Hubbry Logo
Romany BainRomany BainMain
Open search
Romany Bain
Community hub
Romany Bain
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Romany Bain
Romany Bain
Romany Bain
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Romany Bain (nee Evens, 22 March 1924 – 29 March 2015) was a British journalist and showbusiness interviewer.[1] In the 1960s and 1970s, she worked as a features writer for She magazine and the Daily Mail.[1]

Key Information

Bain was born in Carlisle, England, to Eunice (nee Thomas)[2] and George Bramwell Evens. Evens was a Methodist minister who, under his pseudonym Romany, later worked for the BBC as one of the first wildlife programme presenters, with Eunice as his assistant and script editor.[1]

From 1948 to 1962, Bain was married to the theatre critic and biographer Kenneth Bruce Findlater Bain, who used the pen-name Richard Findlater. They had four children. One of their sons became an Anglican priest-clown known as Roly Bain or "Holy Roly".[3] She subsequently married the jazz bandleader Tommy Watt, with whom she had a son, the musician Ben Watt.[4]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Romany Bain

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Romany Bain was a British journalist and showbusiness interviewer known for her influential work as a leading female freelance journalist in Fleet Street during the 1960s and 1970s. She gained recognition for her charming and effective interviews with major celebrities, including Richard Burton, who described her as a "wild Welsh gypsy." Bain began her career as an actor before transitioning to journalism, where she made significant contributions to women's media by serving as the editor of the Daily Mail's Femail page in its earliest days. She later worked at The Sun under editor Larry Lamb, continuing her impact on British popular journalism through her freelance and staff roles. Born Romany June Evens in 1924, Bain dedicated much of her professional life to interviewing and profiling entertainment figures, establishing herself as one of the notable women in mid-century British media. She passed away in 2015 at the age of 91.

Early life

Birth and family background

Romany Bain was born Romany Evens on 22 March 1924 in Carlisle, England. She was the daughter of Reverend George Bramwell Evens, a Methodist minister, and Eunice Evens, who came from a Welsh Wesleyan background. Her father later became widely known under the pseudonym Romany for his pioneering BBC wildlife programmes, with her mother assisting as his script editor and collaborator. Romany Bain was also the great-niece of the prominent Christian evangelist Rodney "Gipsy" Smith.

Early career and transition to acting

During the Second World War, Bain served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and worked at Bletchley Park decoding German messages. After the war she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She began her professional acting career with the West of England Theatre Company. The high point came in 1950 with a season at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she was one of only six women in a company of 66 and performed alongside distinguished actors including Sir John Gielgud and Harry Andrews. She married theatre critic and biographer Richard Findlater (born Kenneth Bain) in 1948. Her acting pursuits were curtailed by motherhood after the birth of her first child in 1951 and triplets in 1954.

Acting career

Romany Bain began her career as an actor, training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). After the Second World War, she worked in repertory theatre for several years with the West of England theatre company, appearing in productions including J.M. Barrie's Dear Brutus. In 1950, she joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon under Anthony Quayle, as one of six female actors in a 66-strong company. She performed small roles in Measure for Measure, Julius Caesar, and King Henry VIII, alongside actors such as John Gielgud, Harry Andrews, Alan Badel, and Barbara Jefford. Her stage career ended in the early 1950s due to motherhood, including the birth of triplets. She transitioned to journalism around 1955.

Television appearances in the 1950s

Romany Bain's television appearances in the 1950s were limited and consisted of non-dramatic roles in which she appeared as herself. She is credited in two series during this period. In 1957, Bain appeared in the television series Men, Women and Clothes, credited as herself modelling fashions under the variant spelling Romary Bain. The series focused on fashion presentation, and her contribution involved demonstrating clothing as a model. The following year, she featured as a guest (self) in one episode of the television series Eye to Eye (1958). No additional details on her specific role or the episode content are recorded in available credits, and no other television appearances from the 1950s are documented.

Later television work

Romany Bain's later television work was limited, with her most notable appearance occurring as a guest panelist on the British game show Where in the World? in 1972. She was credited as Self in three episodes of the series, which originally aired between 1971 and 1973 and featured celebrity guests participating alongside rotating team captains and chairmen, such as Michael Parkinson and Ray Alan, in a format centered on geographical quizzes and location identification. This guest role as herself represented a brief return to the screen long after her earlier stage career and her transition to full-time journalism. No other post-1950s television appearances are documented in available sources.

Journalism career

Entry into journalism and early work

After her acting career was curtailed by motherhood in the early 1950s, Romany Bain transitioned to freelance journalism in the mid-1950s. She began by writing humorous features about motherhood, drawing on her experience as a mother of triplets, for major publications including the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, and the London Evening Standard. These contributions marked her initial steps into the profession and positioned her as an early specialist in light-hearted domestic commentary. By the 1960s, Bain had established herself as a prominent figure in British journalism, recognized as a leading female freelance journalist of the decade. Her early work laid the foundation for a sustained career in the field during that era.

Role at the Daily Mail

Romany Bain served as editor of the Daily Mail's Femail page. This role followed her earlier contributions to the newspaper, including humorous features about motherhood, as well as her initial journalism work with a column at the London Evening Standard in 1955 before moving to the Daily Mail. She was described as a leading British female freelance journalist of the 1960s and 70s, with her editorship of Femail placing her among prominent women in Fleet Street journalism during that period. Her work on the Femail page contributed to women's features journalism in the British press at a time when such dedicated sections were evolving in national newspapers.

Freelance journalism and showbusiness interviewing

Romany Bain established herself as one of the leading British female freelance journalists of the 1960s and 1970s, specialising in showbusiness interviewing and celebrity profiles. She built her reputation primarily through her contributions to She magazine, where she conducted almost 100 celebrity interviews and cornered the market in glitzy film-star features. Her work during this period also appeared in Woman, Woman’s Own, and Cosmopolitan. Bain was particularly renowned for securing exclusive access to major stars, including two world exclusives with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at the peak of their fame. She developed a long rapport with Burton, who first met her backstage in 1951 and later described her as a "wild Welsh gypsy". In 1963 she interviewed him at Shepperton Studios, where he drove her Mini back to London while leaving his Rolls-Royce with his chauffeur. In 1970 she obtained a rare interview with Burton during filming in Mexico—when he and Taylor were heavily shielding themselves from the press—by sending a humorous telegram about needing funds for a new car, which amused him into granting access. Her other notable interviewees included James Mason, Trevor Howard, Anthony Hopkins, Gregory Peck, Glenda Jackson, Michael Caine, and Goldie Hawn. Bain's success stemmed from her charm, persistence, and humour, enabling her to secure candid conversations with prominent figures in film and entertainment throughout the era.

Later roles

In the early 1970s, Bain joined The Sun under editor Larry Lamb, writing for the newspaper's television page. She later worked at TVTimes, first as a feature writer and then, for much of the 1980s, as editor of the agony column (initially alongside Katie Boyle and later with Miriam Stoppard). She continued in journalism until the late 1980s.

Personal life

Marriages and relationships

Romany Bain married theatre critic and biographer Richard Findlater in 1948. The marriage ended in divorce in 1962. Later in 1962, Bain married Scottish bandleader and jazz composer Tommy Watt. Their relationship began as an affair in 1957 while she was still married to Findlater, leading to a separation and eventual divorce before the wedding. Bain and Watt remained married for more than four decades until his death in 2006.

Later years and death

Final years and legacy

In the late 1980s, Romany Bain concluded her full-time journalism career after serving as editor of the agony column at TVTimes throughout much of the decade, working initially with Katie Boyle and later with Miriam Stoppard. She relocated to Oxford with her husband Tommy Watt in 1988 in preparation for retirement. Even after retiring, she continued to write occasional travel pieces for The Observer. Bain is remembered as a leading British female freelance journalist of the 1960s and 1970s, notably as editor of the Daily Mail's Femail page in its earliest days and as a prolific celebrity interviewer who secured two world exclusives with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor for She magazine. Her extensive contributions to publications including She, Woman, Woman's Own, Cosmopolitan, the Sun's television page, and TVTimes established her as one of the leading interviewers of her day. Bain's career reflected significant success in an era when few women achieved comparable prominence in feature writing and showbusiness journalism.

Death

Romany Bain died on 29 March 2015 at the age of 91.
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.