Caroline Aherne was the comedy genius responsible for The Mrs Merton Show and The Royale Family. Caroline was from Manchester, the North West of England.
Caroline had a tragic life including being born with a rare form of eye cancer, being a victim of domestic violence & abuse in her marriage, suffering with depression/possibly bipolar, alcohol dependency, bladder cancer and died of lung cancer at just 52 years old.
Despite all this tragedy and suffering, she had the wonderful gift of being naturally funny. It is for this talent and skill that she is remembered by friends in the BBC’s Caroline Ahern: Queen of Comedy documentary.
This excellent documentary is well worth a watch. It showed Caroline’s love of life with TV clips and interviews with friends, her humour and the impact she had on individuals lucky enough to know her.
Reading Time: 6minutesBelow are a list of famous people who have experienced mental health illness (in alphabetical order and by condition):
Anxiety and depression often coexist. Bipolar is characterised by episodes of mania which can include anxiety and episodes of depression. So although many of these people could fit under more than one mental illness, I have placed them in the condition that I feel bet fits.
I know there’s loads of famous people who have experience of mental illness who are not on these lists. If you feel compelled to tell me whom I’ve missed off, please leave a comment below.
The point of this blog post is to show someone experiencing mental illness that they are not alone. That they are among the great and the good.
Reading Time: 6minutesDyspraxia, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia all affect the way people learn. Some people may have one of these conditions diagnosed, whereas others may have two or even all three of these conditions diagnosed.
I have been diagnosed primarily with Dyspraxia, with some Dyslexia and more than a touch of Dyscalculia. But with determination, support and self-belief I have overcome adversity to be relatively successful. I am not alone. Many famous people have Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and/or Dyscalculia and have managed to be successful at what they do.
Below is a definition of Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia, along with a list of famous people (in alphabetical order) with each condition:
Dyspraxia is:
…a form of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults…DCD is a lifelong condition, formally recognised by international organisations including the World Health Organisation…[DCD] occurs across the range of intellectual abilities. Individuals may vary in how their difficulties present: these may change over time depending on environmental demands and life experiences.
* Apologies for the lack of females on this list. No famous females found to have Dyspraxia online. Know a famous female with Dyspraxia? Leave a comment below.
Dyslexia is:
…a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling.
It’s a “specific learning difficulty”, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing. Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn’t affected.
…is usually perceived of as a specific learning difficulty for mathematics, or, more appropriately, arithmetic.
Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disorder that is characterised by impairments in learning basic arithmetic facts, processing numerical magnitude and performing accurate and fluent calculations. These difficulties must be quantifiably below what is expected for an individual’s chronological age, and must not be caused by poor educational or daily activities or by intellectual impairments.
* According to Dyscalculia Blog, Dyscalculia is rarer than Dyslexia. Dyscalculia is not as well known as Dyspraxia or Dyslexia. This means that it’s likely that less people are assessed for Dyscalculia and therefore less people diagnosed with it. This would go someway to explaining the lack of famous people with Dyscalculia on the list above.
Victoria Wood Funny Image (from: ‘An Audience with Victoria Wood,’ December 1998)
It is with great sadness that I write this blog post. Today Victoria Wood died, after a short battle with cancer at the age of just sixty two.
Victoria was an exceptionally funny Comedian, Actress and Writer. I feel that we have lost a great source of laughter in the world.
Victoria came from humble beginnings, being born and raised in Rochdale, Lancashire, in the North West of England. Victoria moved down to London to pursue her dream of becoming an Entertainer. In an interview with Victoria she once said that she always knew that she wanted to be a performer.
Victoria had much success and recognition in her career working in the mediums of stand-up comedy, sketches scene comedy, musical comedy and script writing. She has worked on TV, radio and theatre shows.
Through Victoria’s TV work she touched the hearts and resonated with millions of people across the country. This was likely because of her very down to earth and human approach to the audience. In Victoria’s shows she was always ahead of the times. All of her previous work is as relevant today as the day she wrote/performed it.
When Victoria first started out in mainstream comedy, all Comedians were male. It is said by some that Victoria led the way for other female Comedians – the likes of French & Saunders.
In Victoria’s personal life, she married young and has had two children. My thoughts are with her family. Victoria also disclosed and has talked openly about having depression.
My Victoria Wood DVD Collection, along with other DVDs by female comedians.
For me Victoria was and is a constant source of laughter. Proper laugh-out-loud laughter.
Left is an image of my Victoria Wood DVDs. Some of them I have watched so often that I could repeat them to you word by word. Yet they still make me laugh. Victoria was a clever comedian that found the fun and humour in the often otherwise ordinary. I wish she had toured in the last few years, so I could have seen her live.
Victoria Wood is also a source of connection to my good friend Sye. We have often watched Victoria Wood DVDs together and laughed. The laughter helping to cement our friendship through our shared love of Victoria’s comedy and the shared experiences of watching together.
I heard the news of her death on the radio whilst driving home from work. My initial thought was one of disbelief.
I had to check several newspaper websites when I got home from work. Then I sat down in shock. Victoria has often worked with the same people throughout her career, many of whom were older than her. Yet she has died before them. Just goes to show, you never know how much time you have on this planet.
My third feeling and the one that’s stayed is a feeling of sadness. Think of how much unfinished ideas and creative works she wasn’t able to complete. Think of the new jokes and tales of laughter she was planning on sharing. Very sad.
