Beryl Ingham

[West Ender]

And who the hell is she? you ask. Beryl was better known as Mrs George Formby (in reality Mrs Booth - George's real family name). She had started in Show Business in a clog dancing act, with her sister, called "The Two Violets".

Beryl is renowned as the dragon who ruled George with a rod of iron. She was his business manager and, without doubt, the apparent dominatrix of their marriage but she deliberately took the flak for any action which might have made George unpopular, such as leaving or avoiding a function. "Oh I'll have to ask Beryl," George would say, knowing that this would elicit a prearranged "No" from the the wife. "It doesn't matter what they think of me," said Beryl, "But the public must love George."

[cashman]

was she a local lass west ender?

[garinda]

In the first Genus edition of Trivial Pursuits (1984), one of the questions was whose wife was a clog dancer from Acrington, the answer being George Formby.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by garinda

In the first Genus edition of Trivial Pursuits (1984), one of the questions was whose wife was a clog dancer from Acrington, the answer being George Formby.

ah cheers fer that mate, i knew quite a few inghams differant familys way back n 1 had a daughter who was a bit of a dragon, perhaps a relative?

[garinda]

Formby's naivety went hand-on-ukulele with an ingenuous common decency. On tour in South Africa in 1946, Formby played to black audiences despite threats from Daniel Malan, head of the National Party and one of the chief architects of apartheid. At the end of one show a three-year-old girl presented "the wife" (Beryl) with a box of chocolates. Beryl gave her a big kiss and handed her on to George for another. Malan had the couple thrown out of the country. "Never come back here again," he bellowed. Beryl gave as good as she got. She told Malan: "Why don't you **** off, you horrible little man?"

Book review: George Formby by David Bret | Arts critics | guardian.co.uk Arts

[garinda]

Just noticed on the ever so unreliable Wikipedia, that those cheeky Darreners have claimed Beryl as one of their own, in the Culture section of Darwen's page.

Darwen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[cashman]

Originally Posted by garinda

Just noticed on the ever so unreliable Wikipedia, that those cheeky Darreners have claimed Beryl as one of their own, in the Culture section of Darwen's page.

Darwen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

perhaps it was the " Dragon" quote that led em to claim her.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by garinda

Just noticed on the ever so unreliable Wikipedia, that those cheeky Darreners have claimed Beryl as one of their own, in the Culture section of Darwen's page.

Darwen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The what section of Darwen's page

[garinda]

Originally Posted by jaysay

The what section of Darwen's page

Yes, that cultural backwater are grabbing at straws, which is probably why they nicked 'our Beryl'.

[West Ender]

She was definitely from Accrington.

George, of course, was born in Wigan but he grew up in Stockton Heath, Warrington. The family home was a quite large house on London Rd which has just been granted planning permission to become a hotel.

Warrington is very proud of George (he's buried in the Borough Cemetery) and the museum had a George Formby exhibition a few years ago. It was fascinating, amongst loads of other things there were several of his banjoleles and 2 of his motorbikes - he loved fast cars and fast bikes. There was even a set of racing colours that he had worn when he was very young and was an apprentice jockey. He did all his own stunts in films - so you'll see him riding horses and motorbikes.

Once they were married Beryl devoted her life to him and through her very shrewd management and his own talent he became a very wealthy man. Most of his money went on cars, houses and - Beryl.

[Atarah]

Her family came from Baxenden, they ended up having a pub in Elephant Street, Accrington