Pauline Collins, who picked up Olivier and Tony Awards for her performance of Shirley Valentine – and just missed out on an Oscar in 1989 to Jessica Tandy – spoke to a wall on stage.

But the passing of the actor, who was loved just slightly less than the Beatles, prompts a couple of Valentine-related questions; what did Shirley Valentine represent? Was she a theatre character who spoke to a generation of women? Did she utilise her soft Scouse voice to become a greater spokesperson for feminism than Simone de Beauvoir and Gloria Steinem put together?

And in the process, did she break up more marriages than a divorce lawyer on bonus?

The Shirley Valentine story, released in theatre form in 1986, told of a married woman whose self-worth reduced with every passing year and each time her husband Joe insisted she cook chips and egg on a Tuesday. Shirley’s world shrank to the extent she began to talk to her kitchen wall, to see if she could connect with the woman she used to be. And when she announced plans to take off to a Greek island; "That's right Millandra. I'm going to Greece for the sex. Sex for breakfast, sex for dinner, sex for tea, and sex for supper...it's called the F Plan,” a nation of ignored, married women cheered.

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