Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director.
59 Facts About Victoria Wood
2.
Victoria Wood was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.
3.
Victoria Wood started her career in 1974 by appearing on, and winning, the ATV talent show New Faces.
4.
Victoria Wood won two more BAFTA TV Awards, including Best Actress, for her 2006 ITV1 television film, Housewife, 49.
5.
In 2006, Victoria Wood came tenth in ITV's poll of the British public's 50 Greatest TV Stars.
6.
Victoria Wood was the youngest child of Stanley Wood, an insurance salesman, who wrote songs for his company's Christmas parties, was the author of the musical play "Clogs" based in a Lancashire village in 1887 and wrote part time for Coronation Street, Northern Drift and others; and Ellen "Nellie" Wood.
7.
Victoria Wood had three siblings: a brother, Chris, and two sisters, Penny and Rosalind.
8.
Victoria Wood was born in Prestwich and brought up in nearby Bury.
9.
Victoria Wood developed eating disorders, but in 1968, her father gave her a piano for her 15th birthday.
10.
Victoria Wood went on to study in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham.
11.
Victoria Wood began her show business career while an undergraduate, appearing on the TV talent show New Faces in 1974.
12.
Victoria Wood had met long-term collaborator Julie Walters in 1971, when Wood applied to the Manchester School of Theatre, then part of Manchester Polytechnic.
13.
Peter Eckersley, the head of drama at Granada Television, saw Talent and invited Victoria Wood to create a television adaptation.
14.
The success of the television version of Talent led to Victoria Wood writing the follow-up Nearly a Happy Ending.
15.
Victoria Wood credited him with giving her her first big break, and felt that Victoria Wood and Walters suffered due to his death.
16.
Victoria Wood was not impressed by Brian Armstrong, his fill-in, and was of the opinion that he hired unsuitable supporting actors.
17.
In October 1983 Victoria Wood performed her first solo stand-up show, Lucky Bag, in a five-week run at the King's Head Theatre in Islington.
18.
Victoria Wood left Granada in 1984 for the BBC, which promised her more creative control over projects.
19.
Later that year her sketch show Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV went into production.
20.
Victoria Wood chose the actors: her friend Julie Walters starred, as did Duncan Preston.
21.
Scene, a documentary for BBC2 later that year, showed footage of Victoria Wood preparing for the tour.
22.
The end of 1988 saw the release of her second live performance Victoria Wood Live, recorded at the Brighton Dome.
23.
Victoria Wood featured Wood in several individual stories such as "We'd Quite Like To Apologise", set in an airport departure lounge, and "Over to Pam", set around a fictional talk show.
24.
Wood took the show on the road again during March and April 1991, where it was recorded at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, and later released as Victoria Wood Sold Out in 1991.
25.
Victoria Wood briefly returned to sketches for the 1992 Christmas Day special Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast, and branched out into children's animation, voicing all the characters for the CBBC series Puppydog Tales.
26.
Victoria Wood set out on a 68-date tour of the UK in May 1996, which played at venues in Leicester, Sheffield, Ipswich, Blackpool, Wolverhampton, Bradford, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Brighton, Nottingham, Oxford, Southend, Manchester and Cambridge.
27.
Victoria Wood re-wrote the entire first half of the show and incorporated the operation into her act.
28.
Victoria Wood played Julie Walters' lead role of Mrs Overall for Monday and Wednesday matinee performances.
29.
Victoria Wood wrote the one-off ITV serious drama Housewife, 49, an adaptation of the diaries of Nella Last, and played the eponymous role of an introverted middle-aged character who discovers new confidence and friendships in Lancashire during the Second World War.
30.
Housewife, 49 was critically acclaimed, and Victoria Wood won BAFTAs for both her acting and writing for this drama; a rare double.
31.
The film starred Stephanie Cole and David Threlfall as well as, in a small role, Sue Wallace with whom Victoria Wood had worked before and studied alongside at Birmingham.
32.
Victoria Wood was the subject of an episode of The South Bank Show in March 2007, and is the only woman to be the subject of two South Bank programmes.
33.
Victoria Wood departed Victoria Station, London, for Calcutta, Hong Kong and Borneo in the first programme.
34.
Victoria Wood returned to stand-up comedy, with a special performance for the celebratory show Happy Birthday BAFTA on 28 October 2007, alongside other household names.
35.
In December 2007, when a guest on the radio programme Desert Island Discs, Victoria Wood said she was about to make her first foray into film, writing a script described as a contemporary comedy about a middle-aged person.
36.
In 2009, Victoria Wood provided the voice of God for Liberace, Live From Heaven by Julian Woolford at London's Leicester Square Theatre.
37.
On New Year's Day 2011, Victoria Wood appeared in a BBC drama Eric and Ernie as Eric Morecambe's mother, Sadie Bartholomew.
38.
Victoria Wood narrated the 2012 miniseries The Talent Show Story.
39.
On 22 December 2012, Victoria Wood was a guest on BBC Radio Two's Saturday morning Graham Norton Show.
40.
In March 2014, Victoria Wood voiced the TV advertisement for the tour of the old set of Coronation Street.
41.
On 5 December 2014 Victoria Wood was a guest on BBC's The Graham Norton Show.
42.
On 26 December 2014, a television movie adaptation of That Day We Sang, directed by Victoria Wood, starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, was shown on BBC Two.
43.
In early 2015, Victoria Wood took part in a celebrity version of The Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief and was crowned Star Baker in her episode.
44.
In 1979, Victoria Wood received Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her play Talent.
45.
In 1997, Victoria Wood was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1997 Birthday Honours.
46.
Victoria Wood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
47.
Victoria Wood was the highest-ranked woman on the list, above French and Saunders, Joan Rivers and Joyce Grenfell.
48.
Victoria Wood's sketch show Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV won BAFTA awards for its two series and Christmas Special.
49.
Victoria Wood was voted 'Funniest Comedian' by the readers of Reader's Digest in 2005 and came eighth in ITV's poll of the public's 50 Greatest Stars, four places behind long term regular co-star Julie Walters.
50.
Victoria Wood was the recipient of six British Comedy Awards: Best stand-up live comedy performer ; Best female comedy performer ; WGGB Writer of the year ; Best live stand-up ; Outstanding achievement award ; Best female TV comic.
51.
Victoria Wood was a 14-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, winning four.
52.
Victoria Wood received a special BAFTA at a tribute evening in 2005.
53.
Victoria Wood married stage magician Geoffrey Durham in March 1980 and they had two children: Grace, born 1 October 1988 and Henry, born 2 May 1992.
54.
Victoria Wood was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in late 2015, but kept her illness largely private.
55.
Victoria Wood died on 20 April 2016 at her Highgate home, in the presence of her children and former husband.
56.
Victoria Wood's family celebrated her life with a humanist funeral and cremation at Golders Green Crematorium on 5 May 2016.
57.
In 2017, Victoria Wood was the subject of a seven-part show dedicated mainly to extracts from her TV and live work.
58.
The main series, titled Our Friend Victoria Wood, aired on BBC One between 11 April and 9 May and concluded later in the year with a Christmas special on 23 December 2017.
59.
On 17 May 2019, a statue of Victoria Wood was unveiled in her home town of Bury in Lancashire.