Joan Teresa Turner was a British comedian and singer, born in Belfast and brought up in London.
14 Facts About Joan Turner
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Joan Turner appeared on stage and TV and had her own radio show, becoming the highest-earning female singer in Britain.
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Joan Turner was a versatile performer, whose one-woman shows were legendary.
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Joan Teresa Turner was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 24 November 1922.
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Joan Turner's father was Leonard Turner, who became a London bus driver and subsequently taxicab driver after serving with the British Army in Ireland.
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At the age of 11, Turner won a talent competition at a cinema in Peckham, South London, doing impressions of Shirley Temple and Jessie Matthews.
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Joan Turner won a scholarship to the Sacred Heart convent in Victoria, London, but told her teachers of her intention to pursue a theatrical career, and left school.
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Joan Turner was nicknamed "the women's answer to Harry Secombe" and presented her own television show.
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Joan Turner topped the bill at the London Palladium and appeared in the 1963 Royal Variety Show, topping the bill ahead of The Beatles.
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Joan Turner topped bills in New York City and the Las Vegas Valley, and was romantically linked to Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, and Terry-Thomas.
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Joan Turner continued singing 25 minutes longer than planned on the live broadcast.
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Joan Turner failed the audition but decided to stay on in California illegally, her green card having expired in the 1980s.
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Joan Turner died on 1 March 2009 at her home in Banstead, Surrey, of a heart attack.
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Joan Turner had divorced his first wife, Nancy Page, in November 1945.