Prunella Scales CBE (born 22 June 1932) is an English actress best known for her role as the fearsome Sybil Fawlty in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the United Kingdom anthem is God Save the Queen. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... The toxic midget herself: Sybil Fawlty Sybil Fawlty is a fictional character from the hit BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. ...

Born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, she has had a long and distinguished career as an actress mostly in comic roles. Her early film roles included Pride and Prejudice and Hobson's Choice. Not to be confused with Surry. ... Pride and Prejudice, see Pride and Prejudice (film). ... Hobsons choice is an apparently free choice which is really no choice at all. ...

Her first career break came with the early 1960s sitcom, Marriage Lines starring opposite Richard Briers. She has had major roles in BBC Radio 4 sitcoms, most notably After Henry, Smelling of Roses and Ladies of Letters; on television she starred in the London Weekend Television/Channel 4 series Mapp & Lucia based on the bestselling novels by E. F. Benson. She played Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution. In 1973, Scales teamed up with BBC Television actor & comedian Ronnie Barker in the (original) award-winning one-off Meat, which aired as One Man's Meat and was part of a series called Seven of One, also for the BBC. Her film appearances also include The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) Stiff Upper Lips (1997) and Howard's End (1992). More recently she was seen in a series of Tesco supermarket commercials as a domineering mother, Dottie Turnbull, with Jane Horrocks as her long-suffering daughter. The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Marriage Lines is a British television sitcom produced by the BBC between 1963 and 1966. ... Richard Briers, CBE (born on January 14, 1934) is a popular English actor whose career encompasses the theatre, television, film and radio. ... BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... This article or section seems to contain too many examples (or of a poor quality) for an encyclopedia entry. ... For the Thames Television series, see After Henry (TV series). ... Smelling of Roses was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Prunella Scales and written by Simon Brett. ... Ladies of Letters is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales, based on the series of books of the same name written by Carole Hayman and Lou Wakefield. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Channel 4 is a public-service British television station, broadcast to all areas of the United Kingdom (and also the Republic of Ireland), which began transmissions in 1982. ... Cover of the DVD of the TV series Mapp and Lucia is a collective name for a series of novels by E. F. Benson, and is also the name of a television series based on those novels. ... Edward Frederick Benson (July 24, 1867 - February 29, 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist and short story writer, known professionally as E.F. Benson. ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... Published by Faber/Profile Books in 2005 Alan Bennett (born May 9, 1934) is an English author and actor noted for his work, his boyish appearance and his sonorous Yorkshire accent. ... A Question of Attribution is a 1991 television play written by Alan Bennett and commissioned by the BBC. Directed by John Schlesinger it stars James Fox as Anthony Blunt and Prunella Scales as Queen Elizabeth II. Set around 1977 the play details the complex relationship between Blunt as Keeper of... Ronnie Barker Ronald William George Barker OBE (September 25, 1929 – October 3, 2005), popularly known as Ronnie Barker and (as a writer) Gerald Wiley , was an English comic actor and writer. ... Seven of One was a 1973 television comedy series featuring Ronnie Barker. ... The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 drama film made by Handmade Films Ltd. ... Stiff Upper Lips (1998) is a comedy that parodies British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the eighties and early nineties. ... Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, which tells the story of class struggle in turn-of-the-century England. ... Tesco plc is a UK-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. ... Jane Horrocks Jane Horrocks (born January 18, 1964) is an English actress and singer. ...

Scales narrowly missed out on the role of "Eth" in The Glums, part of Take It From Here, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden; the role went to June Whitfield. Take It From Here (often referred to as TIFH, pronounced tife) was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1947 and 1958. ... Frank Muir (5 February 1920 - 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. ... Denis Mostyn Norden (born February 6, 1922 in Hackney, London) is an English comedy writer and television presenter. ... June Whitfield CBE 1925 in Streatham, London) is a well-known English actress. ...

She is married to the British actor Timothy West, and has two sons, their eldest is the actor and director Samuel West. In 2003, she appeared as Hilda, alias "she who must be obeyed", wife of Horace Rumpole in a series of four BBC Radio 4 plays, with her husband playing her fictional husband. They are both ambassadors for SOS Children's Charity [1]. Timothy West CBE (born October 20, 1934) is a British film, stage and television actor. ... Samuel West, sometimes billed as Sam West, (born June 19, 1966) is a British actor, the son of Prunella Scales and Timothy West. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by British writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer, QC and starring Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients. ...

Prunella Scales and Timothy West toured Australia at the same time in different productions. Prunella Scales appeared in a one-woman show called "An Evening with Queen Victoria".

Scales is a supporter of the Labour Party, and appeared on a Labour party political broadcast during the 2005 UK general election campaign. The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... A party political broadcast, also known as a party election broadcast, is a short television or radio broadcast made by a political party. ... It has been suggested that Marginal constituencies in the United Kingdom be merged into this article or section. ...

Her authorised biography, Prunella, written by Teresa Ransom, was published by John Murray in 2005 [2]. She is also a patron of the Lace Market Theatre Company in Nottingham, United Kingdom. In 2005 she named the P&O Cruise ship, Artemis.^[1] Nottingham is a city, unitary authority, and county town of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England. ...

External links

• Prunella Scales at the Internet Movie Database
• Scales as Sybil Fawlty