North East entertainer celebrates centenarian milestone with party and poetry

Helen Russell reflects on a life in showbiz as she reaches her 100th birthday.

A North East entertainment icon is celebrating her 100th birthday by launching a book of poems.

Actor and entertainer Helen Russell started her career in World War Two at the age of 15.

After spending a lifetime on stage and screen, she is marking her 100th year with her poetry book 'Oh! Life is a Joy'.

On reaching the centenarian milestone, Helen told ITV Tyne Tees: "I'm so lucky to be here and to have so many friends. I never knew I had met so many lovely people and looking back, I'm glad I did what I did.

"I loved being in show business, I just loved it".

Her collection of poems is dedicated to a breast cancer charity.

The well-known face in the North East is one of the few surviving Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) members.

The elite troupe toured England, Scotland and Ireland singing and dancing to entertain military personnel between 1939 and 1945.

During the war Helen married Colin Hillcote, who ran a dance hall in Belfast, and returned to to his native South Shields in 1946. There she became an adopted Sanddancer.

Helen featured in a television advert for Vaux Brewery in 1965, appeared on variety shows filmed at Tyne Tees Television, and other on-screen productions including When The Boat Comes in, Supergran, Emmerdale and Billy Elliot.

On stage she performed in her self-penned plays Off the Shelf and Keep Calm and Carry On, and performed as an original Dirty Duster until the age of 90.

Looking to the future, Helen is planning to release a children's book.

She added: "Today is a day I will never ever forget, no matter how long I live, and I hope to live to be an old lady!"

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