Tag: Celebrities

Lilias Munro is Spotted in Blackpool by Dancer Miss Bluebell

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LILIAS MUNRO former Bluebell girl, head of make-up at BBC Television in the north of England and step mother of deceased Disney movie actress JANET MUNRO, died at 2am on 19 July 2004 at Victoria Hospital in Blackpool of cancer. Lilias (Lily) Smith was born in Wigan on 24 January 1917. She was spotted by Miss Bluebell (Margaret Kelly) on a visit to Blackpool in 1935 and brought to Paris to dance as one of the famous Bluebell Girls. Lilias returned to England on the outbreak of World War 11 and married Scots Comedian Alex Horsburgh (Munro) in Preston, Lancashire… Read more »

Feature Film AWAY Focuses on Blackpool

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Away is a 2016 British drama film directed by David Blair and starring Timothy Spall and Juno Temple. It premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was released in the United Kingdom digitally on 8 May 2017 by 101 Films and on DVD on 15 May 2017 by Metrodome. The story takes place in Blackpool, where an unlikely friendship blossoms between a lonely, suicidal widower and a young woman trying to escape an abusive ex-boyfriend. In a nutshell, this is a grim drama set in Blackpool where the older of the two is Joseph (Timothy Spall), a boozy,… Read more »

Lynne Carol Becomes Martha Longhurst On Coronation Street

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Josephine Caroline Gertrude Mary Faith Harber, born on 29 June 1914 and known by the stage name Lynne Carol, was a Welsh actress primarily recognised for her roles in television series and telemovies. She is best remembered for portraying the gossiping Martha Longhurst in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street, a role she played from the second episode in 1960 until the character’s death in 1964. Carol married Herbert (Bert) Newell Palmer in 1934 in Bideford, Devon. Palmer, born 22 April 1900, was a character actor from Easingwold, Yorkshire, and had numerous television roles, including appearances in two episodes of… Read more »

Tarzan’s Johnny Weissmuller Swims in Derby Baths

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Johnny Weissmuller performed in “The Water Follies” at the Derby Baths in Blackpool in 1949. The Derby Baths was a swimming complex known for its Art Deco architecture and Olympic-sized seawater pool. It also had high diving boards and was popular for international competitions. Johnny Weissmuller was born Johann Peter Weißmüller on 2 June 1904. He was a Hungarian-born ethnic German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive-swimming records of the 20th century. He set world records alongside winning five gold medals in the Olympics. He won the 100m freestyle and… Read more »

King of Comedy DAN LENO at Pavilion Theatre and the Grand

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Dan Leno (1860-1904) was the greatest of all the music hall stars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He appeared at theatres and music halls across the United Kingdom filling their auditoriums with his particular brand of comic madness and pathos. Every year he was contracted to perform at the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London’s West End; as well as annual residencies at the famous Pavilion Music Hall, Piccadilly Circus. He became the highest paid artist of his generation. His influence on other comic performers that followed him is well documented; the likes… Read more »

John Thomson Stars in Hairspray at The Winter Gardens

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John Patrick Thomson, born Patrick Francis McAleer on 2 April 1969 in Walkden, Worsley, is an English comedian, narrator, and actor known for his roles in The Fast Show, Men Behaving Badly, Cold Feet, 24 Hour Party People, The Brothers Grimsby, and Coronation Street. He also appeared in the 2004 TV mini-series Blackpool, playing Terry Corlette. In 2021, he joined the cast of Hairspray at Blackpool Winter Gardens, where he performed alongside Brenda Edwards, Alex Bourne, Katie Brace, and Akeem Ellis-Hyman. The production was directed by Paul Kerryson, with choreography by Drew McOnie. Thomson’s birth mother, Mary McAleer, placed him… Read more »

Stephen Barclay Becomes Commissioner of the Treasury

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Stephen Paul Barclay, born on 3 May 1972 in Lytham, is a British Conservative politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for North East Cambridgeshire since 2010. He held several ministerial roles under Prime Ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Rishi Sunak, including Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2023 to 2024. After the Conservative Party’s defeat in the 2024 general election, he briefly served as Shadow Environment Secretary before becoming Chair of the Finance Committee in December 2024. Barclay was raised in a family where his father worked in IT for 55 years,… Read more »

King Edward School’s Michael Platt Joins JP Morgan

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Michael Platt was born in Preston, Lancashire on 18 March 1968. He is a British billionaire hedge fund manager. He is the co-founder and managing director of BlueCrest Capital Management, Europe’s third-largest hedge-fund firm which he co-founded in 2000. He is Britain’s wealthiest hedge fund manager according to Forbes, with an estimated wealth of US$18 billion as of December 2024. Platt’s father taught civil engineering at the University of Manchester. Platt went to King Edward’s School in Lytham (now AKS). Platt studied civil engineering at Imperial College London, but after a year, switched to mathematics and economics at the London… Read more »

Aiden Grimshaw Gets into X-Factor

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Aiden Samuel Grimshaw (born 4 December 1991 in Blackpool) is an English singer, songwriter and actor who was formerly known by the stage name Butterjack. He studied at the Michael Hall Theatre School in North Shore, Blackpool. He played Tom Holmes in an episode of CBBC show Half Moon Investigations. He successfully made it to the live shows in the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010 and was the eighth contestant eliminated. After his elimination, Grimshaw was signed by RCA Records. On 3 June 2012, he released his debut single “Is This Love”, which debuted at number 35… Read more »

Les Dennis Joins Dustin Gee at the North Pier

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In 1982, Les Dennis joined Russ Abbot’s Madhouse and The Russ Abbot Show before forming a comedy double act with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee. The duo launched their own television series, The Laughter Show, which first aired on 7 April 1984. For its third series, it was retitled Les & Dustin’s Laughter Show. On 24 May 1985, during the opening night of a summer season at Blackpool’s North Pier, Gee fell ill on stage but continued performing. After the show, he was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a minor heart attack and dilated cardiomyopathy. Despite… Read more »