Page 124 - Redditch People
P. 124
Redditch People
Millicent Phillips
Child Prodigy and Soprano
Millicent started singing at a very early age having 1924 -
first performed at the Palace Theatre at the age of
five. At ten her mother took her to see the well- Millicent Phillips
known coloratura soprano, Mavis Bennet, who
started to teach her. She was one of the outstanding (Source: British Newspaper
talents of the Cheltenham Festival in 1935. She was Archives)
compared to Deanna Durbin the Canadian actress
and singer. In 1944 Millicent was the Redditch
carnival queen. Over the years she performed in
shows with Jack Hilton, Billy Cotton, Jack Payne, Ivy
Benson and Arthur Askey as well as entertaining the
troops during the war.
Source/Researched by: Ancestry.co.uk & British Newspaper Archives
Millicent Phillips in a British Pathe film
in 1935, singing “Little Brown Owl”
(Source: British Pathe Film)
The 1944 Redditch Carnival Queen,
Millicent Phillips, reading her speech.
(Source: Redditch Remembered by
Alan Foxall & Ray Saunders)
Life and Times of Millicent Phillips
Millicent Phillips was born in Easemore Road, Redditch in 1924. She started singing at a
very early age and had first performed at the Palace Theatre at the age of five. At the
Page: 124 © RLHS 2015
