GREATLIVES

TUESDAY, 4.30PM, RADIO 4

Joan Rhodes (above), the stunt woman, wrestler and television star, was abandoned by her parents and grew up in a workhouse and on the streets of Soho. She joined a travelling fair, where she learnt the skills that would help her survive. Joan was a big hit on TV variety shows where, in nifty costumes she’d made herself, she tore up telephone directories and lifted male presenters above her head. When her showbiz career ended, she opened a café opposite a recording studio where she served food to the likes of

Bob Dylan. The actress Anna Maxwell Martin pays tribute to a glamorous survivor.