Editing Yootha Joyce (section)

==Early life==
Yootha Joyce Needham was born in [[Wandsworth]], London, the only child of musical parents Percival "Hurst" Needham, a singer, and Jessie Maud (née Revitt), a concert pianist.<ref name="biography">{{cite book |last=Curran |first=Paul |title=Dear Yootha...: The Life of Yootha Joyce |publisher=Mossy Books |year=2014 |isbn=9-781494-911645}}</ref><ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB |last=Follows |first=Stephen |title=Joyce, Yootha [real name Yootha Joyce Needham] (1927–1980), actress |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/74665}} {{subscription required}}</ref> She was named "Yootha"  after a New Zealand dancer in her father's touring company, a name she would later say she "loathed and detested".<ref>''[[Radio Times]]'', 7–13 August 1971, p. 4</ref> Joyce's biography states that her heavily pregnant mother went for a walk on [[Wandsworth Common]] during an interval of one of her husband's performances and began feeling [[Childbirth|contractions]]; searching for a house to call an ambulance, she came across a [[nursing home]] where she gave birth.<ref name="biography"/>

The family lived in a basement flat at Bennerley Road, Wandsworth, although Joyce spent much time living with her maternal grandmother, Jessie Rebecca Revitt, while her parents were touring.<ref name="biography"/> Initially educated at the Battersea Central Co-educational School, Joyce was evacuated at the start of the [[Second World War]] to [[Petersfield]], [[Hampshire]], where she attended Petersfield County High School for Girls. Although Joyce later said that she "hated" her time in Petersfield, she and the other female evacuees from Battersea would use the local church hall there for acting, dancing and singing.<ref name="biography"/> By the time Joyce returned to London in 1941 her parents resided in Gladstone Road in [[Croydon]], joined by her grandmother. She completed her education at [[Croydon High School]].

Joyce's family were not encouraging of her career. She could not sing or play the piano like her parents, who stated she "wasn't much good at anything"; however, inspired by her performances at Petersfield, Joyce became determined to "break family tradition [...] and become a straight dramatic actress".<ref name="biography"/> Despite her parents' disdain,<ref name="biography"/> Joyce successfully auditioned for a place at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] (RADA), beginning in September 1944, alongside [[Roger Moore]]. Her first performance was playing  [[Lydia Bennet]] in a production of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''.

Undeterred by her director saying that she "had nothing to offer the profession", Joyce began working as an assistant stage manager at The Grand in Croydon during the summer holidays, and joined a repertory company where she starred in productions including ''[[The Constant Nymph (novel)|Escape Me Never]]'' and ''[[Autumn Crocus (play)|Autumn Crocus]]''.<ref name="biography"/> Starting back at RADA in September 1945, Joyce dropped the "Needham" from her name and began using the stage name "Yootha Joyce" saying "it seemed less of a mouthful... being stuck with Yootha is enough".<ref name="biography"/> Joyce left RADA in early 1946, finding it unduly strict and unencouraging.<ref name="Cotter2013">{{cite book|author=Robert Michael "Bobb" Cotter|title=The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IiZnbykWAsIC&pg=PA110|date=4 June 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0201-1|pages=110}}</ref>