Valentine's days were a big success

PAULINE Collins will forever be remembered as Shirley Valentine, the fed-up middle-aged Liverpool housewife, whose humdrum life changes when her best friend wins a holiday for two to Greece.

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There Shirley falls for a tavern owner played by Tom Conti and their passionate holiday fling reinvigorates downtrodden Shirley's lust for life.

The 1986 play was a huge success for Pauline, for which she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

She reprised the role in the 1989 film adaptation winning a BAFTA and nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Born in Exmouth, Devon, her mother was a schoolteacher and her father a school headmaster. With an Irish background, she was brought up a Catholic in Wallasey, Merseyside.