(Wilfred) Robert Adams (c. 1900–1965) by Frank Lilley, 1949 Getty Images – Frank Lilley
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Stephen Bourne
Adams, (Wilfred) Robert (c. 1900–1965), actor, was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, the son of Robert Adams, boat builder. He was educated at St Stephen's Scots School, later St Joseph's Intermediate. In 1920 he won a government scholarship to be trained as a teacher at ...
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Michael Billington
Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily [Peggy] (1907–1991), actress, was born on 22 December 1907 in Croydon, Surrey, the second of two children of William Worsley Ashcroft (1878–1918), a land agent, and his wife, Violetta Maud, née Bernheim (1874–1926), a keen amateur actress of Danish and German-Jewish descent. Known from childhood as ...
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![Cover Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily [Peggy] (1907–1991)](/cover/searchableMedia/odnb-9780198614128-e-1005297-graphic-1-thumbnail.jpg)
Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (1907–1991) by Jorge Lewinski, 1968 [with Variation on Peggy by Walter Sickert, 1934–5] © Jorge Lewinski; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
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Maggie B. Gale
Baddeley, (Madeleine) Angela (1904–1976), actress, was born on 4 July 1904 at 64 Pretoria Road, West Ham, London, one of the four daughters of William Herman Clinton-Baddeley, journalist, and his wife, Louise Rosalie Bourdin. She was a descendant of Sir Henry Clinton, the British general who captured ...
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Roger Philip Mellor
Baker, George Morris (1931–2011), actor and author, was born on 1 April 1931 in the British embassy in Varna, Bulgaria, the second of five children of Francis Pearson (Frank) Baker (1884–1943), honorary British vice-consul, and a businessman in the import–export trade, and his wife, ...
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Eric Midwinter
Baker [married name Pearson], Hylda (1905–1986), comedian, was born on 14 February 1905 at Farnworth, Bolton, Lancashire, the eldest of the seven children (three boys, four girls) of Harold (Chukky) Baker (1884–1966), comedian, and Margaret Halliwell, seamstress, both of Farnworth. She was chiefly educated at ...
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Barker, Ronald William George [Ronnie] (1929–2005), actor and comedian, was born on 25 September 1929 at 70 Garfield Street, Bedford, the only son and second of the three children of Leonard William Barker, a clerk for Shell, and his wife, Edith Eleanor, née...
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Ronald William George Barker (1929–2005) by unknown photographer, 1975 Getty Images
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Anthony Hayward
Barkworth, Peter Wynn (1929–2006), actor, was born at 26 Madeira Road, Margate, Kent, on 14 January 1929, the son of Walter Wynn Barkworth, a sales manager in the motor trade, of 56A High Street, Margate, and his wife, Irene May, née Brown. When his father took up a post in ...
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Bass, Alfred [Alfie] [formerly Abraham Basalinsky] (1916–1987), actor, was born on 10 April 1916 at 7 Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green, London, the youngest among the ten children of Jacob Basalinsky, a cabinet-maker, and his wife, Ada Miller. After an elementary school education he followed his father's trade, but was also engaged in local boys' club dramatics. He was early on active in supporting the labour movement, often attended union meetings, and took part in the battle of ...
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Beadle, Jeremy James Anthony Gibson (1948–2008), broadcaster and author, was born at 262 Victoria Park Road, Hackney, London, on 12 April 1948, the son of Marjorie (Marji) Beadle (1921–2004), of 25 St George's Road, Leyton, a clerk for a boxing promoter. His father was a married ...
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Norman Lugard Beaton (1934–1994) by unknown photographer, 1977 Rex Features
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Stephen Bourne
Beaton, Norman Lugard (1934–1994), actor, was born on 31 October 1934 in Georgetown, British Guiana, the son of William Solomon Beaton (d. 1983), civil servant, and his wife, Ada, née Mackintosh (d. 1962). He was educated at St Stephen's School and ...
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Anthony Hayward
Bell, Thomas George [Tom] (1933–2006), actor, was born at 33 Ramsey Road, Allerton, Liverpool, on 2 August 1933, one of seven children of James Guthrie Bell, a ship's carpenter in the merchant navy, and his wife, Gladys May, née Smith. During the Second World War he was evacuated to ...
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Michael Bentine (1922–1996) by unknown photographer, 1992 Rex Features
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Bentine [formerly Bentin], Michael (1922–1996), comedian, was born on 26 January 1922, in Watford, Hertfordshire, the second of two sons of Adan (later Adam) Bentin, aeronautical engineer, and his wife, Florence (d. 1949), daughter of James Dawkins, a Southend Water Board...
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Black, Cilla [real name Priscilla White] (1943–2015), singer and television presenter, was born on 27 May 1943 at 380 Scotland Road, Liverpool, the daughter of John Patrick White (1904–1971), dock labourer, and his wife, Priscilla, née Blythen (1911–1996...
