{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{Use British English|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Mollie Harris | image = Mollie_Harris.jpg | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Mollie Woodley | birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|6|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = Ducklington, Oxfordshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|10|2|1913|6|23|df=yes}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = actress, author | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Mollie Harris''' (born '''Mollie Woodley''', 23 June 1913 &ndash; 2 October 1995) was an English actress and author, known for her appearances as village shopkeeper Martha Woodford in the BBC Radio soap opera ''The Archers''.<ref name="DID">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/b5aaeb3f#p009mj48 |title=Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Mollie Harris |work=BBC Online |publisher=BBC |access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>

==Life== Mollie Woodley was born in Ducklington, Oxfordshire<ref name="Fergusson">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituarymollie-harris-1575902.html|title=OBITUARY:Mollie Harris|last=Fergusson|first=James|date=4 October 1995|work=The Independent|access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref> and raised in that county.<ref name="DID" /> After World War II, she became a writer and broadcaster for BBC Radio, on programmes such as ''In The Country'', with Phil Drabble.<ref name="Fergusson" /> She joined ''The Archers'' in 1970. and appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme ''Desert Island Discs'' on 8 October 1983.<ref name="DID" />

Harris's books about her life in Oxfordshire, include her three-volume autobiography, ''A Kind of Magic'' (1969), ''Another Kind of Magic'' (1971) and ''The Green Years'' (1976).<ref name="Fergusson" /> She wrote ''From Acre End'' (1982) about Eynsham, the village where she lived.<ref name="Fergusson" /> Mollie Harris wrote the book "The Archers Country Cookbook", which did appear under the name of "Martha Woodford", and was for a while a country cook resident on BBC television programme ''Pebble Mill at One''. She also wrote books about privies.<ref name="Fergusson" />

She married Ginger Harris, a heating engineer, in 1937 and adopted his surname.<ref name="Fergusson" /> He died in 1982.<ref name="Fergusson" /> Harris died on 2 October 1995 in Oxford.<ref name="Fergusson" />

The painter Gary Woodley, who illustrated some of her books, was her cousin.<ref name="Fergusson" />

== Bibliography ==

* {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=A Kind of Magic |url=https://archive.org/details/kindofmagic00harr |url-access=registration |year=1969 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=9780701114503 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=Another Kind of Magic |year=1971 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=The Green Years |year=1976 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=The Archer's Country Cookbook |year=1977 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=From Acre End: a portrait of a village |year=1982 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=Cotswold Privies |year=1984 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=The Magic of the Cotswold Way |url=https://archive.org/details/magicofcotswoldw0000harr |url-access=registration |year=1987 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=9780701131524 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=Where the Windrush Flows |year=1989 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=Privies Galore |year=1990 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Molly |author-mask=2 |title=Wychwood: the secret Cotswold forest |year=1991 }}

== References ==

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Mollie}} Category:1913 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Actors from West Oxfordshire District Category:Place of death missing Category:20th-century English actresses Category:English radio actresses Category:People from Eynsham Category:Actresses from Oxfordshire Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers

{{UK-actor-stub}} {{UK-writer-stub}}