Virginia Stride

Last updated

Virginia Stride
Born
Virginia Thomas

1936 (age 8788)
Yokohama, Japan
Education Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActress
Spouse John Stride

Virginia Thomas (born 1936), professionally known as Virginia Stride, is a British actress on stage and screen who first came to public attention on television in the 1960s.

Contents

She was the first wife of the actor John Stride (1936–2018), whom she met when they were studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and in 1964 she introduced the first programme to be seen on BBC Two.

Early years

Virginia Stride was born in Yokohama, Japan.[ citation needed ] She was, in her own words, a "fat little girl" and, although she became slimmer in her teens, her self-consciousness about this in childhood had made her sceptical of an acting career. [1] In the event, she went to RADA rather than read English at university, and took her husband's name for professional purposes because of pressure from agents who felt that Virginia Thomas "didn't sound quite right". [1]

Career

Virginia Stride played the recurring role of control room radio operator Katy Hoskins in Z-Cars (1962–64), the long-running BBC television series about the police in a fictional town near Liverpool. In 1964 she appeared in an episode of The Avengers as Alice Brisket, secretary to Quilpie (played by Ronald Radd), who was the controller of John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman). [2]

Stride was the first presenter, on 21 April 1964, of Play School , a daily programme for young children on BBC 2. Because a power failure coincided with the channel's scheduled opening the previous evening, [3] Play School was the first programme to be transmitted on BBC 2. In 1966 Stride appeared in the BBC comedy series On the Margin , a collection of sketches and songs written by Alan Bennett, who, together with John Sergeant (later the BBC's political correspondent), also starred in the show. The six episodes of On the Margin were twice repeated in 1967 but were among many programmes "wiped" by the BBC in the 1970s. [4] A compact disc of surviving audio extracts was released by the BBC in 2009.

Virginia Stride's best-known role was probably as the "seductive" [1] Liz Champion in Champion House , a weekly drama series created for the BBC by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, [5] which concerned a family-run textile business in Yorkshire. Liz Champion was a member of the company's board. She was the daughter of Jack Champion, whose father, Joe (played by Edward Chapman), had made the company over to him, only to see it pass, after Jack's early death, to Liz's eldest brother Stephen (James Kerry), who had his own less compliant ideas of the firm's direction.

The first episode of Champion House was shown on 28 May 1967 [6] and there was a second series in 1968. Its initial profile was assisted by live coverage on 28 May of the return of Sir Francis Chichester from his solo circumnavigation of the world.

Other roles

Virginia Stride appeared in episodes of a number of other television series, including Out of the World (1962), Public Eye (1966), The Baron (1966, as an hotelier who has an implied "one-night stand" with John Mannering, the "Baron", played by Steve Forrest [7] ), The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder (as Margaret Bellman in the first series, in 1969, a role that Gillian Lewis played in the second series in 1971), Callan (1972), The Expert (1976), Target (1978) and A Touch of Spice (1989). Her films include I Want What I Want (1972), based on Geoff Brown's novel of 1966 about transsexualism.

In the early 21st century Stride performed with the Agatha Christie Theatre Company, for example on tour in The Unexpected Guest (with, among others, Simon MacCorkindale and former singer Mark Wynter) in 2006. [8]

Personal

Virginia Stride has three daughters, Philippa and Lindsay, by her first husband, the actor John Stride, and another daughter, Lucy, from a subsequent relationship with the producer and football chairman Bill Kenwright. She has four grandchildren.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Radio Times, 29 June-5 July 1967
  2. Episode, The Outside-In Man
  3. Burton Graham (1974) A Do You Remember Book: Television
  4. See Mark Lewisohn at
  5. Adair and Ling created the long-running daily "soap opera", Crossroads , in 1964.
  6. Radio Times, 27 May-2 June 1967
  7. Episode, The Persuaders, 16 November 1966
  8. New Theatre, Cardiff | What's On

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Junkin</span> British comedy writer and performer

John Francis Junkin was an English actor and scriptwriter who had a long career in radio, television and film, specialising in comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Hampshire</span> British actress, born 1937

Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, is an English actress known for her many television and film roles. She is a three-time Emmy Award winner, winning for The Forsyte Saga in 1970, The First Churchills in 1969, and for Vanity Fair in 1973. Her other television credits include The Pallisers (1974), The Grand (1997–98) and Monarch of the Glen (2000–2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Hancock</span> British actress (born 1933)

Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed in theatre - plays and musicals in London, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in Play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Syms</span> English actress (1934–2023)

Sylvia May Laura Syms was an English stage and screen actress. Her best-known film roles include My Teenage Daughter (1956), Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, Ice Cold in Alex (1958), No Trees in the Street (1959), Victim (1961), and The Tamarind Seed (1974).

Hannah Campbell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress and presenter who is known for her television work in the United Kingdom, including My Wife Next Door (1972), Upstairs, Downstairs (1974–75), Telford's Change (1979), Joint Account (1989–90) and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave, broadcast in 2000. She has presented the Channel 4 lifestyle show Watercolour Challenge from 1998 to 2001 and played Ann Treves in David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man. She is sometimes credited under her first married name of Hannah Warwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynda Baron</span> English actress and singer (1939–2022)

Lilian Ridgway, known professionally as Lynda Baron, was an English actress and singer. She is known for having played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours (1976–1985) and its sequel, Still Open All Hours (2013–2016), Auntie Mabel in the award-winning children's series Come Outside (1993–1997), and the part of Linda Clarke in EastEnders in 2006 and from 2008 to 2009, with a brief return in 2016.

Louise Elizabeth Goddard professionally known as Liza Goddard, is an English television and stage actress, best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.

<i>Compact</i> (TV series) British TV series created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling

Compact is a British television soap opera shown by BBC Television from January 1962 to July 1965, created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling.

Ann Forrest Bell is a British actress, best known for playing war internee Marion Jefferson in the BBC Second World War drama series Tenko.

Champion House is a BBC television drama series created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who had previously devised Compact and Crossroads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Summerfield</span> British actress (1921–2001)

Eleanor Audrey Summerfield was an English actress who appeared in many plays, films and television series. She is known for her roles in Laughter in Paradise (1951), Final Appointment (1954), Odongo (1956), Dentist in the Chair (1960), On the Fiddle (1961), The Running Man (1963) and Some Will, Some Won't (1970).

<i>Play School</i> (British TV series) British TV series or programme

Play School is a British children's television series produced by the BBC which ran from 21 April 1964 until 11 March 1988. It was created by Joy Whitby and was aimed at preschool children. Each programme followed a broad theme and consisted of songs, stories and activities with presenters in the studio, along with a short film introduced through either the square, round or arched window in the set.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Sommars</span> American actress

Julie Sommars is an American actress. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her role in The Governor & J.J. in 1970, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television for Matlock in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veronica Hurst</span> British actress (1931–2022)

Veronica Patricia Hurst was a British film, stage and television actress. Hurst was born in Malta and brought up in Tooting, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Rollings</span>

Gordon Charles Rollings was an English actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in Batley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1926 and started his career in radio in Palestine. It was in Palestine while serving in the British Army during the Mandate that he was shot by a sniper of the Stern Gang. He later trained as a clown in Paris, appearing in the Medrano Circus.

<i>The Bed-Sit Girl</i> British TV series or programme

The Bed-Sit Girl is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1966. Created by Chesney and Wolfe for Sheila Hancock, The Bed-Sit Girl aired for two series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Pastell</span> Cypriot actor

George Pastell was a Cypriot character actor in British films and television programmes. Sources vary as to whether his real name was Nino (IMDb) or George Pastellides (BFI). His marriage record gives his name as Georgiou Pastellides while his RADA record lists his name as George Pastel.

This is a list of British television related events from 1966.

Gillian Lewis is an English character actress who, after a varied stage career in the 1950s and early '60s, appeared in a number of television drama series until the late 1970s. Her best known roles were probably as the runaway heiress Geraldine Melford in the original London production of Slade and Reynolds' musical Free as Air and, on television, as Drusilla Lamb, secretary to Mr. Rose in the detective series of that name.

Hazel Joyce Marriott, known professionally as Hazel Adair, was a British actress turned screenwriter and creator of soap operas for radio and television. She is best known for co-creating Crossroads with Peter Ling.