Norman Pearson

Norman Pearson was the put-upon husband of Beattie Pearson and had the double fortune to be the son-in-law of Albert Tatlock.

The two were married in August 1952 after six years of courtship when Beattie was aged 29 and he had been demobbed from the Navy. She proposed to him (the year in question being a leap year) and after the wedding the couple moved to another part of Weatherfield, a couple of bus journeys away from her childhood home in Coronation Street.

Norman was utterly under the thumb of his difficult and domineering wife and rarely rebelled against her iron rule. One instance was in July 1971 when he started going out frequently, claiming he was going bowling and then started attending wrestling matches. Beattie suspected he had another woman and, on her father's advice, she threatened to leave him if he went out again. He called her bluff and Beattie turned up at 1 Coronation Street, suitcase in hand. After a couple of fraught weeks, Beattie was short of money and Albert told her to contact her husband for money. He came round and following the habit of many years handed her his entire salary for the week - £20.20 - and received back just his bus fares to work and his spends. Shocked at this display of masculine weakness, Albert walked out of the room rather than see him under her thumb. However the meeting made Beattie realise that she actually needed her husband and she returned to him, saying he could go out when and where he liked.

Like his wife, Norman rarely mad visits to his father-in-law, which suited Albert admirably. When he celebrated his eightieth birthday in 1975, Beattie turned up but Norman was nowhere to be seen. He did make two visits in 1983, the first being when Beattie rushed round upon hearing that alterations were being made to No.1 and was pleased to hear that Albert's nephew-in-law Ken Barlow was paying the cost, until she found out that this was because the house had been sold to him, robbing her, in her view, of her inheritance. A month later they popped round on the spur of the moment on her father's birthday when she was offended to find a birthday tea in progress to which they had not been invited. She stalked out in a huff, ordering the servile Norman to follow her. He duly did so.


 * A comment by Ken Barlow in Episode 13 (20th January 1961) stated that Beattie had two children and Albert Tatlock told Dr. Graham in Episode 24 (3rd March 1961) that they were sons and the family lived in a nicer area than Coronation Street but these children do not seem to have been referred to again. In addition, in Episode 901 (13th August 1969), Beattie referred to her husband by the name of "Fred".

1971

 * Wed 28th Jul

1983

 * Mon 4th Jul
 * Wed 10th Aug