Florrie Forde

b. Florence Flanagan, 14 August 1876, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, d. 18 April 1940, Aberdeen, Scotland. One of the greatest of all music hall artists, often described as a "fine buxom woman", Forde, brandishing a chorus stick, was renowned for urging audiences to join in on enduring numbers such as "Daisy Bell", "Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy", "Oh, Oh, Antonio", "Nellie Dean", "A Bird In A Gilded Cage", and the song most associated with her, "Down At The Old Bull And Bush". Ironically, before she moved to England, Forde was billed as "The Australian Marie Lloyd", although in physical terms at least (Lloyd was five feet tall and petite), there was not much resemblance. After making her debut at the London Pavilion on 2 August 1897, Forde toured the halls, eventually with her own revue Flo And Co., which played on the Isle Of Man for a record-breaking 36 successive seasons. One of her special songs for audiences there incorporated her own real name in the title - "Flanagan" ("Take me to the Isle of Man again"), and another favourite on the island was "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" ("Kelly from the Isle of Man"). Her long career as a principal boy in pantomime (she is supposed to have played the role in Forty Thieves at the Lyceum in London during the 1935 Christmas season when she was 60) gave her the opportunity to sing "male" songs such as "She's A Lassie From Lancashire". During World War I, she raised the nation's morale with rousing versions of "It's A Long, Long Way To Tipperary" and "Pack Up Your Trouble In Your Old Kit Bag", and remained popular throughout the 20s and 30s, appearing in two Royal Variety Performances in 1935 and 1938. Apart from her formidable reputation as a performer, Forde was also responsible for the formation of one of Britain's most popular double acts - Flanagan And Allen. In the early 20s, Chesney Allen was Forde's manager and the straight man to comic Stan Stanford in her Company. When Stanford left, Bud Flanagan replaced him until 1926 when Forde decided to take a break from touring and concentrate on her summer seasons in the Isle of Wight and Blackpool. However, she never finally retired, and it is said that her last performance was for patients in an Aberdeen Naval hospital, just a few hours before her death. Her memory is enshrined in the Florrie Forde bar at the Old Bull And Bush public house on London's Hampstead Heath.