Nancy Spain
Contents |
Shows
Money Unlimited: The Touch (panellist)
My Word! (panellist)
Something to Shout About (panellist)
Biography
Writer and broadcaster. Her written works included a series of detective novels, several volumes of memoirs, and a biography of her great aunt Isabella Beeton. She was also a prolific newspaper columnist and familiar as a radio and TV panellist, including as Denis Norden's original partner on My Word!, as well as a regular contributor to Woman's Hour and its spin-off Home For the Day.
She died in 1964 when the plane taking her to cover the Grand National crashed on approach to Aintree Racecourse. Her final radio appearance came in a pre-recorded Shakespeare special of My Word! broadcast a few months later.
Trivia
Although it was generally known that Spain was in a long-term relationship with magazine editor Joan Werner Laurie, who died in the same crash, she nevertheless at one stage considered a marriage of convenience to her recurring panel game colleague Gilbert Harding, perhaps more for his sake than hers.
She was credited as creator of a radio series, These Foolish Things, which the Radio Times described as a panel game, though our impression is that it was really more of a round-table discussion show. Do get in touch if you know better (or can confirm our suspicions)!
