Billy Bunter
Sunday 10th September 2023 4:32pm [Edited]
The Sussex Coast
4,680 posts
Born on this day (10 September) in 1894, Annette Mills was presenter of the iconic "Muffin the Mule". She was the sister of Sir John Mills, aunt to Hayley and Juliette Mills and grandmother of the actress Susie Blake.
She trained at the Royal Academy of Music and, after meeting dancer Robert Sielle (born Cecil Leon Roberts, who she later married and divorced), they formed a dancing partnership. They put on exhibition dances, had a residency at the Piccadilly Hotel, and, after a visit to the United States, were credited with introducing the Charleston to Britain in 1925. Although divorced, they continued to perform together until she was forced to give up dancing after breaking her leg on stage.
She then turned her hand to song writing and singing and began to appear regularly as an entertainer on BBC Radio, singing light comedy songs and accompanying other singers on the piano. She wrote A Feather in Her Tyrolean Hat, recorded by Gracie Fields in 1936:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKXJl1LvsaY
wrote and sang the novelty dance song Boomps a-Daisy, recording it with the Joe Loss Orchestra in 1939:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZErUWG84N2Q
and also composed "Adolf", sung by Arthur Askey in the 1940 film Band Waggon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETAFrmjVHOQ
In 1942, she was on her way back from entertaining troops in France when she was involved in a serious car accident, which left her hospitalised for the next two years. She wrote short stories and plays during this period, some of which were broadcast. Her comic play Rotten Row was later televised in 1947 starring, among others, Esma Cannon..
She made her first BBC Television appearance in June 1946, as a singer, pianist and story teller on For the Children. She suggested that the top of her piano could be used as a stage for puppets to illustrate her stories, and a disused marionette of a mule, whom she called "Muffin", was used...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spQY2FbCUtM
She was the partner of Muffin from 1946 until her death in 1955 and wrote the songs and music, including the theme song. Her last TV appearance was on 2 January 1955 and she died in hospital on 10 January. She had been a life member of the Vegan Society and an advocate of the humane treatment of animals.