Corona Stage Academy - Rona Knight

Rona Knight

Rona Knight was the daughter of draper Leonard Knight, who ran his business from a shop situated on the north side of Chiswick High Road. Her mother was Ellen Edith Speck, one of twenty-two children from a horse-racing family. Mr and Mrs Knight had four children: Rona was born first; then came Hazel, Muriel, and finally the only boy, Derrick.

Every summer, Rona's family spent a few months in Hindhead; this was where she made her first stage appearance at the age of 11. She decided to put on a show for the benefit of the Sunday school that she and her sisters attended. At just 14 and a half, Rona decided that what she really wanted to do was to travel to Hollywood, to seek a career as a dancer in the movies. To finance this dream she started to teach dancing to other young girls like herself. Her mother allowed her the use of a large room in the family home; thus the Corona Dancing School was born. Later, she started holding lessons in a tin hut beside Gunnersbury Railway station and also in the Church Hall of St. James’s Church, Brook Road, Chiswick.