Jessie Matthews was a theatre and cinema star who rose to the top of her profession only to fall flat again. Born to a Berwick Street Market fruit-seller, she was a good dancer who became one of the biggest revue stars in the '20s, which led to a career in British film musicals, the best of which was First a Girl, the forerunner of Victor/Victoria. Eventually, though, her star waned and the film career came to an end, and thereafter she toured in repertory. In 1963 she took over in the radio serial Mrs Dale's Diary. Ironically she even appeared on stage in The Killing of Sister George, in the role of June Buckridge, based on Ellis Powell, the former Mrs Dale who was fired by the BBC.