Hylda Baker - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Baker was born in Farnworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked part-time in the music halls as a comedian. At ten, Baker made her debut at the Opera House, Tunbridge Wells, and continued to tour as a single variety act—singing, dancing and performing impersonations. By 14, she had started writing, producing and performing her own shows. Her most famous stage act was as a gossip from the North of England, with a silent, sullen companion named "Big Cynthia", almost always played by a man in drag (and who was played last by Matthew Kelly). Her act was full of malapropisms and catchphrases that had become part of her public persona, her most famous of which was "She knows, y'know!"

Fellow comedienne Victoria Wood has described her comedic talent as "peculiarly Northern".