Lytham St. Anne’s resident, Doreen ‘Milly’ Connolly has achieved unexpected international fame after starting to record video chats during lockdown to her son-in-law Phill, residing in Melbourne, Australia. School teacher Phill shared the chats in a podcast ‘Monday With Milly’ – which is now being regularly followed in 53 countries, including Moldova, Mongolia, Thailand, Kuwait and Japan.

Ninety-year-old Milly told the Daily Express that she is amazed by the reaction to her catalogue of 66-episode chats to date. These chats tell her vivid recollections of terrifying air raids during the Second World War, when her family lived in Moss Side, Manchester. Milly’s library of anecdotes about her life also highlight British social history, including her school days, living in a pub and how the law prevented her getting a mortgage as a single mother.

Phill told the Daily Express ‘Milly has a talent for storytelling, and she executes that skill with a razor-sharp memory.’

Photograph from the Daily Express