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Lynda Lee-Potter was born into a working-class family in the small mining town of Leigh, Lancashire on May 2, 1935. Her father was a miner, who would later turn to painting and decorating; her mother worked in a shoe shop. Lynda won a place at Leigh Girls' Grammar School, which she described as "the escape route for ordinary children and the pathway to a new life".
Her first ambition was to become an actress and, aged 18, she went to London to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama - later telling friends that she lost her Lancashire accent on the train down. After leaving the Guildhall, and using the stage name Lynda Berrison, she won a part in one of Brian Rix's farces at the Whitehall Theatre .
Her life changed, however, when she met Jeremy Lee-Potter , the son of Air Marshal Sir Patrick Lee-Potter ; At the time, Jeremy was a medical student at Guy's Hospital. (He went on to become an eminent consultant haematologist, based at Poole General Hospital , and chairman of the Council of the British Medical AssociationThe British Medical Association BMA is the professional body to which the vast majority of British doctors belong. It is affiliated to the " British Medical Journal", one of the world's more prestigious medical journals. The Hospital Consultants and Speci.) They married in 1957Events January January 2 San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge. January 3 Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch January 4 After 69 years the last issue of Colliers magazine is published January 5 Russell Endean becomes t, after which he was posted to Aden as an RAFThe Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF is the air force of the United Kingdom. History Formation and Early History The Royal Flying Corps was formed by Royal Warrant on May 13, 1912 superseding the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. The Royal Na doctor. There Lynda began her career as a journalist, writing articles for the Aden Chronicle about life as an expatriate.
She joined the Daily Mail as a feature writer in 1967, but her big break came five years later, when Jean Rook left the Daily Mail for the Daily Express. Lee-Potter recalled: "I remember I had the day off, and our features editor phoned up and said: 'the editor [David English] wants you to come in and do a column,' and I said 'Oh, right'. I went in and did it. Every week I thought somebody else would probably take over. But it's just carried on."
One journalist who was given the job of interviewing her reported: "It is difficult when approaching Lee-Potter to know if you will be getting the columnist or the affable interviewer. Questions about her views are deftly parried, and turned into questions about yours. Within 10 minutes of our meeting, she had determined my marital status, number of children, place of residence, so on and so forth."