Muriel Young
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muriel Young is a legend in British television. Previously married to James Pearson of The White House, Belfast. Her maiden name was Irwin and she lived, for a while, in 2,University Square, Belfast. The famous TV cat Pussy Cat Willum was the "cuddle" of her son John; who finally gave up the cat for a guitar in the 1960s. Starting as an actress, she co-starred with Rex Harrison in "The Constant Husband" and was also in "The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan". She carved a career for herself as an attractive and talented leading lady.
In 1955, as the first ITV company Associated-Rediffusion was gearing up to launch, she intended to attend an actors' audition at the company, but mistakenly went to an announcers' audition instead. This took her career in a new direction; she was instantly hired and announced for A-R on September 22, 1955, the opening night of commercial television in the UK.
She worked as a presenter and interviewer for regional programmes on Granada Television and Southern Television, and as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg, but was probably most famous for her work as a presenter of children's programmes for Associated-Rediffusion and Rediffusion London between 1959 and 1968, working alongside Wally Whyton and Bert Weedon, and featuring the puppet characters Pussy Cat Willum, Ollie Beak and Fred Barker. The popular format they created lasted for many years, under various titles: Lucky Dip, Tuesday Rendezvous, Five O'Clock Club, Ollie and Fred's Five O'Clock Club and Five O'Clock Funfair.
In the late 1960s and 1970s Muriel Young became a staff producer of pop programmes for Granada Television, with such shows as Lift Off With Ayshea, Get It Together, The Bay City Rollers show Shang-a-Lang, The Arrows Show and Marc, starring Marc Bolan. She also devised the Granada children's series Clapperboard. In the 1980s she produced music programmes for Channel 4.
Muriel Young died on March 24, 2001, but left behind a significant legacy of her creativity, with many enjoyable television shows and performances.
