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Blanche Coleman
Edit ProfileCareer
Her family owned a fish and chips shop in Westbourne Park. She featured in regular radio broadcasts, including Saturday night at the Palais, Ocean Revue of 1946 and the Sandown Summer Show (1947). In 1947 her band was the resident band at "Radio-Olympia" designed to stimulate interest in the newly revived British Broadcasting Corporation television service.
After this she led the resident band in Beach Ballroom Aberdeen, between 1948 and 1950 with John Hanson, a popular guest singer.
In the early 1950s, after much seaside work, she and her band were invited to entertain the United States Army in Germany. Given the honorary rank of major in the United States Army, she and the band were housed in the infamous "Wannsee Villa" for a time.
She wanted to take Cleo Laine with the band as vocalist, but the United States Army said the race issue was too sensitive. In later life she appeared in several films, including The World of Barry McKenzie, and she is frequently recognised as the old lady at a bus stop in Four Weddings & A Funeral.
Achievements
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After showing an early talent for violin, she won a scholarship for the Royal School of Music. She formed her own band in 1938 and won a contract, against great competition, in 1942, to provide a 12-piece girls" band at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, which was converted into dance-hall for British and American service personnel.
