Babs Powell: Who Is Robert Powell’s Wife?

Babs Powell is the wife of British actor Robert Powell. Babs’ husband Robert Powell is known for the title roles in Mahler (1974) and Jesus of Nazareth (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) and its subsequent spinoff television series. He has become a household name and one of the most successful actors. His unique voice is frequently heard in voice-overs and as a narrator of television programs.

Babs Powell: Bio Summary

How Old Is Babs Powell?

Barbara “Babs” Lord was born on November 28, 1945, in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. She will be celebrating her 78th birthday on November 28, 2023. There isn’t much information available about her parents and family. Babs has not disclosed a lot about her early life. She trained with the Arts Educational School. She was a dancer with “Pan’s People”. After touring Europe, the group became popular performers on BBC Television’s Top of the Pops.

Babs Powell is an actress according to her IMDb page. She has three acting credits. She has been credited for her role as Child in the TV Movie ‘The Nutcracker.’ She was Beat Girl (as The Beat Girls, Babs Lord also) in Gonks Go Beat and appeared as a Member of Pan’s People in the TV Series, The John Denver Show.

Babs Powell appeared as herself in Top of the Pops, Pan’s People in Concert, Schofield’s Christmas TV Gold, Digging the Dancing Queens, Open House, This Is Your Life, Crumpet! A Very British Sex Symbol, Richard & Judy, Sir Jimmy Savile: As It Happened, Tales of Television Centre, and Pointless Celebrities. She is also a charity fundraiser.

Babs Powell got married and left Showbusiness to take care of her home and family. She became a housewife and mother. In September 2000, despite never having sailed before, she took part in the BT Global Yacht Challenge, sailing the wrong way around the world on a grueling 9-month adventure, raising over £50,000 for charity.

How Did Babs Powell Meet Her Husband?

Babs Powell met her then-future husband, Robert Powell backstage at the BBC. Robert recalled that he was at BBC TV Centre when the dancers were rehearsing for Top Of The Pops and a mate introduced him to “these five gorgeous girls”. He said: “The following Wednesday I rang my friend and said I was popping in for a beer that lunchtime so I could see them again.

Also Read: Barney Powell: Facts About Robert Powell’s Son

“This time I invited them all out to dinner – I was very shy then and felt I couldn’t corral just one of them. I thought the next best thing to do was take them all out. They all said yes, which I thought was extraordinary because they were all unbelievably beautiful girls. We went to a little trattoria on King’s Road and it was great. I gave Babs a lift back to TV Centre and asked if she fancied coming out to dinner with me again. She did and that was it!”

Speaking to The Guardian, Robert Powell said: “I met my wife, Barbara, when she was a dancer in Pan’s People. She was very glamorous, and still is, and we fell in love quickly.” Babs and Robert felt some chemistry between them and eventually, they ended up dating. They started dating not long after their first encounter. After dating for some time, they got convinced that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together as husband and wife.

They got married on August 29, 1975, in a beautiful wedding ceremony. Their wedding took place at Goostrey Parish Church in Goostrey, near Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. Babs Powell and her husband Robert Powell have been gifted with the blessing of becoming parents. They welcomed a son, Barney Powell, on 23 November 1977. In 1979, they had a daughter, Kate Powell.

“I was there at the birth of my son and had the extraordinary feeling when I first saw him of thinking this was the first person I would willingly die for. I had the same strong feelings when my daughter was born,” Robert said. Meanwhile, Babs and Robert have remained married for more than four decades. They are still crazy about each other. Their union has endured ups and downs yet their marriage has been able to survive till now.

ALSO, READ; What happened to Brian Deacon the actor who played Jesus?

Babs Powell and Robert Powell’s marriage doesn’t have any sign of divorce so far. The duo took up sailing as a pastime. Babs participated in the BT Global Yacht Challenge and the Polar race. Both took part, in different yachts, in a round-the-world race in 2000, though Robert was present for only one leg of the race.

What Happened To Babs Powell?

Robert Powell’s wife, Babs Powell battled a debilitating arthritic condition which is suspected to have been as a result of her career. She began to feel an unusual stiffness in her hips and strange flu-like symptoms. After a month, the symptoms spread and she began to experience headaches and pain behind the eyes. She said:

‘At first I put it down to doing too much exercise and I tried to ignore it. But the symptoms would not go away and I started to panic, wondering how on earth I was going to manage the climb, ‘ says Babs who had sailed around the world and was about to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

‘My GP said he thought I might have a condition called polymyalgia rheumatica – which I had never heard of – and referred me immediately to a specialist at the Royal Free Hospital in London.‘ According to Daily Mail, ‘the diagnosis was confirmed, and Babs joined the one in 1,000 people aged over 50 in this country who suffer from the syndrome, known commonly as PMR.’

‘There’s very little research being done into the causes and as yet there is little treatment beyond the prescription of steroids,’ says Babs. ‘It really can make your life a misery.’ Babs is believed to have ended up in this condition due to the rehearsals and performances in Pan’s People, which has caused severe inflammation around the joints.

Also Read: Kate Powell: Everything About Robert Powell’s Daughter

‘My mother also had it,’ she says, ‘although even less was known about it then – I think it was just put down to an old person’s aches and pains. Babs also said: ‘As I had pain in my face I was very concerned, and I was immediately put on to a course of steroids, after having blood tests. ”They took away the worst of the stiffness and face pain and I went on to take part in the Kilimanjaro climb with my daughter and daughter-in-law.’

Babs adds: ‘When I returned, I was backwards and forwards to hospital being tested. By now, I was concerned about the side effects of the steroids I was taking. I had started to put on weight – I put on two stone – and was suffering from mood swings, hot flushes and depression. I’ve never been a person who feels down and it was awful.‘

Babs said she is ‘learning to live with my PMR and thankfully the symptoms are not too bad at the moment, apart from my thinning hair. ‘I am so lucky to have a loving and supportive family around me – it must be awful to have this condition and live on your own.’