• 16: Top impressionist of BBC Radio 4's Dead Ringers, talks about growing up in a house dominated by Liverpool FC and her father's Schizophrenia. Her love of Thora Hird's certainty. Spitting Image, winning Celebrity Mastermind, fear, self-doubt, and humour.

  • Sep 4 2023
  • Length: 1 hr and 30 mins
  • Podcast

16: Top impressionist of BBC Radio 4's Dead Ringers, talks about growing up in a house dominated by Liverpool FC and her father's Schizophrenia. Her love of Thora Hird's certainty. Spitting Image, winning Celebrity Mastermind, fear, self-doubt, and humour.

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  • Summary

  • Jan Ravens did not enjoy her childhood, did not like being teased about her father . Did not like feeling such a powerless child. Jan talks about how being ill, causing a serious weight loss and his made her the most popular gal down at the disco. How this and impersonating teachers to her fellow pupils gave her some much needed power. She talks of some good times laughing at comedy TV with her father and trying to be sympathetic about her angry mother. How her father was baffled and defeated by life. She describes many poignant and awkward aspects of the effects on the family that her father's illness trig How local Glenda Jackson was a major inspiration. Ferociously bright, Jan got to Cambridge University, took a deep breath and dived into the world of the Footlights. Her achievements include winning the big Award at the Edinburgh Festival. Going on to work in Spitting Image, the RSC, Strictly, she felt the fear and did it anyway. What drove her on and what keeps her afloat?
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