Date of Birth
19 May 1953,
Prestwich, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Spouse
Trivia
An English comedian known for her one-woman shows on stage and her television shows.
Studied at Birmingham University, gaining an honours BA in drama.
Appointed an OBE in 1997.
Has two children, Grace Eleanor Durham (born Oct 1988) and Henry William Durham (born May 1992).
She is to receive the award for Outstanding Contribution to Comedy at the British Comedy Awards 2005.
"Life's not fair, is it? Some of us drink champagne in the fast lane, and some of us eat our sandwiches by the loose chippings on the A597."
"I haven't got a waist. I've just got a sort of place ... a bit like an unmarked level crossing."
"Claire Rayner: She's so nice and sympathetic and understanding, you just want to smack her in the face with a broccoli quiche."
"I thought you could get pregnant if you swam the backstroke in the same lane as a boy who'd just swum the butterfly."
"In my day we didn't have sex education, we just picked up what we could off the television ... and as far as I was concerned, if Pinky and Perky didn't do it, I didn't want to know about it."
"All my friends started getting boyfriends ... but I didn't want a boyfriend, I wanted a thirteen-colour biro."
"We all had really greasy hair. It made sealskin look dry and unmanageable."
"I'm thirty-three, I've got a mortgage, I go to garden centres ... I shouldn't have acne."
"You know that building in London where all the windows blew out? That wasn't a bomb, it was fifty-six pre-menstrual women the day the chocolate machine broke down."
"I looked up the symptoms of pregnancy ... moody, irritable, big bosoms ... I've obviously been pregnant for thirty-six years."
"Did you know sex is going out of fashion? It's a little trend I've started."
"I once went to one of those parties where everyone throws their car keys into the middle of the room ... I don't know who got my moped, but I drove that Peugeot for years."
"I once found myself in bed with a man who was a real do-it-yourself enthusiast ... he ripped off all his clothes and said 'What would you like me to do?' I said, 'Well, really I'd like you to fix my overflow and re-point my brickwork.'"
[On Family Christmases] "A bit like being in intensive care only not so relaxing."
Variety and
freedom are two of the ...
