Tiny and her MG
19 Apr 2002
We often feature Archers listeners
who have posted 1000 messages on the Archers message
board. Listener Leoni Burke passed that milestone many months ago,
and is now about to hit the 2000 mark.
Leoni
is a quality manager for the West London Learning and Skills Council,
based in Hounslow. Speaking against a background of Heathrow-bound aircraft,
her soft Irish voice is in contrast to her often punchy message board
persona.
Leoni (or Tiny as she is often
known, for reasons which become obvious once you see her photograph) has
worked in admin and training since she moved to England in 1983, but her
background is in theatre - from a very early age. She was born and grew
up in Dublin, the daughter of a professional comedian and impressario:
"My father used to put on variety shows and used me a child slave labour.
I was paid in sweets. Then I joined Equity and got… well, a few more sweets".
From being a performer, Leoni moved into stage management. "But it’s not
the sort of work you can do if you’re married or want a proper job. I
still miss the golden days, though."
Leoni
and her sales manager husband Dan have three cats, but her personal pet
is her P-reg MGBGT sports car, which is well known on the Archers message
board. Like Tony Archer, she’s found that old MGs bring delights and frustrations:
"I seem to spend large amounts of my money paying people to fix it. I
paid £2000 to have it fully restored a couple of years ago, and I had
the rubber bumpers replaced with chrome. It looks really good."
Are there fights about who should
drive it? "No, Dan won’t get in it! I only passed my test five years ago,
and he does tend to do things like change gear for me. We have an agreement
now. If I’m driving, he has to read a book and say nothing."
Dan listened to The Archers as
a child, and can take the credit for introducing Leoni to the programme:
"We often talk to each other about it. It sounds like we have lots of
friends." And for many months now, Leoni has been able to talk to others
about Ambridge, on the message board.
"I’ve always liked the Â鶹ԼÅÄ website.
It’s useful, and there’s such a lot in it. I stumbled onto the Archers
message board early last year, soon after it had been set up. It’s such
a funny, friendly place. There are all sorts of people there - postmen,
lawyers - but it doesn’t matter who you are. It’s very democratic."
As well as regularly commenting
on events in Ambridge, Leoni is one of an idiosyncratic trio of message
boarders known collectively as the Weird Sisters (another is Mary
Sanderson), who frequently wreak cyber-revenge on their least favourite
characters. Leoni has no hesitation in naming her biggest hate figure:
"Ooh, St Shula, she’s so sanctimonious. And Jill. And Peggy, she’s definitely
one who should be shot and killed. On the other hand, Mrs A is a fantastic
character. And I used to hate Jennifer, but I can’t help feeling sorry
for her now.
"It’s funny. We often go on about
how much we hate them. But secretly we love them all."
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