Elizabeth ("Betty") Turpin/Williams née Preston

The Following Profile was submitted by Jeremy Larner and is ©2006 to Jeremy Larner

Betty first appeared in the show in June 1969 when she and her husband Cyril, a police sergeant, moved into the Corner Shop on Coronation Street following the break up of her sister Maggie Clegg's marriage. Betty had married Cyril after the war but they had had no children, however during the war Betty had an affair with a serviceman called Ted Farrell and become pregnant. As she wasnt married but her sister Maggie was, it was agreed that Maggie would bring up the baby as their own son, so when Gordon was born Betty handed him to Maggie.

Shortly after Betty arrived in the Street she moved into a house at Hillside Crescent with Cyril. She also found employment as a barmaid at the Rovers Return, a job she had held down on and off for over 35 years. At first landlady Annie Walker wanted to sack Betty as she feared her husband Jack, who had hired Betty, would find her attractive. However Annie soon came around and when Bet Lynch joined the staff at the Rovers in 1970 as a barmaid, to avoid confusion Annie always addressed Betty as Elizabeth and they became quite good friends, only on a few occasions over the years was there ever a rift between them. Betty also became close friends with Bet and on occasions Bet stayed at Betty's house. In 1973 when Annie Walker became mayoress of weatherfield and temporary manager Glyn Thomas took over the running of the Rovers he made several changes including the Rovers selling hot food prepared by Bet and Betty. However although most of his changes didnt remain when Annie came back Betty's hotpot has remained on the menu ever since!

An ex convict by the name of Lucas began to stalk Betty, however Betty hid this from Cyril. When he eventually discovered the truth he attacked Lucas which lead to him leaving the police force. In 1974 Betty insisted Cyril attended the engagement party of Rita Littlewood and Len Fairclough, however as he was rushing out of the house he collapsed and died of a heart attack. The police arrived to inform Betty's sister Maggie that Cyril had died, and Maggie was left to break the news to Betty at the Rovers. It was a huge blow to Betty and when the news sunk in she had a breakdown, blaming herself for Cyril's death because she had insisted he attended the party. She was so distressed she almost didnt attend Cyril's funeral, however it was decided she would attend at the last minute. Betty was forced to temporarily move in with Maggie due to financial problems, and slowly she began to adjust to life without Cyril with the help of all her friends and her job at the Rovers.

In the summer of 1974 Betty attended the wedding of Maggie and Ron Cooke and the couple moved to Zaire straight afterwards. In October 1974 Betty enjoyed a holiday in Majorca with Bet, Hilda, Annie, Deirdre, Rita, Mavis and Emily, after Bet Lynch had entered a competition and won the holiday as a prize. Shortly after this the Hopkins family, who were renting the Corner Shop, discovered a birth certificate for Gordon Clegg in the back of a sideboard. The father was unknown and the mother was Elizabeth Preston. After finding out from Minnie Caldwell that Preston was Maggie and Betty's maiden name, Granny Hopkins worked out that Gordon's mother was Betty and not Maggie. After first handing over the certificate and telling Betty they wouldnt tell anyone the truth, they then began blackmailing her into selling them the Corner Shop at a knock down price. However Maggie told Gordon the truth and the Hopkins family were evicted and left the street under the cover of darkness. With Maggie and Gordon not around Betty kept an eye on the Corner Shop while Blanche Hunt ran it. Trisha Hopkins was allowed to stay on in the flat and her friend Gail Potter also moved in. In December 1975 Betty played the role of fairy godmother in the Community Centre's production of Cinderella. In January 1976 Blanche Hunt left the area and Trisha and Gail took over the running of the shop, until it was eventually sold to Renee Bradshaw in May 1976. Betty however returned to serving behind the shop counter for a period in Mid 1977 while Renee was away looking after her ill mother. Betty had walked out of the Rovers after Annie had accused her of stealing money, and threatened legal action against Annie after she found out she had been spreading the news to Nellie Harvey. However Annie and Betty soon sorted out their problems and Betty returned to the Rovers, just in time to help Bet organise a surprise party for Annie's 40th anniversary at the Rovers in October 1977. In 1977 Betty was also thrilled when Ray and Deirdre Langton asked her to be godmother to their baby daughter Tracey Lynette.

In 1978 Betty donated a plate to a jumble sale which was bought by Deirdre Langton for 25p. However when the plate was later valued for £100, Deirdre sold it and gave half the money to Betty. Later that year Betty was chosen to appear on the cover of the Newton and Ridley brewary magazine, much to the fury of both Bet and Annie who had both expected themselves to be chosen to appear. The following year Betty discovered a carriage clock had gone missing from her house and blamed Eddie Yeats as he had been in her house. Betty faced a dilemma about whether to go to the police, however it was later discovered it was one of Eddie's friends who stole the clock. Eddie persuaded Betty not to go to the police.

In 1980 Betty became concerned that her neighbour was neglecting her children and was persuaded to contact the NSPCC. However the father of the children later visited Betty and threatened her, but Eddie Yeats sorted it out. In 1981 Annie went on a cruise and a relief manager was sent to run the pub in her absence called Gordon Lewis. When Fred was suspended Bet and Betty walked out in support and Gordon hired 2 other barmaids to take over. However they were all relieved when Annie returned and sent Gordon and his staff packing and reinstated Betty, Bet and Fred. Later the same year Betty got into trouble again with Annie when the Rovers staff started a competition over who could get the most tips from customers. This led to bickering when Bet Lynch got the most, and Annie insisted they reverted to putting all tips in one pot and sharing them.

Betty was overjoyed when her son Gordon arrived in early 1982 and introduced her to his fiancee Caroline Wilson. However, Caroline looked down her nose at Betty didnt approve that she worked in a small back street pub. Betty was deeply hurt when she found out that Gordon and Caroline had got married and not invited her to attend. Shortly after this she took electrician Alec Hobson in as a lodger. Later in the year she was shocked to receive a visit from Ted Farrell, Gordon's real father. Betty decided not to tell him about Gordon as he was now married with children however she did confide in Annie and Bet. She was upset when she found out that Bet had told Fred Gee about the situation and walked out of the Rovers in disgust that her friend had betrayed her confidence, however she later returned and made things up with Bet. Later that year a spate of muggings took place in the area and Betty was the victim of one of them when she was attacked by teenagers who stole her handbag. Deirdre Barlow informed the police who the boys were upsetting her husband Ken.

In 1983 Bet persuaded Betty to join her and Fred on a drive to the country as it was a Bank Holiday. Fred was unhappy as he had wanted him and Bet to be alone. However when Bet and Betty got back into the car to return home the handbrake gave way and they ended up in the lake!

In 1985 Bet was made manager of the Rovers following Annie's retirement. However when Bet took a holiday with Frank Mills and failed to inform the brewary of her absence they made Betty the manager for a while while Bet was placed on probation for 3 months. The same year Betty was overjoyed when she received news from Gordon that she had become a grandmother. Following a fire at the Rovers in 1986 Betty decided to retire even though the Rovers was reopening. She wasnt happy however when Bet, who was staying with her, used her house to conduct interviews for new barmaids. However a month after the reopening she was getting lonely stuck at home so Bet agreed to let her come back. The following year Betty, like most of the street residents, was surprised that Bet married Alec Gilroy, and he took over the license at the Rovers.

In 1992 after Alec was reported to the Environmental Health for serving food prepared in a domestic kitchen he decided to stop selling food all together and sacked Betty after 22 loyal years of service at the Rovers. However when profits were affected Alec was forced to reinstate Betty and have the kitchen modernised in order to keep on serving her famous hotpot.

In May 1995, 50th years after the end of the war, Betty was surprised to meet up with Billy Williams, an old boyfriend. Billy proposed to Betty saying that they had spent enough time apart and after initially refusing she accepted and they married in October 1995. At this time Bet left the area and Betty was disappointed that she was unable to attend her wedding. In 1997 Billy died of a heart attack leaving Betty all alone once again.

In 1999 she became suspicious of new Rovers landlady Natalie Barnes boyfriend Ian Bentley and was the first to work out that he was infact the fiancee of Sharon Gaskell, Rita's former foster daughter. Betty alerted Rita to the fact Ian was cheating on Sharon with Natalie, who didnt have a clue who he was, which stopped Sharon making a terrible mistake.

In June 2002 Betty once again decided it was time she retired, and a party was organised at the Rovers for her, with her old mate Bet Lynch arriving to give her a big send off. Betty's son and daughter in law, Gordon and Caroline also turned up. and reluctantly asked Betty to come and live with them in Wimbledon. However within a month Betty was back in Weatherfield after falling out with Caroline, and asked for her job back at the Rovers again. In early 2003 she offered advice to troubled Maria Sutherland who was pregnant after sleeping with her friend Toyah's boyfriend, and decided to have an abortion.

Betty was invited to stay with Caroline and Gordon once again at Christmas 2003 but she was upset when she arrived only to find they werent there after an emergency with Caroline's mother. Upset about this, she returned from London to her home in Weatherfield. After going to bed and not realising she had left the gas on she woke up to a house full of smoke and her neighbours banging on her door, fortunately she was unharmed and when she told her boss Shelly Unwin what had happened she was invited to stay at the Rovers over Christmas and until she got her house sorted out. Betty was hurt that her son didnt want her but after a chat with Tracey Barlow she was cheered up.

In 2005 Betty agreed to let Sean Tully take her beloved cat Marmaduke to the vets, as Sean had taken quite a shine to the vet Tim White. However she was devastated when Sean told her that Marmaduke had had to be put to sleep due to illness. Sean felt terrible about this and asked Tim to get Betty a kitten, in the hope it would help her get over Marmaduke's death. However the kitten proved so much work for Betty that she asked Sean to take it back.