Anona Winn MBE (born
Anona Edna Wilkins, 5 January 1904 – 2 February 1994) was an Australian-born
actress, broadcaster and singer, who spent most of her career in the UK. She
will be remembered by the generation who were alive in 'the golden age of
radio' (before television was part of everyday life) when millions listened to
her intelligent performances in Twenty Questions and Petticoat Line.
She was born in Sydney in 1904 (she was always reluctant to
disclose her age), the daughter of David Winn-Wilkins and Lilian (nee
Woodgate), and educated at Redland College for Girls in Sydney. She rejected
her original plan to become a lawyer and studied for an operatic and concert
career at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Albert Street
Conservatorium, Melbourne, becoming a pupil of Dame Nellie Melba.
After journalistic work, and singing in The Merry Widow, she
came to England in 1927 and appeared in The Blue Mazurka (music by Franz
Lehar). That year she opened at the London Hippodrome in a musical comedy, Hit
the Deck. When Ivy Tresmand, a leading lady of the time, became ill, she took
over the main part. Norman Hackforth (later to become a colleague as the
'mystery voice' on Twenty Questions) met her at this period when she sang his songs.
He described her as 'a pretty young Australian soprano'.
The BBC was broadcasting from Savoy Hill and Winn rapidly
made her name as a radio artiste, mainly in revues with Harry S. Pepper and
Doris Arnold. In 1930 she appeared at the Victoria Palace in her own variety
act and in December, at the same theatre, in Chelsea Follies. One year later
her name was in lights at the London Palladium and she had made over 300
broadcasts, including a popular series called Songs from the Shows, which
started in April 1930.
Anona Winn had already written and composed her own songs;
now she worked for films, composing the music for Little Damozel in 1932 and
appearing in The Constant Nymph a year later. Radio was becoming increasingly
popular and television was only an experimental service until 1936. In the
basement of Broadcasting House in the tiny studio known as 'BB', the first
television revue was produced in 1933 with Anona Winn backed by a chorus line
of the Paramount Victoria Girls. This was on the 30-line (as opposed to today's
625-line) Baird system, using grotesque make-up with blue-black eyes and lips.
In the Thirties Winn also recorded for Rex, HMV, Decca and
Columbia such songs as her own 'What More Can I Ask', a popular hit of 1934.
Her stage performances included Dandini in the pantomime Cinderella and a
record 20 weeks in Peter Pan in 1939. Throughout the Forties she continued her
radio work in shows like Variety Bandbox, toured the music halls and variety
theatres still existing at that time (including the South Pier at Blackpool in
1944).
In 1947 she added yet another facet to her career as an
entertainer in Twenty Questions. This was planned for a six-week run with
Stewart Macpherson as chairman and a panel comprising of various celebrities. The
show was an enormous success and ran until 1976. Winn astonished listeners with
her astute questioning and remained through many changes of panel.
By August 1962 Twenty Questions had made over 500
broadcasts, now with Kenneth Horne as chairman. It was run till 28 July 1976
when the last broadcast had Anona Winn, Isobel Barnett, Penelope Keith and
James Burke on the panel with Richard Briers as the mystery voice, Cliff
Michelmore as chairman and Bobby Jaye producer.
Although television had attracted many radio
personalities and created new ones, Anona Winn preferred radio and (with Ian
Messiter) devised a new show called Petticoat Line, first broadcast on 6
January 1965. An original and amusing idea at the time, an all-woman panel
discussed listeners' letters dealing the problems and comments on women's views
on men. The show ran until 1970. She was awarded MBE (Member of the Order of
the British Empire) in the 1954 Queen's Honours List for her services to
broadcasting.
By the end of the Fifties Winn had business interests
outside entertainment and after the run of Petticoat Line she disappeared from
the reference books. Ill-health took its toll and even those who had worked
with her for years lost touch. She died in Bournemouth aged 90. (Info mainly
edited from The Independent)
2 comments:
Managed to find 8 mp3’s on the web (all from the 1930’s)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/j0g3r93p0l0zawl/Anona%20Winn.rar
1. Gertie. The Girl With The Gong
2. Miss Otis Regrets
3. Ducky
4. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
5. The very Thought Of You
6. Let’s Put Out The Lights and Go to Sleep (w. Sam Browne)
7. Where Are You (gIRL of My Dreams) (w. Al Bowlly)
8. Please Don’t Mention It (w. Al Bowlly)
What an interesting & varied career she had. I know the name from radio broadcasts when I was a child but never realised she was a singer etc. Thanks for an excellent article.
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