Teddie Beverley obituary

In the 1950s the Beverley Sisters – Joy, Babs and Teddie, who is the last of the trio to have died, aged 99 – were a familiar and popular vocal group with endless variety show appearances on radio, television and stage. They released more than 250 songs with several hit records. And, despite their wholesome image, offered social commentary with We Have to Be So Careful (1953), poking fun at the BBC’s broadcasting standards, and It’s Illegal, It’s Immoral (Or It Makes You Fat), which joked about the pleasures of the day, in 1958. “We wanted to pierce the 50s bubble of primness,” Teddie later said. The Beverley Sisters’ parents were Victoria (nee Miles) and George Chinery, who had worked the music halls as Coram and Mills, and they were living in Bethnal Green, east London, when Teddie was born, as Hazel, along with her twin, Babs (Babette). The family later moved to Northamptonshire during the second world war. The twins and their elder sister, Joy, initially sang as the Chinery Sisters, with Joy doing the melodies. The twins tossed a coin to see which part they would take – Teddie lost, and Babs chose to sing the first soprano harmony; Teddie took the lower harmony and the roles were maintained for the rest of their career. When they were asked to promote the malt drink Ovaltine, the photographer assigned to them, Jock Ware, recommended them to the BBC producer Cecil Madden. He suggested the name the Beverley Sisters, and from 1945, giving up their jobs as typists, they made regular appearances on popular radio shows such as Variety Bandbox and Workers’ Playtime. In 1947 they were filmed singing the risque Her Bathing Suit Never Got Wet for a Pathé short, which was shown in cinemas. The sisters then supported Bob Hope and Danny Kaye at the London Palladium and, starting in 1952, appeared in five Royal Variety performances, often singing the Irving Berlin composition Sisters, from the 1954 film White Christmas, which became a trademark stage favourite. Their fir…