Played by: Anne
Cunningham
Appeared: 1960 - 1984
Linda left her husband Ivan and
moved back in with her mother, Elsie,
after she grew restless in their bedsit in Warrington, Ivan having
refused to allow her to go out to work. They were reconciled when
she announced she was pregnant and Ivan was so pleased that he
told her she could have anything she wanted, so she chose No9
..... right next door to her mother! Baby Paul
was born in June 1961, though Ivan had wanted to call him Rizhard,
after his uncle. Ivan worked long hard hours, at an ironworks
during the day and then as potman at the Rovers in the evening,
to support his family, but the unhealthy environment of the inner
city was taking it's toll on young Paul. So, when Ivan told her
that a friend of his had settled in Canada with a good job, Linda
allowed herself the luxury of dreaming of a better life for her
family. The dream was soon to be realised when Ivan secured himself
a job in Montreal as an engineer and the family emigrated, leaving
a tearful Elsie behind believing that she would never see them
again.
A year later, the family returned for a short visit and spent Christmas with Elsie. In 1966, Linda had an affair with a Canadian called Mike and after splitting up from Ivan, returned to No11 to stay with her mother, while Ivan found himself work in Birmingham and waited for his wife to come to her senses. Yet again, it was Paul who brought the couple back together, as Ivan returned to Weatherfield after reading in his local paper about his son being seriously ill after falling into the canal. When he recovered, the family moved to Birmingham.
Elsie was swept off her feet by her old flame Bill
Gregory, who whisked her off to Portugal where he owned a
wine bar and so in 1984 Linda returned to look after the sale
of the house. Having divorced Ivan after nearly 25 years of marriage,
she had nowhere to live and so moved into No11, took a job as
a barmaid at The Flying Horse and tried to put off potential buyers.
Elsie insisted that the house be sold and so Linda accepted an
offer of £11,500 from builder, Bill
Webster. She had hoped that he would take her on along with
the fixtures and fittings but when it was clear that Bill was
not interested, Linda left town.
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