Jo Kendall

Josephine Mary Kendall ( Robinson, 17 February 1940 – 29 January 2022) was a British actress and writer. She was known for her work on the BBC radio comedy show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which debuted in 1964, and for her role as Peggy Skilbeck on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale (then Emmerdale Farm) from 1972 to 1973, in which she also spoke the programme's first line of dialogue in the inaugural episode. Early life Kendall was born Josephine Mary Robinson in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, on 17 February 1940. After leaving Leicester she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and gained her Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM). Career While teaching English and drama at a state secondary school for girls at Cambridge, she acted with the university's dramatic society's productions with roles ranging from Desdemona in Othello at the ADC Theatre in 1962 to Maisie King in Expresso Bongo. She also trained as a studio manager with the BBC. In August 1963, she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus directed by Humphrey Barclay, alongside Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch and Chris Stuart-Clark. She was already known to the cast from her experience with the Footlights' productions and had even been on a date with Chapman – "Should I bring a book with me this time?", she quipped when he asked her for another. Her audition included an impromptu rendition of "My Funny Valentine". She could not remember the lyrics but Barclay accepted her readily, "... a witty and clever performer. There was no competition, we all very gladly and warmly welcomed her into the cast."