Su Pollard Memoir Reveals Blair-Brown Granita Moment
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- Su Pollard, 76, publishes memoir 'Fully Charged' covering her 52-year career in theatre, musicals, and TV, co-written with collaborator Paul Boyd
- Su Pollard reveals she waved at Tony Blair and Gordon Brown through the window of Granita restaurant in north London — the venue of their 1994 pact where Brown agreed Blair would run for Labour leadership
- Su Pollard recounts that Paul McCartney asked for her autograph 'for my mother,' met Freddie Mercury at an Earl's Court club, and was struck by Queen Elizabeth's 'peachified' skin at a Royal Variety Performance
- Su Pollard became famous as chalet maid Peggy in BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, set in an Essex holiday camp, after winning the role in her late 20s
- Su Pollard grew up in Nottingham, came second on Opportunity Knocks in 1974 to a 'singing' jack russell, and landed her first professional job in a touring Godspell produced by a young Cameron Mackintosh
- Su Pollard married stagehand Peter Keogh in 1984; tabloids hounded them over his past relationships with men during the HIV/AIDS crisis, and Pollard became a longtime ally of the gay community
Why it matters: Su Pollard's Granita anecdote adds an eyewitness brushstroke to one of British political history's most dissected private meetings. The memoir itself preserves five decades of working-class-to-royal encounters spanning Hi-de-Hi!, musical theatre, and tabloid persecution during the AIDS crisis for fans and British cultural history.
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