Mollie Harris
Mollie Harris (born Mollie Woodley, 23 June 1913 – 2 October 1995) was an English actress and author, known for her appearances as village shopkeeper Martha Woodford in the BBC Radio soap opera The Archers.[1]
Mollie Woodley was born in Ducklington, Oxfordshire[2] and raised in that county.[1] After World War II, she became a writer and broadcaster for BBC Radio, on programmes such as In The Country, with Phil Drabble.[2] She joined The Archers in 1970. and appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 8 October 1983.[1]
Harris's books about her life in Oxfordshire, include her three-volume autobiography, A Kind of Magic (1969), Another Kind of Magic (1971) and The Green Years (1976).[2] She wrote From Acre End (1982) about Eynsham, <the village where she lived.;[2] under the nom-de-plume of Margaret Woodford, Mollie Harris wrote the book "The Archers Country Cookbook" and was for a while a country cook resident on BBC-tv's programme "Pebble Mill At One" . . She also wrote books about privies.[2]
She married Ginger Harris, a heating engineer, in 1937 and adopted his surname.[2] He died in 1982.[2] Harris died on 2 October 1995 in Oxford.[2]
The painter Gary Woodley, who illustrated some of her books, was her cousin.[2]
Bibliography
- —— (1969). A Kind of Magic.
- —— (1971). Another Kind of Magic.
- —— (1976). The Green Years.
- —— (1977). The Archer's Country Cookbook.
- —— (1982). From Acre End: a portrait of a village.
- —— (1984). Cotswold Privies.
- —— (1987). The Magic of the Cotswold Way.
- —— (1989). Where the Windrush Flows.
- —— (1990). Privies Galore.
- —— (1991). Wychwood: the secret Cotswold forest.
References
- 1 2 3 "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Mollie Harris". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Fergusson, James (4 October 1995). "OBITUARY:Mollie Harris". The Independent. Retrieved 18 August 2014.