36 Facts About Betty Driver

Betty Driver had previously appeared as Mrs Edgley in Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression opposite Arthur Lowe.

Betty Driver was made an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.

Betty Driver was born in 1920 at the Prebend Nursing Home, Leicester, the elder of two daughters of Frederick and Nellie Driver.

Betty Driver's father had fought in the trenches during the First World War and later became a policeman.

However, Driver described her mother as "the driving force" in her life.

Betty Driver went to school at Wilbraham Road, and was later joined there by her younger sister Freda, who shared a class with a young Patricia Manfield, later known as Pat Phoenix, the actress who went on to play the role of Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street, alongside Betty Driver.

Betty Driver described her parents as absent of affection, stating that they never celebrated birthdays and rarely gave her toys and gifts.

Betty Driver's mother had never wanted children, and developed an interest in her daughter only when she discovered she had a talent for singing.

Betty Driver's singing stood out so much that Manders asked her to come forward and sing with him.

At the age of eight, Betty Driver began performing professionally, forced by her mother to appear with Terence Byron Repertory Theatre Company.

Betty Driver was singing for the BBC by the age of 10, and began touring across the UK in her first revue at the age of 12.

Betty Driver was approached by George Formby after he and his wife Beryl Formby saw her perform in Manchester.

The producers felt so bad about the way Betty Driver had been treated that they refused to take her name off the film credits, even though it was long thought she did not appear in the theatrical release.

Nineteen at the time, Betty Driver resumed touring the country in variety shows.

Betty Driver continued in variety, opening in the Coventry Hippodrome and sharing the bill with the Andrews family - father Ted, mother Barbara and Julie.

Betty Driver made regular trips to Bristol to sing on a radio show called Ack Ack Beer Beer and made her final film in 1941, Facing the Music.

Betty Driver appeared for seven years on the radio show Henry Hall's Guest Night and on her own show, A Date with Betty, which was broadcast live from the People's Palace in London's East End on 14 July 1949.

Betty Driver recorded many popular tunes in the 1940s and became an established singer during this time.

Betty Driver travelled to Australia, where she performed her own show, and her career took her to Cyprus, Malta and the Middle East.

Betty Driver was cast later, alongside Arthur Lowe, in the series Pardon the Expression, a spin-off of Coronation Street.

Betty Driver described Lowe as "such a difficult man to work with"; after a much-publicised injury, she retired and began running a pub, the Cock Hotel in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, with her sister Freda.

Betty Driver was the longest-serving barmaid in the history of the Rover's Return, and Betty's Hot Pot is an iconic dish, which has been offered as a ready meal in UK supermarkets.

Betty Driver was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976, when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

Betty Driver was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2000 New Year Honours.

Betty Driver was reportedly admitted to hospital with a chest infection in April 2010.

Betty Driver vowed in September 2010 never to retire, stating that: "If I retire, I'll be dead in six months with boredom" and stated she still "loved" being part of Coronation Street.

Betty Driver said she fell in love several times in her teenage years, but each relationship was ruined by her mother, who wanted to keep her daughter single so as not to lose her free "meal ticket".

All the earnings Betty Driver made before she turned 21 and was in charge of her own finances were squandered by her parents.

In December 1952, at Burnt Oak Registry Office in London, she married South African singer Wally Petersen, something Betty Driver claimed she did out of "defiance" of her domineering mother, who she has said "always felt Wally was only interested in my bank account".

Petersen had appeared as part of a double-act on The Betty Driver Show in 1949, where they met and fell in love.

Betty Driver wanted me in short knee-length wide skirts, which I loathed.

Betty Driver became pregnant with Petersen's child, but suffered a miscarriage.

Betty Driver was in such a bad financial state that her sister had to send her money to allow her to return home to the United Kingdom.

On 11 March 1970, Betty Driver was awarded a decree nisi in an undefended lawsuit at Salford Divorce Court.

Betty Driver alleged desertion against her husband, and he was ordered by the judge to pay the costs of the lawsuit.

Betty Driver was godmother to James Roache, the youngest son of William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.