A look back at the Star's 'meeting with the the stars'

Homegrown stars like Johnny Vegas, Bernie Clifton and Frank Cottrell-Boyce among those who have made their mark.

The town has also had its fair share of big names coming to visit over the years and decades.

Former Star journalist Sue Gerrard, who spent 22 years full time working on the newspaper, from 1980 to 2002, recalls some anecdotes of her brushes with the stars from over the years.

Among them was playwright Willy Russell, best known for works including Educating Rita and Blood Brothers. Born in Whiston Hospital and brought up in Rainhill.

She recalls during an interview Russell said his first girlfriend was from St Helens, he remembers missing the last bus home and being stranded in Victoria Square.

“He started his career as a hairdresser on Barrow Street and I always wondered if working in a female environment gave him the ability to write female leads, like Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine,” said Sue.

“When I wrote the article I called him a ‘failed hairdresser’, I thought he’ll love it or hate it!” She recalled the next time they met he said he loved the description adding “it was nice not to be called a promising playwright” for once.

Sue recalls on a later occasion at Merseyside Youth Theatre, where he was directing a play, she was told Willie was “not taking any interviews. I said ‘just tell him it’s the journalist who called him the failed hairdresser and I got the interview.”

Sue recalled that in the “typewriter there was paper and he (Russell) said: ‘I’ll never get that finished’ and that was Blood Brothers.

“Blood Brothers was premiered at Rivington High School, it wasn’t a musical at that time and he added the musical later.”

Another star Sue vividly recalls is Newton-le-Willows-raised screenwriter Colin Welland, who won the Oscar in 1981 for Chariots of Fire, which was partly filmed at Cowley School in the old changing rooms. In his acceptance speech, Welland famously waved his statue and announced: “The British are coming!”

Sue with Colin Welland

Sue recalls interviewing him while he lived in Barnes, London, and his Oscar “was on a piano, and while watching something on TV, his son said’ hey dad, the head does come off this’, he had unscrewed the Oscar! That puts things into perspective.”

Another highlight for Sue was an interview she secured with West Park Grammar School-educated actor Pete Postelthwaite, while he was playing the role of Macduff in Macbeth in Stratford-upon-Avon.

“They all said ‘you must be Pete’s friend from up north’. He was very pleased to do the interview and went round the Theatre on a private tour.

“He remembered getting thrown out of the Sefton pub for being underage. The landlord was one of his mates from school’s dad.

“They kept trying to sneak in to get beer but they couldn’t because they were too young.”

One occasion St Helens-born entertainer Bernie Clifton best-known for his performances with puppet Oswald the Ostrich and appearances on Crackerjack, who grew up on the same road as Sue on Charles Street, invited her on to a TV show.

“He invited me to go on a show they were filming, they were featuring St Helens. Four people went on, with three others who had done something for the town. Joan Turner was on and Spike Milligan.”

Bernie, whose birth surname was Quinn, fronted an appeal to save the Providence Hospital in the 1980s, when it was under threat.

“The Star was having a big campaign to save the ‘Provvy’. There was fundraising and Bernie fronted the appeal. He didn’t forget his hometown.”

In her time at the Star, Sue also came across many of the stars from ITV soap Coronation Street, with many regulars from the ‘Cobbles’ often visiting St Helens for events and fundraisers.

Arthur Bostrom, with Sue (left) at Church Square Shopping Centre

These included Anne Kirkbride (aka Deidre Barlow); Nigel Pivaro (Terry Duckworth); Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch) Ken Morley (Reg Holdsworth) and Geoff Hughes (Eddie Yeats) among others.

Other stars who visited town include TV host Bob Monkhouse, Arthur Bostrom, known for his portrayal as Officer Crabtree in ‘Allo ‘Allo.

Others included Hi-de-hi star Ruth Madoc, who opened Church Square Shopping Centre and singer Tony Christie who appeared regularly at the Theatre Royal.

Bob Monkhouse

Another fond memory was when she went to the Theatre Royal to see the first performance of a Ken Dodd show at the Theatre Royal, a venue the Knotty Ash comedian did a lot of fundraising for. On the night, Dodd invited her to the after-show party and, having left Charles Street at 5pm, she returned home at 3am.

Another highlight was a visit from royalty of Princess Alexandra to Willowbrook Hospice.

Reflecting on the host of big names the Star has interviewed over the years and who have visited St Helens, Sue said: “It just shows the pull of the town and a lot of people forget that. Some of those people are still at the top of their game and they put an awful lot back into the town even if they weren’t born here and managed to raise an awful lot of money for charities for local people.”