Comedy historian Robert Ross pays tribute to some of the finest and funniest, but often overlooked, names in showbiz

BORN in Bemidji, Minnesota on June 21, 1921, Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was the daughter of a former US Army lieutenant and Geraldine Jacobi, who had been a travelling actress. After the family

Comedy historian Robert Ross pays tribute to some of the finest and funniest, but often overlooked, names in showbiz

ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL COX Going full Celt VOICING ...

Having bid farewell to Vera’s old mac, Brenda Blethyn is embracing power-dressing as Emma Harte, the formidable tycoon at the heart of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s novels

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