MEMORIES have reignited with Janie Alexander-Brown when she was looking through a storage unit after her mother's recent passing.

It wasn’t until she was sorting through these items she came across the unpleasant discovery of mould causing some items to be unsalvageable, including items linked to her parent's careers as actors.

Her parents, Rosemary Rogers and Michael Alexander, were both fascinated by the acting world and met at a repertory theatre group pursuing a career they both cherished. They met in Chesterfield and were married only five months after they had met when they were both 31.

“I guess they just knew,” said Janie.

Janie was amazed by her parents' acting career and said she read a review of a play her parents were in and they were the only two actors in the entire show.

Michael had a successful career in London and New York in films and television.

Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Polio in 1961 and after a year undergoing treatment in hospital in 1962, he worked as a news reader and presenter for Southern Television based in Southampton where he interviewed many people, including the world-renowned rock band, The Beatles.

As his career progressed, they moved to Gibraltar where he became the head of programming at the television station, experiencing huge, time stamped moments in history including putting together a program when Kennedy was assassinated.

He worked for the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation as head of programming, then went back to London buying films for television until 1970, where they moved to Germany where he worked for ABC broadcasting company.

In 1954 he was in a film called the Gilded Cage, one of the many films he was in. Janie said he had always talked about a film he was in, and it wasn’t until recently that she had come across it and is still waiting to watch it.

He also wrote and narrated some programmes for Radio Two including writing and presenting Spotlight On profiles. It went so well that he ended up doing around 27 of them with different singers.

Janie’s mum was born in Hereford and developed her passion for acting after she was evacuated during World War II at the age of 12 in 1939 to Wales where her uncle and aunt lived.

She loved being there as it gave her huge freedom. With a second family with theatrical links, they used to take her to plays and when she was 16, she joined a chorus line and instead of going to theatre school she learnt the ropes from more experienced people in the acting field.

Janie was amazed when she found a diary where her mother had written about every play she had been in and where they were located.

“Theatre was absolutely her top thing,” said Janie.

Despite some of the cherished items deteriorating, the love and compassion she had for her parents and their extraordinary careers will never fade.