1. Romana Barrack, known professionally as Carla Lane, was an English television writer responsible for several successful British sitcoms, including The Liver Birds, Butterflies, and Bread.
13 Facts About Carla Lane
1. 2.
Carla Lane was born in West Derby, Liverpool, in the United Kingdom on 5 August 1928.
3.
Carla Lane's father was Gordon De Vince Barrack, a Welsh-Italian steward in the merchant navy, and her mother was Ivy Amelia.
4.
Carla Lane had a younger brother, Ramon, and a sister, Marna.
5.
Carla Lane attended a convent school and, aged seven, won a school poetry prize.
6.
Carla Lane left school aged 14, and worked in nursing.
7.
Carla Lane said that she used a pseudonym, "Carla Lane", because of her modesty about revealing that she was a writer.
8.
Carla Lane encouraged them to write a half-hour script, which was broadcast as a pilot episode of The Liver Birds in April 1969.
9.
Carla Lane had been a vegetarian dedicated to the care and welfare of animals since 1965, She established the "Animal Line" trust in 1990 with her friends Rita Tushingham and Linda McCartney.
10.
In 1993, Carla Lane converted the grounds of her mansion, Broadhurst Manor in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, into a 25-acre animal sanctuary.
11.
Carla Lane operated the sanctuary for 15 years before having to close operations due to financial constraints.
12.
In 2002, Carla Lane returned her OBE to then prime minister Tony Blair in protest against animal cruelty.
13.
Carla Lane died, aged 87, at Stapley Nursing Home in Mossley Hill, in Liverpool, on 31 May 2016.