Betty - The Autobiography

Betty Driver with Daran Little

Betty Driver is known to millions as Coronation Street's Betty Turpin, the longest serving barmaid at the Rover's Return who has been dispensing hotpot and her own brand of northern wisdom for thirty years.

Many also remember Betty as one of Britains most popular singers. A professional since the age of twelve, she went on to star in revues, radio and film, touring with Henry Hall's band during the Second World War. Recreating the occasionally glamorous, often arduous world of variety during the thirties and forties, Betty writes about encounters with nudes at the Windmill, filming with George Formby, her friendship with Bud Flanagan and the time she was royally snubbed by Gracie Fields.

A beautiful young woman, confident and vivacious on stage, in private Betty suffered froma crippling lack of self esteem. Now she reveals how she was pushed into a life she hated by a domineering and critical mother whose hold over her continued into adulthood. She tells of work lost and relationships destroyed by her mother until her sister Freda helped her break free. And she talks openly about how she met and fell in love with Wally Paterson, and how their marriage broke down, leaving her almost penniless.

Television offered Betty a whole new career. First starring with Arthur Lowe in Pardon the Expression, she joined the cast of Coronation Street in 1969 - and the rest is history. Now, as she reaches her eightieth year, she looks back on all the great characters she has worked with and describes how the programme has changed over the decades. Frank, funny and moving, Betty is a celebration of one of the longest and most remarkable showbusiness careers.