We celebrate the incredible life of TOWIE's
beloved Nanny Pat, who has died at the age
of 80
we were
devastated to hear of the death of Nanny Pat
this morning.
But, rather than cry into our festive plait,
we’re trying to focus on the good times from
her 80 years of life – and what a life it was.
Nanny Pat – or Pat Brooker, as she was
known IRL – was an instant hit when The
Only Way Is Essex first aired back in 2010.
From her very first scene where she knocked
on grandson Mark Wright‘s door and said that
now-legendary line – ‘Alright Mark, I brought
you some sausage plaits’ – we knew this was
our kind of woman.
Characters came and went as the show
progressed over the years, but Nanny Pat was
a reassuring constant, providing us with some
classic TOWIE moments.
From the time she tried her hand at rapping
(with the really-rather-good line ‘I went to get
a pint of milk and I was wearing silk’) to the
episode where she called Mark a ‘saucy git’
when he dissed her amazing multicoloured
swimming hat, Pat was always total TV gold.
Fittingly, one of her final appearances on the
ITVBe show saw the TOWIE crew get together
to celebrate her 80th birthday with a royal-
themed party.
Arriving in a horse-drawn carriage at the bash
last month, the magnificent matriarch looked
incredible in a chic cream outfit topped with a
glittering tiara.
Family members including Carol and Jess
Wright as well as TOWIE regulars James ‘Arg’
Argent, Sam Faiers and Chloe Sims waved
flags and cheered in honour of Pat’s big day.
And later she had everyone in tears as she
recalled her late husband, Charlie Brooker,
who she married in the 1950s – long before
she found fame (and discovered the meaning
of the term ‘vajazzle’) on The Only Way Is
Essex.
Born in 1935, Pat grew up in London’s East
End during the Blitz – a time of danger, fear
and death, as she recalled in her first
book Penny Sweets and Cobbled Streets: My
East End Childhood.
Having survived the bombs and food rationing
of the Second World War, she left school at
the age of 15 and had various jobs including
one in a knicker factory and another working
for Yardley cosmetics – although she was
sacked for stealing lavender perfume!
She met Charlie in 1953 and they went on to
marry – albeit without the approval of Pat’s
father, who refused to attend the wedding. ‘I
think it was one of the nastiest things a dad
can do to his daughter,’ she later said in her
book.
But the two lovebirds ploughed on and forged
a happy life together, with Pat giving birth to
five children in seven years – including TOWIE
star Carol.
In the 1960s, Pat – then sporting a distinctive
red beehive hair ‘do – went on to become
landlady of a tough East End pub, an
adventure she documented in her second
book, Queen of the Rising Sun.
Neither she or Charlie had any experience of
running a pub, but they soon got to grips with
serving the boisterous locals, working with a
till that ‘didn’t do maths’ – and even, on one
occasion, dealing with the Krays’
henchmen when they came in looking for a bit
of protection money!
The couple eventually upped and left London
for suburban Essex – a move that would
ultimately lead to her family starring on
TOWIE.
Charlie sadly died in 2007, but Pat continued
to embrace life and her newfound stardom,
which – along with the rest of the TOWIE cast
– saw her record a Christmas single and even
win a BAFTA.
We think the great lady herself best summed
up her life when she wrote in her second
book, ‘I have really lived it!’ Oh, how you did
Nanny Pat. We’ll miss you.
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