Anne Ziegler

Anne was born Irené Frances Eastwood in Liverpool. Her sister, Phyllis, and brother, Cyril, were many years older than her, so Irene was almost an only child.

She attended Belvedere School in Liverpool. Her sister, Phyllis, had done well there, but Anne was only interested in music and dancing, so the staff compared her unfavourably to her studious elder sister.

When Anne left school, she continued the piano up to Grade VIII of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and began to study singing with the eminent teacher, John Tobin and gave a recital at the Wigmore Hall in 1933.

When her father lost most of his money with the collapse of the cotton shares, she went to London and was successful in an audition for “By Appointment”, a musical play which starred Maggie Teyte. Anne sang the top part in the octet, but this production was not a success and closed after several weeks.

Anne remained in London, singing at various Lyon’s establishments and at the end of 1934 was chosen to play the role of Marguerite in a colour film entitled“The Faust Fantasy”, featuring part of Gounod’s opera, “Faust”. Webster Booth played the role of Faust. He had been married to Paddy Prior for barely two years, but this meeting led to Paddy divorcing him. Anne and Webster were married in 1938.

Anne had a light soprano voice and was very attractive. She appeared in several pantomimes and often sang on the radio. She was chosen to appear in “Virginia” at the Center Theatre, New York in 1937.

After their marriage Anne and Webster began singing duets together and in 1940 took their “Sweethearts of Song” duettist act to the variety stage, where they became extremely popular with the British public on radio, record, stage and film.

They toured New Zealand and Australia in 1948 and made a brief tour of South Africa while their ship sailed round South African ports.

After a further concert tour to the Cape in 1955 they decided to settle in South Africa in 1956, where they continued to sing and broadcast. They made a record of their famous duets in Afrikaans in 1959 and a “Nursery School Sing-Along” record in 1963.

Anne branched out into producing musicals for amateur companies, acting in straight plays, and teaching singing and stagecraft with Webster in their studio in Johannesburg. Anne also acted as the accompanist in the studio.

In 1978 they returned to the UK and were welcomed by fans who had known them 22 years earlier. They presented “An Evening with Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth”, sang at venues all over the UK, and did many broadcasts on radio and TV. After Webster’s death in 1984 Anne lived alone in the Penrhyn Bay bungalow until her death in 2003.

Her life-long friend and fan, Jean Buckley, raised money to establish the Webster Booth Award, which was presented at the Royal Northern College of Music. Later an Anne Ziegler Award was also created and Anne and Jean went to the College each year to hear the finalists’ concert. Anne acted as a judge on several occasions and presented prizes to the winners. Unfortunately sponsorship for the Webster Booth was discontinued, but Anne’s award is still presented today.