Patricia Bredin is a British actress and one-time singer from Hull, England, who was best known as the first United Kingdom representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. She took part in the 1957 contest, held in Frankfurt, and finished in seventh place out of ten entries with the song "All", the first ever song sung in English at the Eurovision. At 1:52, this was for a long time the shortest performance in the history of the contest. However, this record was beaten in 2015 when Finland selected Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät to represent them in the 2015 edition of the contest. Their entry “Aina mun pitää” was only 1:27 long.
Career
She took the part of Molly, the island girl, in the original cast of the musical Free as Air in 1957. In 1959, she starred in the British comedy filmLeft Right and Centre with Ian Carmichael. This saw British exhibitors vote her one of the most promising British new stars along with Peter Sellers and Hayley Mills. On Boxing Day in 1959 she also appeared in the BBC TV's long running variety showThe Good Old Days, which was rescreened on Boxing Day 2016 on BBC4 as part of the BBC's celebration of the programme. The following year she had a leading part in another film, the period adventure The Treasure of Monte Cristo, and starred with Sid James in Desert Mice. Bredin had the distinction of succeeding Julie Andrews as Guenevere in the Broadway production of Camelot. She played the role from 16 April 1962 until she was replaced by Janet Pavek three months later.
Personal life
In 1964, she married singer Ivor Emmanuel, but they had no children, and divorced within two years. On her second marriage, she married the Canadian businessman Charles MacCulloch and became Patricia Bredin-McCulloch, but he died on their honeymoon. She built up a herd of cows on their estate and looked after them for almost ten years before financial complications brought her cow-womanship to an end. She published some entertaining reminiscences about this period of her life in My Fling on the Farm.
