Monica Rose

Rose was born in White City, London in 1948. Her father was a London Underground train driver and mother a cleaner at White City Stadium. In 1963, at the age of just 15, whilst working as a young accounts clerk, she was given tickets for a recording of the Hughie Green quiz show called Double Your Money. The show offered a choice of 42 subjects and offered £1 for the answer to a question given by the host with the chance to double their money from £1 up to a maxmimum of £32. The top prize was £1,000. Rose was plucked from the audience to take part and despite only winning £8 (on her chosen subject of 'Famous Women') she had the personality to persuade Green (he was "impressed by her cockney charm and manner") to invite her back as a guest hostess on the show six weeks later. She stayed for three years until leaving although returned to the show before it was taken off air in July, 1968 as a result of the broadcaster, Associated-Rediffusion, losing their franchise later that month.[2]

She later worked on The Sky's the Limit which was first broadcast on 10 July, 1970 until 5 July, 1974. This was a travel-themed version of the show Double Your Money. The questions were based on geography and the top prize was 21,000 air miles and £600 in spending money (equivalent to £9,349 in 2019)[3]

In December 1966, Rose performed a duet with her co-presenter Hughie Green which was recorded on the 'B' side of the single 'Cuddle up Baby' called 'Clap Your Hands'.[4]

Rose left show business in 1977 and was admitted to hospital three years later suffering from a nervous breakdown. In 1982 she married Terry Dunnell a Baptist lay preacher and officer of a religious group called the Frontier Youth Trust. Dunnell wrote several books on christianity including Mission and Young People at Risk: a Challenge to the Church written in 1985. Monica became a Christian and settled with him in Leicester where she worked as a checkout operator in a supermarket. She paid regular visits to a local young offenders' centre up until 1993.[3] After battling depression, Rose committed suicide by overdosing on antidepressants and tranquillisers in 1994.[5][6]

• Monica Rose at IMDb