Cherri Gilham
Encyclopedia
Cherri Gilham also known as Cheryl Gilham, also known as Cherry Gilham is a former comedy actress, who was one of the first Page 3 Girls and is now a writer and musician.
from 1972 to 1975.
She worked with many of the top UK comedians in the 1970s including Benny Hill
, Dick Emery
, The Two Ronnies
, Frankie Howard, Jimmy Tarbuck
, Dave Allen
, Mike Yarwood
, and Bernie Winters
.
She was also a hostess on TV shows: Maid of the Month for several months on The Golden Shot
. Sky's the Limit with Hughie Green
.
In 1972, Gilham found herself in the eye of a media storm when her fiancee, a wealthy Arab prince, Prince Abdulmajid Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz, decided he could not marry her as his family would disinherit him. She was informed that her imminent marriage was off by glaring headlines in the broadsheet Daily Express Hickey column. Her quote at the time caused wry debate: "If a little thing like three million pounds worries him then I don't think I'd want to marry him anyway".
In the 1970s Gilham contributed sketches to the Benny Hill Show and Ronnie Barker
. In 1976, she was part of a band formed by music mogul Peter Collins
called Madison. They were signed to Magnet Records
which was owned by Michael Levy now Lord Levy. The song reached 54 in the charts.
In 1965, Cherri Gilham danced behind a screen on Top of The Pops
. She also made her first acting appearance in "On the Braden Beat" in a skit with Bernard Braden
.
She featured in an episode of As Time Goes By in 1992 with Judi Dench
.
She has appeared in numerous TV and radio programs and in the media in subjects covering Page 3, Mistresses, Child abuse, Fluffy Club.
In 1991, Gilham turned her hand to photography and photo-journalism. She did portraits (photographic and written) of Clive Anderson
, Oliver Reed
, Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller
, and Peter Stringfellow
for various publications.
She photographed the Marquess of Bath
for his first inclusion in Hello Magazine and wrote the interview.
She 'discovered' Tamara Beckwith
and the photograph she placed of her in the Daily Mail
Dempster Diary was used by Tatler
and launched Miss Beckwith's 'career' as an 'it girl
'.
newspaper in 1993 when she unceremoniously dumped her then boyfriend The Marquess of Bath (she was his 54th Wifelet) in a column in that newspaper.
She then went on to write further articles for The Guardian, The Observer
, Daily Mirror, Sunday People, Evening Standard
and became a regular contributor to The Daily Mail
, chronicling her former life as a Page Three Girl, her times as a Private Detective in the 1960s and 1990s, seeing John Lennon
smoke his first joint, and her relationships with various comedians.
who were proclaiming at the time that girls were better than boys. She was severely lambasted by feminists who thought she was damaging their cause and who objected to her suggestion of using feminine wiles to get what you want from men. She coined the word 'Fluffragette', (a supporter of the Fluffy Club), which has now entered the English dictionary.
She wrote a regular column called 'Cherri's Secret Diary' in Hot Gossip
Ezine in which she championed the innocence of Colin Stagg, who had been accused of the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in 1992. He has now been exonerated.
In May 2005, Gilham stood against Prime Minister Tony Blair
in his Sedgefield
constituency, as a candidate for the Pensioners Party on an anti-war ticket. On Election night she stood on the platform next to Tony Blair wearing a hat which said "BLIAR". Blair was oblivious to this for 20 minutes whilst the world's press were capturing the moment. None of his people could alert him. The picture went round the world and became the Guardian's iconic picture for May 2005.
She is currently writing her memoirs which she is entitling 'MENOIRS' as it is about some of the men in her life and their importance to her emotional and spiritual growth. She is considering having it published posthumously.
Health: On June 7, 2010 Gilham underwent a major operation for the removal of a rare tumour, called an insulinoma, Insulinoma
in her pancreas. The histology report found no cancer and she is recuperating well.
Modeling and acting career
Cherri Gilham appeared often on Page 3 in the Daily Mirror and The SunThe Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
from 1972 to 1975.
She worked with many of the top UK comedians in the 1970s including Benny Hill
Benny Hill
Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...
, Dick Emery
Dick Emery
Richard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...
, The Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...
, Frankie Howard, Jimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game...
, Dave Allen
Dave Allen (comedian)
David Tynan O'Mahoney , better known as Dave Allen, was an Irish comedian, very popular in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. He also became known in the United States through repeats of his shows on public television. His career had a major resurgence during the late...
, Mike Yarwood
Mike Yarwood
Mike Yarwood, OBE is an English impressionist and comedian. He was one of Britain's top-rated entertainers, regularly appearing on television from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. He left Bredbury Secondary Modern School in 1956 and worked as a messenger and then salesman at a garment warehouse...
, and Bernie Winters
Bernie Winters
Bernie Winters was an English comedian and the comic relief of the double act, Mike and Bernie Winters with his brother, Mike. He later performed solo, often with the aid of his St...
.
She was also a hostess on TV shows: Maid of the Month for several months on The Golden Shot
The Golden Shot
The Golden Shot is a British television game show produced by ATV for ITV between 1 July 1967 and 13 April 1975, based on the German TV show Der goldene Schuss. It is most commonly associated with host Bob Monkhouse, though, three other presenters also hosted the show during its lifetime...
. Sky's the Limit with Hughie Green
Hughie Green
Hughie Green was the host of numerous British television shows.-Early life:Hugh H. Green was born in London; his Scottish father was a former British Army Major who made his fortune supplying tinned fish to the Allied forces in World War I, while his mother Violet was the Surrey-born daughter of...
.
In 1972, Gilham found herself in the eye of a media storm when her fiancee, a wealthy Arab prince, Prince Abdulmajid Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz, decided he could not marry her as his family would disinherit him. She was informed that her imminent marriage was off by glaring headlines in the broadsheet Daily Express Hickey column. Her quote at the time caused wry debate: "If a little thing like three million pounds worries him then I don't think I'd want to marry him anyway".
In the 1970s Gilham contributed sketches to the Benny Hill Show and Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...
. In 1976, she was part of a band formed by music mogul Peter Collins
Peter Collins (record producer)
Peter Collins is a record producer, born January 15, 1951, in London.In 1976 Collins was signed to Magnet Records and formed a group called Madison, along with Ziggy, Peter Spooner and Page 3 girl Cherri Gilham, to perform his pop song "Let It Ring"...
called Madison. They were signed to Magnet Records
Magnet Records
Magnet Records was a record label started in 1973 by Michael Levy and acquired by Warner Bros. Records in 1988 for an estimated £10m.Artists on the label included Alvin Stardust, Matchbox, Adrian Baker, Silver Convention, Guys 'n' Dolls, Darts, Kissing the Pink, Bad Manners, David D'Or, Blue Zoo...
which was owned by Michael Levy now Lord Levy. The song reached 54 in the charts.
In 1965, Cherri Gilham danced behind a screen on Top of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. She also made her first acting appearance in "On the Braden Beat" in a skit with Bernard Braden
Bernard Braden
Bernard Chastey Braden was a Canadian-born English actor and comedian.Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and educated at Magee Secondary School, Kerrisdale, Vancouver. He produced plays on CJOR Vancouver in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He married Barbara Kelly in 1942 and they moved...
.
She featured in an episode of As Time Goes By in 1992 with Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
.
She has appeared in numerous TV and radio programs and in the media in subjects covering Page 3, Mistresses, Child abuse, Fluffy Club.
In 1991, Gilham turned her hand to photography and photo-journalism. She did portraits (photographic and written) of Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
, Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
, Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance...
, and Peter Stringfellow
Peter Stringfellow
Peter James Stringfellow is an English nightclub owner.-Early life:Stringfellow was born on 17 October 1940 to Elsie and James William Stringfellow , a steelworker...
for various publications.
She photographed the Marquess of Bath
Marquess of Bath
Marquess of Bath is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth. The Thynne family descends from the soldier and courtier Sir John Thynne , who constructed Longleat House between 1567 and 1579...
for his first inclusion in Hello Magazine and wrote the interview.
She 'discovered' Tamara Beckwith
Tamara Beckwith
Tamara Beckwith is an English socialite, noted for her coverage in glossy celebrity magazines such as OK! and Hello! magazine.-Early life:...
and the photograph she placed of her in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
Dempster Diary was used by Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
and launched Miss Beckwith's 'career' as an 'it girl
It girl
"It girl" is a term for a young woman who possess the quality "It", absolute attraction.The early usage of the concept "it" in this meaning may be seen in a story by Rudyard Kipling: "It isn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just 'It'."...
'.
Writing
Gilham's professional writing career took flight in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper in 1993 when she unceremoniously dumped her then boyfriend The Marquess of Bath (she was his 54th Wifelet) in a column in that newspaper.
She then went on to write further articles for The Guardian, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, Daily Mirror, Sunday People, Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
and became a regular contributor to The Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, chronicling her former life as a Page Three Girl, her times as a Private Detective in the 1960s and 1990s, seeing John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
smoke his first joint, and her relationships with various comedians.
Activism
In 1997 Gilham founded The Fluffy Club, a joke women's movement to help women stop being strident and emasculating men. It was supposed to be an antidote to the Spice GirlsSpice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
who were proclaiming at the time that girls were better than boys. She was severely lambasted by feminists who thought she was damaging their cause and who objected to her suggestion of using feminine wiles to get what you want from men. She coined the word 'Fluffragette', (a supporter of the Fluffy Club), which has now entered the English dictionary.
She wrote a regular column called 'Cherri's Secret Diary' in Hot Gossip
Hot Gossip
-Formation:Arlene Phillips came to London to learn and teach developing American Jazz dance routines. Employed as a dance teacher, she taught at locations including the Pineapple Dance Studios and the Italia Conti Stage School. In 1974, Phillips started forming the core of a troupe; Italia Conti...
Ezine in which she championed the innocence of Colin Stagg, who had been accused of the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in 1992. He has now been exonerated.
In May 2005, Gilham stood against Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
in his Sedgefield
Sedgefield
Sedgefield is a small town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It has a population of 4,534.Sedgefield has attracted particular attention as the Member of Parliament for the wider Sedgefield constituency was the former Prime Minister Tony Blair; he was the area's MP from 1983 to 2008,...
constituency, as a candidate for the Pensioners Party on an anti-war ticket. On Election night she stood on the platform next to Tony Blair wearing a hat which said "BLIAR". Blair was oblivious to this for 20 minutes whilst the world's press were capturing the moment. None of his people could alert him. The picture went round the world and became the Guardian's iconic picture for May 2005.
Personal life
Gilham has one son, a musician, DJ and music producer known as Lord Fader of The Loose Cannons.She is currently writing her memoirs which she is entitling 'MENOIRS' as it is about some of the men in her life and their importance to her emotional and spiritual growth. She is considering having it published posthumously.
Health: On June 7, 2010 Gilham underwent a major operation for the removal of a rare tumour, called an insulinoma, Insulinoma
Insulinoma
An insulinoma is a tumour of the pancreas that is derived from beta cells and secretes insulin.Beta cells secrete insulin in response to increases in blood glucose. The resulting increase in insulin acts to lower blood glucose back to normal levels at which point further secretion of insulin is...
in her pancreas. The histology report found no cancer and she is recuperating well.
External links
- Myspace music link
- Cherri Blair Out Gilham photos and blog