THE flag was flying at half mast at Liverpool Town Hall today as a mark of respect for Cilla Black, the Scottie Road girl who was became an international symbol of swinging sixties Liverpool
Liverpool City Council has also opened a book of condolences to allow people to leave their own messages.
For some people at BBC Radio Four, Cilla’s departure exposed, yet again the north-south divide, particularly as far as our exceedingly rare accent is concerned.
Cilla’s trademark “lorra, lorra laughs” last night became ‘“laura, laura lawfs” for one of the Beeb’s news readers trying to inject, but failing to get their head around scouse pronunciation in the 10pm bulletin.
Everyone, from Paul McCartney to David Cameron, has had their say, demonstrating the affection for Priscilla White, the one-time cloakroom assistant at the Cavern, who rose to become the highest paid female entertainer in the country.
She got the OBE, but for Cilla there was nothing like being made a Dame, a gong which eluded her.
"You don't become a Dame for doing what you enjoy, as I have, but if they want to give me one I wouldn't turn it down," she told the Radio Times last year as she received a BAFTA Special Award in recognition of an outstanding contribution to television.
Cilla’s self-made wealth allowed her to own homes far away from her birthplace. But not all of them. In a lengthy interview with Radio City’s Pete Price, rebroadcast last night from 2008, when she starred as the Fairy Godmother in the Liverpool Empire production of Cinderella, she recalled how her own mother always craved her own front door. Cilla promised that if she ever became rich, she’d buy her a dream house, with its front door, a million miles better than their lowly abode in Scotland Road.
As the riches arrived Cilla kept her promise and in "fairy god-daughter" style bought her mother a detached house in posh Woolton. She introduced it with a floursh of excitemtent but Mrs White was not impressed. There was no bus stop outside - a bus stop, no doubt, that would enable her to make journeys back to where she had come from, to be among her friends and old neighbours.
Cilla Black last yearThe reaction to her death, on social media, has been mixed. Mostly it has been gracious but others in Liverpool have not held back in posting scathing remarks. Cilla was slammed for moving to London, even though that is where the work was, and for her endorsement of Margaret Thatcher’s Tories.
Yet back in the 1960s after a night at the London Palladium, or the main London TV studios, Cilla said she liked nothing better than belt up from the south so she could have her Sunday dinner with her family back home.
Carefully managed by her late husband, Bobby Willis, Cilla’s career took her into TV and in the late 1960s her show pioneered the female-hosted light entertainment format of songs, sketches and guests. Today's Davina McCalls, Holly Willoughbys and Fearne Cottons reap the rewards.
Crosby-born John Birt was a big Cilla fan and his tenure as head of LWT in the 1980s directly led to her cementing her status as the queen of weekend prime time TV, hosting Surprise Surprise and Blind Date.
Producer on those shows was another Liverpool lass, Thelma McGough, and her son, the one time Happy Mondays manager Nathan McGough, yesterday recalled Cilla’s 60th birthday.
“Cilla Black was once the highest paid entertainer on British television but she was a down to earth person, warm and engaging, and she loved a glass of champers or two,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I met her on several occasions, my mother Thelma being the producer of Blind Date and Surprise Surprise. Most memorably I was invited to her 60th birthday party at her house in Denham, Bucks. where a thousand bottles of champagne were served. All the old greats of light entertainment and more were there - Ronnie Corbett, Jimmy Tarbuck, Kenny Lynch, Henry Cooper, Dale Winton, Graham Souness, Lawrie McMenemy, Cynthia Lennon, Patty Boyd, Jude Law…
“As the party rolled on into the evening I remember Tarbuck falling face first out of the gents toilet absolutely spangled, then 10 minutes later delivering the funniest speech to the whole room. It was then that I realised what it takes to be a pro, to survive 40 years in the business at the top of your game.
“Cilla was a one off, we'll never see the likes of entertainers like her again.”
Cilla and Eppy who propelled her to international stardom in the 1960s. She kept a picture of him beside her bedHenry Epstein, nephew of Brian Epstein who launched the singer's golden recording career in 1963, wrote: "R.I.P Ciila, I was very touched when you told me a few years ago that you kept a photograph of Brian by your bed."
Meanwhile, her so called arch rival, singer Beryl Marsden, added: "I would just like to wish Cilla's family my sincere condolences at this very sad time. May Cilla rest peacefully and I wish her eternal happiness. Nam myoho renge kyo xx."
Liverpool Lord Mayor Tony Concepcion, launched the condolence book at the Town Hall today. It will be available for people to sign from 9am to 5pm until this Friday.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “It was very sad news to hear of the death of Cilla. An incredible talent whose warmth shone through in everything she did. A star in the truest sense of the word, she will be sorely missed by her legions of fans and by all of us here in her home city, Liverpool.”
