The roles of Bet Lynch, Ivy Tilsley ( Lynne Perrie ), Deirdre Hunt ( Anne Kirkbride ), Rita Littlewood ( Barbara Knox ) and Mavis Riley ( Thelma Barlow ) were built up between 1972 and 1973 with characters such as Gail Potter ( Helen Worth ), Blanche Hunt ( Patricia Cutts and Maggie Jones ) and Vera Duckworth ( Elizabeth Dawn ) first appearing in 1974.

May 2010 also saw the funeral of Coronation Street favourite Blanche Hunt, who was written out after the death of her portrayer Maggie Jones on 2 December 2009.

Blanche Hunt ( Maggie Jones ) embodied the role of the acid-tongued busybody originally held by Ena Sharples, Sally Webster ( Sally Dynevor ) has grown snobbish, like Annie Walker, and a number of the programme's female characters mirror the vulnerability of Elsie Tanner and Bet Lynch.

Her character, May, appeared at the funeral of Blanche Hunt.

The Baldwins then rent Number 7 from Blanche Hunt ( Maggie Jones ).

Blanche Hunt ( née Linfield ) is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

But best of all there's Blanche Hunt, played by Maggie Jones, mother of Deirdre ( formerly of the huge glasses ) and tormentor of Deirdre's husband Ken ..." BBC News named Blanche " Weatherfield's best-loved battle-axe ", praising her " brutal honesty and withering put-downs ".

Margaret " Maggie " Jones ( 21 June 1934 – 2 December 2009 ) was an English actress, best known for playing Blanche Hunt in the British soap opera Coronation Street, a role which she first portrayed in 1974 and played regularly from the late 1990s until shortly before her death.

In 1974 she debuted as Blanche Hunt, the mother of Deirdre.

After guest appearances in shows such as Dalziel and Pascoe, Goodnight Sweetheart, Heartbeat and Peak Practice in the 1990s, Jones reprised the role of Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street in 1996.

After several quiet years she returned to acting in the 1972 British television series Spyder's Web before accepting the role of Blanche Hunt in the top rated ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 1974.

The role of Blanche Hunt was taken over by Maggie Jones, who played the part until her own death on 2 December 2009.

Of this he said, " You've got people like Blanche Hunt, Emily Bishop and Norris Cole and there were the classic characters like Bet Lynch and Annie Walker.

However, Roy fights John's corner, with Ken Barlow ( William Roache ) pointing out John is entitled to live wherever he wants and Graeme Proctor ( Craig Gazey ) outright supports him, to the disgust to Blanche Hunt ( Maggie Jones ).

If Blanche had been honest, she would have yelled, slammed at least a couple of doors, and thrown a few little, valueless things.

Blanche couldn't remember when she had first arrived at this conclusion.

On that first day, Blanche literally thought she was going to die, or, at the very least, go out of her mind.

Mrs. Blanche Dunkel, 60, who has spent 25 years in the Dwight reformatory for women for the murder in 1935 of her son-in-law, Ervin Lang, then 28, appealed for a parole at a hearing yesterday before two Illinois pardon and parole board members, John M. Bookwalter and Joseph Carpentier.

Born at Poissy, Alphonse was a son of Louis VIII, King of France and Blanche of Castile.

Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile.

Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris, the son of Prince Louis the Lion and Blanche of Castile, and baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His grandfather was King Philip II of France.

* The complete four edition translations by Edward FitzGerald, with illustrations by Blanche McManus at Kellscraft. com.

Sonny poked a little fun at himself when he guest-starred on The Golden Girls, in the episode " Mrs. George Devereaux ", aired November 17, 1990, as himself vying with Lyle Waggoner for Dorothy's ( Beatrice Arthur ) affection in a dream, where Blanche ( Rue McClanahan ) dreams her husband is still alive.

Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely at 4. 5 lbs., the 20th of 22 siblings ; her father Ed was a railway porter and her mother Blanche a maid.

He continued his education at home where one of his tutors was the Reverend John Dann, who was the Downend parish church curate ; like Mr Barnard before him, Mr Dann became Grace's brother-in-law, marrying Blanche Grace in 1869.

He seemed at first inclined to press a quarrel with the Kingdom of France over the Burgundian frontier, but the refusal of Pope Boniface VIII to recognize his election led him to change his policy, and, in 1299, he made a treaty with King Philip IV, by which his son Rudolph was to marry Blanche, a daughter of the French king.

* March 13 – Charles II becomes Duke of Savoy at age 1 ; his mother Blanche of Montferrato is regent.

In 1998, a study conducted by Carole Meredith's research group in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California, Davis used DNA typing and extensive grape reference material from the viticultural research station in Montpellier, France to conclude that Syrah was the offspring of the grape varieties Dureza ( father ) and Mondeuse Blanche ( mother ).

The convention is noteworthy as it was the first at which delegates cast votes for an African-American, Blanche Bruce.

* Leopold II also engaged in a religious ceremony with Blanche Zélia Joséphine Delacroix, also known as Caroline Lacroix, a prostitute, on 14 December 1909, with no validity under Belgian law, at the Pavilion of Palms, Royal Palace of Laken, in Brussels, five days before his death.

* January 30, 1968: Miami, Florida 16-year-old Blanche Ward shot and killed fellow student Linda Lipscomb, 16, with a. 22-caliber pistol at Miami Jackson High School.

The Bastard proposes that England and France unite to punish the rebellious citizens of Angiers, at which point they propose an alternative: Philip's son, the Dauphin, should marry John's niece Blanche, a scheme that gives John a stronger claim to the throne, while Louis gains territory for France.

#* Diana Blanche Barrymore ( 1921 – 1960 ), who died at age 38 of an overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills.

The " Barrow Gang " included at times Buck Barrow, Blanche Barrow, Raymond Hamilton, W. D.

The only two members of the Barrow Gang who were alive at the time of the film's release were Blanche Barrow and W. D. Jones.

Philip VI died at Nogent-le-Roi, Eure-et-Loir on 22 August 1350 and is interred with his second wife, Blanche of Navarre in Saint Denis Basilica.

Jane had spent the evening teasing and mimicking Blanche at a party.

On 23 May 1200, at the age of 12, Louis was married to Blanche of Castile, following prolonged negotiations between Philip Augustus and Blanche's uncle John of England ( as represented in William Shakespeare's historical play King John ).

Coronation of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile at Reims in 1223 ; a Miniature ( illuminated manuscript ) | miniature from the Grandes Chroniques de France, painted in the 1450s, ( Bibliothèque nationale de France | Bibliothèque nationale )

Besides Francesca, there was Blanche.

Francesca was pleasant and charming, but Blanche was sweet.

Yes, Blanche was very, very sweet -- being in her company was like being drowned in warm, melted marshmallows.

I had once been a witness when Blanche had smiled and said with only minimum ruefulness, `` Oh, my souffle has collapsed ''.

not Blanche.

After five minutes with Blanche, one might welcome the astringency of Grazie, who was a sort of Gwen Cafritz to Francesca's Perle Mesta.

On Blanche Jacobs, Kitti Gilborn's death had a quite different effect.

For Blanche, Kitti's death was a source of guilty, but nonetheless soaring, happy hope.

But Blanche had been able to maintain a serene and assured composure in the face of her widowed mother's continued carping, had been able to resist her urgings to date anyone who offered the slightest possibility of matrimony.

For Blanche, it was only a matter of time before Stanley would propose.

Unquestionably, Blanche loved Stanley.

It might have been easier for her if Kitti Walker hadn't been everything that Blanche was not.

Blanche knew all this because the door to Stanley's office was open and, without straining too hard, she could hear everything that was said.

After that day, Blanche still didn't know exactly what had happened.

Blanche knew something must be causing Stanley's new, strange behavior but she never once connected it with Kitti Walker.

Somehow, Blanche managed to cover the stunned surprise and offer her congratulations.

While they were away Blanche came into the office every morning, running things as she had always run them for Stanley, going through the week in a dazed stupor, getting things done automatically, out of habit.

Two hours of watching his serenely happy face, listening to his soft humming as he bent over his penciled figures, and Blanche had to leave.

Those ten days were like no others that Blanche had known.

Thomas early Sunday went to the home of his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Thomas, 511 Blanche St., NW, looking for his wife, Margaret Lou Thomas, 18, and their 11-month-old baby.

He was the second son of James II and Blanche of Anjou.