julian_craster

Talking of lovely ladies from the 1950s, does anybody recall
June Laverick, who I often used to get confused with
June Thorburn in the past !

JL made about half a dozen films (including The Gypsy and the Gentleman and
Follow a Star both for the Rank Organisation), then seems to have retired in the 1960s.

Does anybody have any info on June, and what happened to her
after the Dickie Henderson show on TV ?

Marky B

June Laverick was born in Redcar - that is much as I know about her!
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

Jackdaw

If I recall correctly,she was named in the press as being the (a) major beneficiary of Hughie Green's will.

Jacky

Fellwanderer

Hope this is the article you wanted!

Morrison Maintains Glove Affair (from The Northern Echo)

Oops! Not so sure.

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

Marky B

I noticed that one as well,Fell. There was a good article in yesterday's Northern Echo about her. It seems a friend of hers just recently has contacted her,so she must be still alive.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

julian_craster

What a pity that the recent BBC4 drama about Hughie Green [with Trevor Eve] did not mention the June Laverick connection......there was clearly more than the Jess/Paula Yates connection they could have focused on, especially as June Laverick was apparently included in Hughie's will....

Or perhaps the producers just assumed that nobody viewing in 2008 would have even heard of June Laverick, let alone remember her.. Very sad.....she was so famous in 1960 that she was referred to in comedy sketches on the BEYOND OUR KEN radio show !

julian_craster

How June won the hearts of all
Morrison Maintains Glove Affair (from The Northern Echo)

The fortnight-back column on the reunion of Bishop Auckland's fabled fifties' footballers mentioned that they might spend Saturday nights partying at June Laverick's - "the future actress who was married to comedian Dickie Henderson (not correct - only on tv show) "

Bonny lass, mind. "Deliciously pretty, beautiful and graceful, 1950s' cheesecake," says a synopsis for the film The Duke Wore Jeans, in which she starred.

This image from a 1050s edition of Picturegoer magazine suggests that the synopsis was, indeed, gospel.

Stan Coates remembers her well. Like June he was born in Redcar in 1931, attended primary school with her, knew that her only "marriage" to Dickie Henderson was in Henderson's long-running 1960s television series.

But what, asks Stan - now in Guisborough - was she doing kicking round with the footballers from Bishop Auckland?

June Laverick was born in Laburnum Road, Redcar, went to ballet school and Sadlers Wells, saw a performance of Brigadoon (of all the buoyant fripperies) and decided she wanted to concentrate on light entertainment.

Her parents ran a pub in Bishop Auckland - the Castle, memory suggests, though it might have been the Aclet, or both - before they moved back to the Royal in Redcar.

After retiring in her 30s, she moved back to Redcar, marrying an ICI process worker and briefly taking over the Royal's licence before returning south alone. Colin Hurworth's 1999 history of ICI Wilton shows her, tab in hand, meeting the workers.

The Queen visited ICI Wilton about the same time, but would never smoke Woodbines in public.

Though she never did marry Dickie Henderson, Stan Coates recalls the rumour that June was "close to" contentious quizmaster Hughie Green. It was undoubtedly true: for years they lived in adjacent flats, next to Baker Street Tube station in London.

June Laverick, when last heard of, remained there. Actress and the Bishops, she is reluctant to talk about her past.

Marky B

Cheers,Julian.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

bhowells

I always get June Laverick mixed up with the American actress June Lockhart(daughter of character actor Gene.

I clearly recall June Laverick playing Dickies wife in the Dicke Henderson show, Iwas very young at the time but it had a very mid-Atlantic feel especially as that Candaidan actor played his mate, cant recall his name off hand

francesgumm

Lionel Murton?

Santonix

It was Lionel Murton.

Jackdaw

I couldn't stand Dickie Henderson, but my old man used to become apopleptic at the mere mention of his name!
If he came into the room when the great man was on, he used to ask, "has he fallen over yet?" - a reference to Henderson's constant throwing himself about in the absence of a proper act.
RIP both of them.

donna

you know I was trying to remember the name of that show Dickie Henderson aye thats it , wasnt she a lovely girl yes she was one I liked too.

Marky B

Neither could I.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know