 Born Yvonne Page in Brighton on 5 December 1930, Jill Day made her mark as a band singer before graduating to solo artiste status. She also proved adept at combining comedic skills with her musical prowess and demonstrated these twin talents on BBC TV in such shows as And So To Bentley (BBC, tx.15/10/1954), Hit the Headlines (tx. 5/4/1958 - with scripts by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson) and Hi Summer (tx. 6/8/1960). When commercial television in the shape of ITV was imminent, Jill Day was one of the artists that the BBC put under exclusive contract, and in 1957 the Corporation gave her her own starring vehicle, The Jill Day Show - a mix of songs and sketches, which she also wrote, later admitting the writing chores had proved her most demanding challenge. She flirted with feature films during this same period but her singing style faded out of failure with the coming of the 1960s and she struggled to maintain her profile. She died of cancer on 16 November 1990. Dick Fiddy
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FILM & TV CREDITS