. Fifty years ago, Kathleen Ferrier, the greatest lyric contralto Britain has ever produced, lost her courageous battle with breast cancer. Her name endures to this day, for she struck a chord with a wide-ranging public - in concerts, on records and on the radio - despite a career which lasted barely ten years.
Born in Higher Walton, Lancashire, 22 April 1912,was an English contralto, she died on 8 October 1953, aged 41. (breast cancer, which had spread to her bones)..