlis

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Book

Rebecca by Dame Daphne Du Maurier

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Luxury item

Eau de Soir perfume by Sisley

Others who chose a similar luxury