Showing posts with label June Whitfield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label June Whitfield. Show all posts

Tuesday, 11 November 2025

Just the one, dear?

Another day, another centenary...

Today, one hundred years ago, someone who was very dear to our hearts was born - Dame June Whitfield!

Probably the most "treasured" of "national treasures", in her long career she played ditzy "Eff"in The Glums, and the long-suffering eponymous wife in Terry and June, appeared in a long-running series of adverts for Birds Eye, played various supporting characters alongside comedy greats such as Jimmy Edwards, Tony Hancock, Roy Hudd, Arthur Askey, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill and the Carry On team, and was even Miss Marple (on the radio).

She stuck her tongue firmly in her perfectly-crafted cheek for "cult" roles with Julian Clary, French & Saunders and in Dr Who, culminating in possibly her best-loved role as "Gran" in Ab Fab.

She sang with big and small bands, played deadly serious as well as light entertainment parts; the woman could do anything...

We had the privilege of sitting right in front of the great lady (and Prunella Scales and Timothy West, to boot!) at Wilton's Music Hall when Roy Hudd was appearing on stage delivering his History Of The Music Hall, and she was every bit the dear, sweet little old lady she appeared to be.

Speaking of "sweet":

All hail, Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11th November 1925 – 29th December 2018)!

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Aunty June says wash your hands



Happy 87th birthday today to the icon that is June Whitfield CBE!

She has, in her long career, played ditzy "Eff"in The Glums, the long-suffering wife in Terry and June, and various characters alongside such greats as Jimmy Edwards, Tony Hancock, Roy Hudd, Arthur Askey, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill and the Carry On team. She has stuck her tongue firmly in her perfectly-crafted cheek for "cult" roles with Julian Clary, French & Saunders, and in Dr Who, culminating in possibly her best-loved role as Gran in Ab Fab.

She has sung with big and small bands, played deadly serious as well as light entertainment parts; the woman can do anything - yet, who knew she once played a bacterium?

With the modern craze for health'n'safety, and recurrent "plague scares" (bird flu, MRSA, ebola etc) in the tabloids, it's easy to forget that in our own recent past even the most rudimentary facts about contamination of food were felt sufficiently misunderstood that public information films such as these were commonplace. This, of course, is more than just that - it is a stroke of camp genius:


Now wash your hands!

June Whitfield on IMDB

Friday, 11 November 2011

It's not so surprising



Happy 86th birthday today to the eternally young and gorgeous June Whitfield!

By way of a tribute to this "national treasure", here's an unexpected treat I have discovered - the divine Dame June [well, she should be!] singing an Irving Berlin duet/medley with the late, fondly-remembered Ian Charleson...

[[video removed]]

June Whitfield CBE on IMDB

My previous blog about June Whitfield


UPDATE: The gnomes of YouTube have removed the video clip of the aforementioned duet, but it's here; at 1hr 47mins into this full-length extravaganza:

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

Happy birthday ma'am...



To celebrate the 84th birthday today of the beloved comedienne and actress June Whitfield, star of hundreds of top radio and TV shows from The Glums to Hancock to The News Huddlines to Terry & June to Ab Fab, here is a little-known "gem" I have uncovered. Who'd have thought that June and Frankie would do something like this???


We have always loved June, and we recently saw her on stage at The Coliseum in the ENO production of On The Town.

We had the privilege of sitting right in front of this "national treasure" (and Prunella Scales and Timothy West) at Wilton's Music Hall when Roy Hudd was appearing on stage delivering his History Of The Music Hall, and she is every bit the dear, sweet little old lady she appears to be. Gawd bless ya, ma'am...

June Whitfield's long career is outlined on IMDB