Carry On Blogging Interview: Glenda Young

 

As it's my second anniversary today I wanted to bring you a very special blog interview. Glenda Young has been at the helm of the wonderful Coronation Street Blog for the past nine years and is probably the internet's most passionate Corrie fan. She is also a big Carry On fan. I first started contributing to the Coronation Street Blog back in 2012 and without Glenda's wise words and constant encouragement I probably wouldn't have carried on blogging (see what I did there?)

I caught up with Glenda to find out more about her blogging life, her love of Corrie and all things Carry On... 

- First of all I'd love to know how you came to start blogging in the first place?

Being such a fan of Coronation Street I avidly followed everything online that I could find out about the show. And while the official ITV Coronation Street website (and now their other social media) do a good job of promoting current storylines, there wasn’t anything online which took a fun, fan-based, irreverent look at the show. I love writing and I love Coronation Street so blogging about the show seemed a natural combination of both my passions.

- Coronation Street is obviously one of your passions. Can you remember the first time you watched the programme?

My first memory is of watching Elsie Tanner on screen and thinking she was just so glamorous!  I was watching it with my mum and grandma, who I was very close to. Mum never thought much of Elsie but me and grandma loved her and when I watch Corrie now, it brings back much of the warmth of watching the show with my grandma and my family. I don’t think I could ever love anyone who didn’t love Coronation Street!

 

- The Coronation Street Blog has been running for over 9 years now. Why do you think it is so popular with fans of the show?

It continues to be the only Corrie fan site that offers a fan-based view of the show. Yes, we offer current storyline promotion and press releases, but we also offer opinion pieces, and give fans a voice. We run competitions, we have exclusive interviews with celebrity Corrie fans and people behind the scenes. We are unique in what we do and we do it with quality too, it’s a winning combination.


- If you had to pick just one Coronation Street Blog achievement from the past 9 years, which has made you most proud and why?

I have to admit that I had a “bit of a moment” a couple of years ago when our team was invited in to the new set at ITV for a VIP tour. We had the set to ourselves, and as all of us were taking photos and looking around the set, being in awe at what we saw, I really felt so proud of all of us as a team.

 

- Corrie has had quite a few Carry On connections over the years. Do you have a favourite Carry On actor who has appeared in The Street?

Oh it’s got to be Amanda Barrie, of course! Her autobiography remains one of the best I’ve read about her time on the show. I cried when I read it, her words were just lovely. There’s a bit at the end when she talks about walking the cobbles arm in arm with Tony Warren. If you haven’t read it, do, it’s wonderful.


- When you think of Carry On films, what memories do they evoke for you?

Happiness! Family get togethers around the television, sniggering at the rude bits, waiting for the funny bits, really having a good giggle with my two brothers when we were growing up.


- We are both big fans of the fantastic Amanda Barrie who of course made Carry Ons before going on to play Alma in Corrie. Why do you think she was so popular in Coronation Street?

She came to Corrie later in her acting career and as a fan I always got the feeling that she never brought her ego with her, it was just another acting job to her. She seems such a really nice person and that came across when she played Alma in Corrie. I was on work placement at ITV as a mature student when I was studying journalism and they gave me the previews for a couple of months ahead in the show so I knew Alma was going to die of cancer. I remember reading this on placement, trying to be so professional in the Corrie press office and I had to do my best to disguise my shock at her being killed off. All I wanted to do was burst into tears!

 

- If you had to pick your favourite Carry On actor, who would it be and why?

It has to be Kenneth Connor. I love the way he played the bumbling, love-struck doctor in Cruising and think he handled it with comedy genius.

- You have now written several books, most with a Coronation Street theme. Which has been your favourite and why?

After Anne Kirkbride sadly passed away, ITV asked me to write the official tribute book to Deirdre Barlow. Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street. It was an honour and a privilege to be asked and to write it. I will cherish that book until my dying day.


- Last year the Coronation Street Blog published a book. What was that process like and what can readers expect?

Coronation Street Blog: The Book is a collection of each blog member’s favourite pieces of work over the years. It was an easy process via CreateSpace and the fun part was pulling everyone else’s work together. The hard part was trying to figure out what to leave out, for instance, about four of us had submitted our favourite pieces on the same character so I had to choose which ones went in the book otherwise we’d have had a book full of Deirdre, or Hilda.  It just shows how enduring those characters are and how well loved they remain. Readers can expect a unique book written by Coronation Street fans, there’s been nothing like it before and I doubt there will be again – unless we do Volume 2 of course…

- What do you think about attempts to revive the Carry On films in 2017?

No! Please No!


- Why do you think the Carry Ons are still so popular so many years after they were made?

Like Coronation Street, they gave us great characters, great lines, a sense of community and a television-watching opportunity for the family. It’s like slipping on a pair of lovely comfy slippers, isn’t it?

 

- Finally, what's your favourite Carry On film and why?

Convenience. Oh, how anyone not love it? The pathos, the humour, the toilet jokes. It's all there. A beautiful film.

Many thanks to Glenda for answering my questions. You can check out the Coronation Street Blog here

You can follow Glenda on Twitter here and you can follow the Corrie Blog here 



 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also on Facebook

Carry On Blogging's Birthday on 29 March

 

This month sees Carry On Blogging turn the grand old age of two years old! I've crammed a lot in to the last 24 months of blogging and there's still a lot more I want to write, which I hope is a good thing!

I now have nearly 9000 loyal followers on Twitter and several hundred on Facebook. The blog receives over a thousand hits a day, over 400,000 since it first started up in 2015. The growth and popularity of my writing and the wonderful Carry On films never fails to surprise me. I love all the comments and feedback I get from my regular wallowing in good old fashioned comedy nostalgia and I plan to keep carrying on as long as possible.

My actual Carry On Blogging anniversary will be on 29 March. I will be marking the occasion by posting some of my most popular blogs from the past two years. I will also be blogging a very special interview with my blogging colleague, Glenda Young, editor of the fantastic Coronation Street Blog, a blog I have contributed to since November 2012. It's fair to say that without Glenda's influence and support I wouldn't be blogging at all, so it seemed fitting to feature her on my Carry On anniversary!

So stay tuned for all of that and as always, thanks again everyone! 

 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also Facebook

Guest Blog: When Danny Baker met Kenneth Williams

Here's another fantastic guest blog from my blogging colleague, the lovely Glenda Young. So what happened when Danny Baker met the legendary Kenneth Williams? Read on to find out...  


I’ve just returned from holiday where one of the books I read was part two of Danny Baker’s autobiography “Going Off Alarming”.  The book is very funny and contains many wonderful stories and anecdotes, most at Danny’s expense.  And there is one anecdote about Kenneth Williams that I really enjoyed reading and thought others might like to hear it too.  It goes like this…

Danny Baker was, by all accounts, a huge fan of Kenneth Williams in his early days and loved his album called On Pleasure Bent. It contained a song called Spa’s, a monologue played by Williams which containes the phrase ‘My Iris will tell you…”

 

Anyway, Danny Baker was working on the Six O’Clock Show at the time and was sent to a West End Theatre to interview Kenneth Williams.  One thing they knew about Kenneth was that he hated people being late, and of course, Danny Baker and his crew were stuck in traffic and arrived very late indeed for the interview. A woman at the theatre met them with: “Oh God, are you here for Kenneth Williams? He’s been sat downstairs for hours. He was in a filthy mood an hour back, Christ knows how he’ll be now. I pity you lot, for sure.”

And so with that, they entered the theatre to find Kenneth Williams. He met them with: “Oh, now you ****ing arrive! Well it’s a disgrace!” He gave them a right tongue-lashing for being late and when he finally paused for breath, Danny Baker jumped in with “My Iris will tell you…”

“How do YOU know that?” Kenneth said with a big smile. As Danny Baker goes on to say… Jesus Christ it did the trick.

Kenneth took Danny to one side and was as nice as could be to him, giving him a great interview and all of his frostiness disappeared. Danny does say “Of course it probably didn’t hurt that I was a fairly good-looking bit of rough then too.”

“I’ve seen you on the Aspel show,” Kenneth Williams told Danny. “Can’t bear him, the dreary queen. Can you slip something in his Sanatogen and take over?” Then seductively he purred to Danny. “Bring your LP next time we meet. I’ll sign it for you. Something filthy…”

 

Glenda Young, editor of Coronation Street Blog
http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also on Facebook

Guest Blog: Sid James and the Sunderland Empire

Here's another chance to read a wonderful guest blog from my Coronation Street Blog editor, the talented Glenda Young. In this post Glenda writes about her local theatre, the Sunderland Empire and its rather sad links with the King of Carry On, the late great Sidney James...This post seems fitting to share again on this, the fortieth anniversary of Sid's sad death.

I’m a huge panto fan. Oh yes I am! (etc).  And as a huge Coronation Street fan, I’m particularly excited about going to see this year’s Christmas pantomime at my local theatre – the Sunderland Empire.  The panto at the Empire this year is Aladdin and stars Terence Maynard from Corrie who played baddie Tony Stewart in the soap.  In the panto, Terence takes on the role of  baddie Abanazar and I’ll be sitting there booing and clapping and shouting and screaming with the rest of them. Oh yes, I love panto, it appeals to my inner five-year-old like nothing else on earth!  

And I also love my local theatre.  The Sunderland Empire http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/sunderland-empire/history/ is a very special place to me. As well as going there regularly since I was a child to see great shows, comedians, bands and pantomimes, it's also where I graduated as a mature student on stage. And it's where my dad proposed to my mam many years ago.

But Sunderland Empire might ring a different bell for Carry On fans as it was where Sid James passed away, on stage on the first night of a play he was starring in.

It was on Monday April 26 1976 when Sid James died. He was starring in a smutty comedy called The Mating Game at Sunderland Empire.  When Empire manager Roy Todds phoned the show’s producer, Bill Robertson, to tell him the shocking news that Sid had died, Robertson thought it was a joke. "Sid James has just died in Sunderland," said Todds. "Don’t worry, everybody dies in Sunderland," replied the producer.

The Empire audience had even greater trouble realising that what it was witnessing was not a scripted piece of comedy. Sitting next to Sid on the stage was actress Olga Lowe, an old friend from his early days in his native South Africa. She returned to the Empire to film a documentary about Sid and she told the Sunderland Echo: "I came on, said my first lines and he answered as normal. Then I sat on the sofa with him. I said my next line and he didn’t answer. His head had slumped and his eyes had gone back into his head. I thought it was a gag. Well, you would with Sid. He was such a rascal." 

 Olga began to ad lib. Sid did not respond. Her ad libbing became more frantic. Realising something was seriously wrong, she edged out to the wings and told the crew to bring down the curtain. Stage hands ran to fetch technical manager Mel James. Mel told the Sunderland Echo: "It was the only time I have had to ask if there was a doctor in the house." 

Still the spirit of humour lingered. Mel’s request brought a laugh from an audience. He asked again: "In all honesty, is there a doctor in the house?" There was indeed a doctor present - sitting in the front stalls. Usherette Irene Young met him and escorted him to the stricken actor. But still it seemed ludicrous. "The doctor came out and he thought it was a gag," says Olga. "But Sid was in a coma. The doctor called the ambulance and I believe he died on the way to hospital." She adds: "It was awful. Ten minutes earlier, before the show, he had been the same old Sid, larking about and laughing. After the curtain came down we sat in the dressing room, with a drink supplied by the theatre, not knowing what to say. We were all so shocked." 

It was later reported that he had died on stage of a heart attack. He was 62. Sid’s wife, Valerie Ashton, was with him in Sunderland that night and was present throughout, standing in the wings. It was an open secret, however, that Sid had been having an affair with his Carry On films co-star Barbara Windsor.

In a separate interview with the Sunderland Echo, Barbara Windsor spoke about Sid when she visited the North East to publicise her autobiography and she reckoned that Sid would be turning in his grave if he knew the circumstances of his death. She said: "It (touring to provincial theatres like The Sunderland Empire) was everything Sid hated. He liked his films and his television. The only time he did theatre was if he could have some lovely location. Like he would go to Australia and sail around the Far East to get there and stop off at Bangkok ... then come back via America. Many years after he died I was playing Birmingham and the old guy on the stage door said: ‘I look at you, Barbara, and I remember Sid so well. The last time you was (sic) with him was in this theatre and he came back a few years later and he looked desperately ill.’ Everyone said to him: ‘Don’t go up to Sunderland. He looked so ill, so unhappy. He went up to Sunderland and the rest is history."

According to showbiz legend Sid has never left Sunderland Empire. Soon after his death, actors began to report strange happenings in the late star’s dressing room, rumours that have always been denied by the theatre management. One who hinted at a disturbing encounter with Sid’s spirit was Les Dawson, who was in panto there. After his encounter with the ghost of Sid James, Les vowed never to return to the Sunderland Empire. 

The Empire is now listed as one of the most haunted places (if you believe in such things) in the UK due to the ghost of Sid James haunting the backstage area.

Last year my husband and I went on a backstage tour of the Sunderland Empire. You can see my pictures from the visit here >http://flamingnora.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-sunderland-empire-backstage-and.html  I didn’t notice or feel anything particularly odd about the backstage areas, no ghosts, no spirits, nothing.  But it did become apparent that our tour guide and Empire employee did indeed believe that there was something supernatural going on. Whether she said this just for publicity purposes, or if it’s really the belief of those in the theatrical professions, as – let’s face it – they are prone to a bit of drama and superstition, who knows?  My husband, however, couldn’t resist winding the guide up and did his best Sid James chuckle, which he does very, very well. Buy him a pint and he’ll do it for you too, he considers it his party trick.  The poor guide almost jumped out of her skin, my husband chuckled, I apologised and we left quick-sharp.

__

http://glendayoungbooks.com

Editor, Coronation Street Blog – written by Corrie fans for Corrie fans, and Corrie.net - the internet's first, original Coronation Street fan site

Download the App | Follow us on Twitter: @CoroStreetBlog | Like us on Facebook: CoronationStreetBlog

A Year of Carrying On: Glenda's Guest Blog

 

As I celebrate my first anniversary at Carry On Blogging, my Coronation Street Blog colleague Glenda Young has contributed this lovely guest blog. Thanks Glenda! 

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Where has the time gone? It’s been 12 whole months since Graeme started up his Carry On Blog and today I thought I’d write a few words by way of congratulations for all his hard work.

What I like most about this blog is the terrific insight that Graeme has bringing us the world of the Carry On films. The work on this blog is intelligent without being pretentious (if you know what I mean) and there’s a genuine love of the subject that comes through with every word. 

 


I also love the pictures that Graeme finds and posts to his @CarryOnJoan twitter account.  They’re pictures that without exception, always make me smile. But it’s more than that. The pictures take me back to my childhood, when I was watching the Carry On Films for the very first time. The memories the pictures evoke are very strong indeed.

Babs Windsor with her bra flying off in Carry on Camping? I was sitting on the sofa between my two brothers, giggling our heads off because it was so naughty and rude, while my parents sat at opposite ends of the living room, giggling too.  Odd Job in Carry On Screaming? I was terrified. I think I still am, but I no longer need to hide behind a cushion on the sofa.  Sid James and Joan Sims in Carry on at your Convenience? It took a few times of watching this one until I was old enough to understand the wonderful pathos and the love that could have been.

 

The blog posts here and the pictures that Graeme brings us via twitter daily are a treat. They are a spot of sunshine and fun in our social media lives.

Long may it continue!



Carry on, Graeme!

 Glenda Young

Editor of Coronation Street Blog

http://coronationstreetupdates.blospot.com

https://twitter.com/flaming_nora

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also on Facebook

Guest Blog: Sid James and The Sunderland Empire

Here's another wonderful guest blog from my Coronation Street Blog editor, the talented Glenda Young. In this post Glenda writes about her local theatre, the Sunderland Empire and its rather sad links with the King of Carry On, the late great Sidney James...

I’m a huge panto fan. Oh yes I am! (etc).  And as a huge Coronation Street fan, I’m particularly excited about going to see this year’s Christmas pantomime at my local theatre – the Sunderland Empire.  The panto at the Empire this year is Aladdin and stars Terence Maynard from Corrie who played baddie Tony Stewart in the soap.  In the panto, Terence takes on the role of  baddie Abanazar and I’ll be sitting there booing and clapping and shouting and screaming with the rest of them. Oh yes, I love panto, it appeals to my inner five-year-old like nothing else on earth!  

And I also love my local theatre.  The Sunderland Empire http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/sunderland-empire/history/ is a very special place to me. As well as going there regularly since I was a child to see great shows, comedians, bands and pantomimes, it's also where I graduated as a mature student on stage. And it's where my dad proposed to my mam many years ago.

But Sunderland Empire might ring a different bell for Carry On fans as it was where Sid James passed away, on stage on the first night of a play he was starring in.

It was on Monday April 26 1976 when Sid James died. He was starring in a smutty comedy called The Mating Game at Sunderland Empire.  When Empire manager Roy Todds phoned the show’s producer, Bill Robertson, to tell him the shocking news that Sid had died, Robertson thought it was a joke. "Sid James has just died in Sunderland," said Todds. "Don’t worry, everybody dies in Sunderland," replied the producer.

The Empire audience had even greater trouble realising that what it was witnessing was not a scripted piece of comedy. Sitting next to Sid on the stage was actress Olga Lowe, an old friend from his early days in his native South Africa. She returned to the Empire to film a documentary about Sid and she told the Sunderland Echo: "I came on, said my first lines and he answered as normal. Then I sat on the sofa with him. I said my next line and he didn’t answer. His head had slumped and his eyes had gone back into his head. I thought it was a gag. Well, you would with Sid. He was such a rascal." 

 Olga began to ad lib. Sid did not respond. Her ad libbing became more frantic. Realising something was seriously wrong, she edged out to the wings and told the crew to bring down the curtain. Stage hands ran to fetch technical manager Mel James. Mel told the Sunderland Echo: "It was the only time I have had to ask if there was a doctor in the house." 

Still the spirit of humour lingered. Mel’s request brought a laugh from an audience. He asked again: "In all honesty, is there a doctor in the house?" There was indeed a doctor present - sitting in the front stalls. Usherette Irene Young met him and escorted him to the stricken actor. But still it seemed ludicrous. "The doctor came out and he thought it was a gag," says Olga. "But Sid was in a coma. The doctor called the ambulance and I believe he died on the way to hospital." She adds: "It was awful. Ten minutes earlier, before the show, he had been the same old Sid, larking about and laughing. After the curtain came down we sat in the dressing room, with a drink supplied by the theatre, not knowing what to say. We were all so shocked." 

It was later reported that he had died on stage of a heart attack. He was 62. Sid’s wife, Valerie Ashton, was with him in Sunderland that night and was present throughout, standing in the wings. It was an open secret, however, that Sid had been having an affair with his Carry On films co-star Barbara Windsor.

In a separate interview with the Sunderland Echo, Barbara Windsor spoke about Sid when she visited the North East to publicise her autobiography and she reckoned that Sid would be turning in his grave if he knew the circumstances of his death. She said: "It (touring to provincial theatres like The Sunderland Empire) was everything Sid hated. He liked his films and his television. The only time he did theatre was if he could have some lovely location. Like he would go to Australia and sail around the Far East to get there and stop off at Bangkok ... then come back via America. Many years after he died I was playing Birmingham and the old guy on the stage door said: ‘I look at you, Barbara, and I remember Sid so well. The last time you was (sic) with him was in this theatre and he came back a few years later and he looked desperately ill.’ Everyone said to him: ‘Don’t go up to Sunderland. He looked so ill, so unhappy. He went up to Sunderland and the rest is history."

According to showbiz legend Sid has never left Sunderland Empire. Soon after his death, actors began to report strange happenings in the late star’s dressing room, rumours that have always been denied by the theatre management. One who hinted at a disturbing encounter with Sid’s spirit was Les Dawson, who was in panto there. After his encounter with the ghost of Sid James, Les vowed never to return to the Sunderland Empire. 

The Empire is now listed as one of the most haunted places (if you believe in such things) in the UK due to the ghost of Sid James haunting the backstage area.

Last year my husband and I went on a backstage tour of the Sunderland Empire. You can see my pictures from the visit here >http://flamingnora.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-sunderland-empire-backstage-and.html  I didn’t notice or feel anything particularly odd about the backstage areas, no ghosts, no spirits, nothing.  But it did become apparent that our tour guide and Empire employee did indeed believe that there was something supernatural going on. Whether she said this just for publicity purposes, or if it’s really the belief of those in the theatrical professions, as – let’s face it – they are prone to a bit of drama and superstition, who knows?  My husband, however, couldn’t resist winding the guide up and did his best Sid James chuckle, which he does very, very well. Buy him a pint and he’ll do it for you too, he considers it his party trick.  The poor guide almost jumped out of her skin, my husband chuckled, I apologised and we left quick-sharp.

__

http://glendayoungbooks.com

Editor, Coronation Street Blog – written by Corrie fans for Corrie fans, and Corrie.net - the internet's first, original Coronation Street fan site

Download the App | Follow us on Twitter: @CoroStreetBlog | Like us on Facebook: CoronationStreetBlog

Guest Blog: My Top Five Favourite Carry On Drag Queens!

My esteemed blogging colleague Glenda Young has contributed another lovely guest blog for Carry On Blogging. This time, Glenda shares her top five favourite Carry On drag performances. You can check Glenda's favourites out against mine in my blog post from some months back. 

-----

Graeme, who runs this wonderful site, blogged about his top 5 favourite carry on drags earlier this yearhttp://carryonfan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/what-drag.html and you can read that here.  

I agree with Graeme that there’s nothing funnier than a big daft man dressed up as a woman for comedy effect in a Carry On film and thought I’d share my favourite five drags too. 

It seems the more burly and rugged the man, the funnier they are in drag, hence Sid James appearing twice in my list.  My choices are slightly different to Graeme’s choices…  hope you enjoy them! 

Carry on Matron

Bernard Bresslaw 

Carry on Screaming

Peter Butterworth

Carry on Don’t Lose your Head

Sid James   

Carry on Up the Khyber

Charles Hawtrey and Peter Butterworth

Carry on at your Convenience

Sid James

Thanks Glenda!

If you would like to submit a guest blog on anything at all Carry On related, all you have to do is email your piece to carryonfan15@gmail.com - I look forward to hearing from you! 

__

http://glendayoungbooks.com

Editor, Coronation Street Blog – written by Corrie fans for Corrie fans, and Corrie.net - the internet's first, original Coronation Street fan site

Download the App | Follow us on Twitter: @CoroStreetBlog | Like us on Facebook: CoronationStreetBlog

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan