Beryl Ingham
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Beryl Ingham Was born in Haslingden, Lancashire in 1901 she was a champion clogdancer and actress, at the age of 11 she won the All England Step Dancing Title. Later she formed a dancing act with her sister May, they called themselves The Two Violets [1] It was in 1923 while they were appearing in music hall in Yorkshire that she met George Formby, They married in Georges home town of Wigan, Lancashire the following year [2]. They worked together as a variety act until 1932 when she became his full time manager & mentor, though she did in fact appear in some of his films for which George was paid up to £35,000 per performance. It was due to Beryl's business nous that she guided George to be the UK's highest paid entertainer. At a time of high taxation he was paying 97.5% of his earnings to the taxman. In 1946 she was with George on a tour of South Africa, despite threats from the National Party leader Daniel François Malan he played to black audiences, Beryl embraced a three year old black girl who had pressented her with a box of chocolates and Mr Malan had them thrown out of the country "never come back to this country" he is reported to have shouted at them, Beryl with a typical northern response replied "Why dont you p*ss off you horrible little man" [3] Beryl continued to manage Georges career till she contracted leukemia - she passed away on Christmas Day 1960 in Blackpool.
