Adele King

Adèle King (born Adèle Condron-King, 4 April 1951) is an Irish entertainer better known as Twink.[1] She is the mother of singer Chloë Agnew[2] from the group Celtic Woman.

Career

Stage

King began singing and acting at the age of five. She was a Gaiety Kiddie[3] and worked in pantomime with performers such as Jimmy O'Dea, Milo O'Shea and Maureen Potter. She was also a Young Dublin Singer, from which was formed the trio Maxi, Dick and Twink.[4][5]

She has spent more than 30 years in Dublin's theatres: 26 years in the Gaiety Theatre, two years in the Point Theatre and five years in the Olympia Theatre. At the Olympia Theatre she co-produced and co-wrote much of the shows. She has been described as Ireland's 'Panto Queen'.[3][6]

King has had roles in a number of theatrical productions in Ireland, including: Dirty Dusting at the Gaiety Theatre[7] and Menopause: The Musical.[8]

Television

King has appeared on Irish television regularly since the late 1960s. She has starred in her own series Twink on RTÉ. She spent ten years on Play the Game,[3] and has made many appearances as a guest on a wide range of programmes, including RTÉ's The Late Late Show, being the subject of a tribute on that show in 2005.[3] She also was the subject of a weekend visit by the television programme Livin' with Lucy with Lucy Kennedy.

In 1993 she was the guest act at a Christmas concert by Perry Como at Dublin's Point Theatre,[9] televised to a worldwide audience of 880 million.[10]

In 2003 she took part in RTÉ's Celebrity Farm and in 2011, she won TV3's Celebrity Head Chef, receiving €10,000 for charity as a result.[11]

She has written an agony aunt page for the Irish magazine TV Now.[12] In 2011, she was given an agony aunt programme on TV3 called "Give Adele a Bell".[13] However, after a delay,[14] the programme was cancelled in June 2012 without an episode being made.[15]

She won a Jacob's Award for her performance in her 1981 Christmas Light Entertainment Special on RTÉ Two.

Theatre school

King established a performance school in summer 2002, the Adèle King Theatre School[3] in Castleknock and Greenhills. Pupils of the school have appeared on television, in films, and in commercials in Ireland and abroad. The school did not re-open for the 2008 autumn term.[16]

She was accused of a conflict of interest over her marks for a contestant, known to her, on the talent show Class Act. Her reaction[17] was: "If Osama bin Laden's son was on the programme and he threatened to send a big squad to my house if I didn't put his child through, I wouldn't."

Personal life

Twink married oboist David Agnew in 1983 and had two children, Chloë in 1989, who sings with the group Celtic Woman,[2] and Naomi in 1993.

Twink's marriage ended after 21 years, in October 2004.[18] In February 2006, David Agnew (aged 45) had a baby with clarinetist Ruth Hickey (29). This prompted an infamous phone call from King (54) to ex-husband Agnew.[19] She recorded a hostile message on his answering machine[20] which appeared afterwards on the internet. The recording contained coarse and abusive language, such as "zip up your mickey" (Irish slang for penis), and Twink insulted Hickey and the newborn infant, repeatedly calling them "whore" and "your whore's bastard" respectively. King went on to threaten Agnew with denial of contact with his daughters if photographs of his new family appeared in public.[21]

Twink described the Irish singer, Linda Martin, as a "cunt" during a tirade in May 2010. The two had been friends for 30 years but both said afterwards that they had no plans to speak to each other again.[22][23]

Twink has pet dogs, cats, birds, and a donkey.[18] She lives with her daughters in Knocklyon, Dublin.[10] In April 2015 it was reported that David Agnew and Adele King face a bid by the Bank of Scotland to repossess a house which is mortgaged in both their names. The application for possession against Ms King had already previously been adjourned by the court.[24]

In September 2014 it was widely reported across major Irish media outlets that Twink's dog, Teddy Bear, was kidnapped. Commenting on the events, Twink was quoted describing Linda Martin as being "a very powerful woman in the dog world"[25] and that the kidnapping marked her own personal "Erin Brockovich moment".[26] On 24 September Twink was reunited with her dog after a public tip-off led to the police arrest of a man in Dublin.[27]

References
  1. Brunker Meets... Adele King (Twink) – New-look Twink on Life, Love and Glamour Sunday World
  2. Twink (Adele King), 57, is an actress and entertainer. She lives in Rathfarnham, Dublin with her daughters, Chloe, 18, and Naomi, 14 The Irish Independent, 6 April 2008
  3. Charity You're A Star – Coach: Twink RTÉ Television, 2007
  4. Don't put your daughter on stage, Mrs. King Archived 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine - an interview/profile of Adele 'Twink' King, by Jack Moloney
  5. Bandstand article - The Sligo Champion (20 March 1970)
  6. CHRISTMAS PANTO 'CINDERELLA' Archived 2 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Limerick.ie, 19 December 2012
  7. Dirty Dusting Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Dublinks.com
  8. Show pulled as Twink hospitalised RTÉ Ten, 27 April 2010
  9. Perry Como's Christmas Concert 1993 Archived 4 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Kokomo
  10. Stage has been set for yet another Twink battle The Irish Independent, 21 February 2010
  11. Adele 'Twink' King wins Celebrity Head Chef RTÉ Ten, 30 July 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011
  12. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". www.irishtimes.com. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  13. On the brink? Ring Twink! TV3 dials up some domestic big guns The Irish Independent, 19 August 2011
  14. Delay hits Twink's agony aunt TV show Herald.ie, 17 October 2011
  15. Agony as Twink's TV show ends Sunday Mirror, 3 June 2012 (archived)
  16. Nolan, Lorna (7 October 2008). "Adele denies stage school has closed". Herald.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  17. Alas, poor Bertie, time to go – Twink and Bin Laden? The Irish Independent
  18. Interview with Eamonn Dunphy, RTÉ Radio 1, 29 September 2007
  19. That message from Twink (Adele King) on YouTube
  20. Twink Voicemail GeorgieCasey.com, September 2006
  21. Irish panto star's phone diatribe wows cyberspace The Register, 13 September 2006
  22. How I overheard 'pal' Twink's two-hour four-letter rant about me to cast Herald.ie, 21 May 2010
  23. Feuding Twink and Linda keep their distance The Irish Independent, 5 August 2010
  24. "David Agnew and Adele King face bid to repossess house", RTÉ News
  25. "Twink 'beyond pain' after her beloved 'Teddy' dog-napped". Irish Independent. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  26. "Twink gets new lead in search for missing dog Teddy". Irish Independent. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  27. "Twink reunited with dog Teddy Bear after entertainer's beloved pooch went missing last week". 24 September 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
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