OBITUARY
OBITUARY
Performing on the Frankfurt stage in 1957
Performing on The Good Old Days
many cows as she herself once said, the money ran
rarely spoke about, she married Ivor Emmanuel, a Welsh singer and actor, in 1963 but the couple divorced within two years. Describing Emmanuel as a “singer, drinker and womanising buddy of Richard Burton” in her 2007 article for Vision, Patricia was not sorry when the relationship ended and, it seemed, her own acting career alongside. In 1970, while onboard Cunard’s new flagship cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, Patricia met and fell in love with Canadian businessman Charles MacCulloch. It was a chance meeting while playing games on deck and he was described as the “perfect man”. Challenges Following their marriage, the pair settled in Nova Scotia where Charles had his home, but tragedy struck when, on a delayed honeymoon cruise, Patricia’s husband died unexpectedly and without any warning. Returning to Canada, she then found herself having to deal with legal challenges to the estate and, to bury her grief, she decided to invest in cows! For almost a decade from 1979, she managed a successful farm but, with too
carers to look after her and provide company. Sadly, this did not stop or even delay the onset of dementia, which caused her to have good days and bad days. Sometimes she could not even remember being born in the United Kingdom, but on other occasions she could talk about past performances as if these had been yesterday. Above all, listening to music continued to give her much pleasure right up until her final days. All may not be the most recognised or remembered Eurovision entry, while its singer never found chart success, but Patricia Bredin will always be known as the singer who preceded “All” other United Kingdom entrants right up to Mae Muller earlier this year, as well as those that will follow in the years to come. In summing up Patricia’s life it is, perhaps, appropriate to use some of the words she sang on the Frankfurt stage all those years ago. All we’ve shared throughout the passing years All the laughter, all the sighs, the tears All the joy of living, loving and forgiving These are all to me GL
out and she had to give up. Her only
book, published in 1989 under the name Patricia Bredin MacCulloch, describes with subtle humour the ups and downs of this period in Patricia’s life. Money well spent During the past 30 years, Patricia continued to surround herself with music, if not cattle, and occasionally appeared on television and stage across her adopted homeland.When speaking to former Vision Editor-in- Chief, Gordon Lewis, in the early 2000s, she made no secret of the fact that she had paid for facial treatment to retain her youthful looks.“If it’s good enough for Joan Rivers, then it’s good enough for me” was her simple justification for what she added was “money well spent”! As Patricia’s health started to fail in recent years, she employed full-time
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AUTUMN 2023 l VISION
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