“YOU know, my sister was a born comedian,” Mrs Frank Hardy, of Darwen, told the Lancashire Telegraph, back in 1957.

“We always knew she would make a name for herself one day.”

Do you know who Mrs Hardy was speaking of, more than 50 years ago, with such pride in her voice?

Her sister was the eldest of seven children and was known in the world of showbusiness as Hylda – ‘she knows y’ know’ – Baker.

Fame on the stage for one of the family came as no surprise to the Bakers, for once it had been an ambition shared by them all, including Mrs Hardy, who lived in Worth Avenue, Darwen.

She recalled the days when they planned a family revue, in which mum, dad and all the children were going to star.

Their father Harold had been a well known comedian and appeared in revues up and down the country and Mrs Hardy said: “I suppose it was only to be expected that we should all be stage struck.”

However, their dreams came to an end in the late 1920s when Harold suffered an accident from which he never recovered.

So instead of going on the stage Mrs Hardy became a dressmaker before her marriage and in 1957 she was working as a forewoman at Bolton Slippers in Darwen.

She said: “We are still a close and ordinary Lancashire family that is extremely proud that Hylda has made it to the top of the theatre world.

“My own line was ballet but father said there was no money in it, so I never went into it in a big way.

“I know from what Hylda has told me there is a lot of hard work in making a career on the stage, so I am quite content as I am.”