Hylda Baker Blackpool memories

Born on 4th February 1908 in Farnworth, near Bolton, Hylda Baker was educated at Plodder Lane Council School. She didn’t stay in school for very long however because by the time she was 13 she was already earning a mammoth £25 per week, as a headline variety act.

Hylda Baker was very tiny at 4ft11inches but had tremendous energy and she worked her way up the entertainment ladder via the Music Halls, where she played a fast-talking gossip, aided by her gormless on-stage ‘stooge’ Cynthia (always played by a man). She developed a string of catch-phrases such as ‘She knows, you know’, “You big girl’s blouse’ and ‘Be soon’, and she became a master of the malapropism and double entendre – such as “I can say that without fear of contraception” and “You haven’t had the pleasure of me yet”.


In 1955 she made a very successful appearance on TV’s ‘The Good Old Days’ and this took her on to greater heights, including a couple of serious film parts in 1960. In both ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’ and ‘Up The Junction’, Hylda Baker played a back-street abortionist.

She had previously starred in an early BBC sitcom called ‘Be Soon’ but this had not been particularly successful. She put the record straight in 1968 when the TV series ‘Nearest and Dearest’ became a huge hit, running for seven series until 1973. Hylda’s character Nellie Pledge, owner of a Pickled Onion factory, was ideally suited to her talents and she was cast opposite the skilled comedian Jimmy Jewel.