Maybe the story's a myth, but husband Johnnie turns to the watching millions after one of the famous TV shows.
"Great cooking", he said, "is making doughnuts like Fanny's."
The phrase passed into legend.
Fanny Cradock was an extraordinary woman. She was the first celebrity TV cook. We remember her strange mask-like face on our black and white TV, ordering husband Johnnie about as she strutted between counter and cooker. She was ridiculous, rather glamorous, but frightening too. She introduced a new wave of sophisticated foods, including the prawn cocktail. Remember that apron!
But what was she really like? Julia Darling's play uses music and comedy to uncover the woman behind the mask.
It toured the north of England - and Melrose in Scotland - in October and November 2002. The performance at the Saville Row Theatre, North Shields on 29th October was the only chance to see Doughnuts Like Fanny's in the Newcastle area, so Julia invited friends, and visitors to this web site, to turn up earlier to have some drinks and Fanny-like nibbles, cooked by the Saville's chef Graham. Julia herself was sporting a purple wig (below, with Chaz Brenchley).
The play was reprised, under the title The Life and Loves of a Kitchen Devil, and toured between October 2004 and April 2005.
On other pages: How To Behave With The Ill, Inside Out, National Poetry Day 2004, Sudden Blossoms, The Manifesto For Tyneside Upon England, The Great British Public The Writer's Choice, Cold Calling, Attachments, Personal Belongings, The Last Post and Posties, The Lost Birds of England and Eating the Elephant.
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Created by Julia Darling and Cornwell Internet. |
Last updated on 12th April 2005 by Roger Cornwell.
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