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Early years
In the programme's early years, Ken was frequently presented as resenting what he saw as the anti-intellectual, repressed climate around him. A scathing article he wrote for a newspaper led to clashes with his father Frank and a Rovers punch-up with the character of Len Fairclough. Ken never stopped standing up for what he believed was right, but as the years passed he grew to love the street and the people who lived on it.

Life in 1960
Ken entered the storyline as a undergraduate, living with his mum Ida, dad Frank and brother David, and was the elder of his two brothers, epitomising the youth of 1960s Britain. He was also embarrassed by his working class background. Although the rest of the original family, died or moved by the end of the decade, Ken Barlow has remained the constant link throughout the history of Coronation Street.

Life in 1961
Ken graduated with a 2:1 in Modern History and English and missed an offer of a teaching job in Surrey to look after Frank after Ida was fatally run over.

Life in 1962
In August 1961, Valerie Tatlock moved into Coronation Street to live with her Uncle, Albert at No.1. Ken took an interest in her and they started dating but Valerie moved away from the street in October of the same year. However, she returned in a July 1962 episode and she and Ken married. Their marriage was generally happy at first despite Ken's fling with exotic dancer Pip Mistral.

Ken had three biological children -- twins Susan and Peter whom he sent away after the death of their mother and his first wife, Val, and Daniel Osbourne, the product of a relationship in later life. Susan had an unhappy marriage to Mike Baldwin (which produced a grandson for Ken) before she died. Peter also had a son (while in a bigamous relationship) and drops in and out of Ken's life. Ken has little contact with Daniel.

Ken raised Tracy Barlow, the daughter brought into his life by his marriage to his third wife, Deirdre from her previous marriage to Ray Langton, who grew up to plot and commit murder. Ken went so far as to go into extensive debt to help pay for her defence, but she was sent to prison for life.

Ken has been a teacher, a newspaper editor, a community activist and, most improbably of all, a trolley-pusher at a supermarket, before returning to teaching and writing.

Ken has been married four times, widowed twice, and divorced once, and has had twenty-seven girlfriends, including the character of Elaine Perkins played by the now-famous actress Joanna Lumley. When interviewed for an edition of the series Coronation Street: Secrets, Roache commented on the number of girlfriends Ken had accumulated, and remarked, "It's not that Ken is a Lothario; he's just not good at holding on to women!"

Ken has spent most of his adult life taking care of family friends and in-laws, such as Albert Tatlock, "Uncle Albert", who lived with Ken from the 1960s until his death in 1984. Albert was fond of Ken, but also very demanding of Ken's time and never missed an opportunity to wind Ken up. This role would later be filled by Deirdre's mother, Blanche Hunt. In a July 2008 episode, Ken said Blanche was becoming more and more like Uncle Albert every day.

Politically, Ken Barlow is left wing in his outlook and reads The Guardian, unlike Bill Roache, who in real life is a staunch Conservative and reads The Daily Telegraph.

In 1965 Valerie gave birth to twins Peter and Susan. Ken's adventurous nature eventually lead him astray however and he had an affair with newspaper reporter Jackie Marsh. Valerie immediately walked out on Ken when she found out but eventually relented and returned. Ken was to suffer more problems a year later however when he was arrested during a student march and was made to spend seven days in prison.

Ken, Valerie and the twins were finally happy after all the problems they'd suffered and when Ken was offered a teaching post in Jamaica they agreed to move there together and start a new life. The street decided to hold a huge going away party in the Rovers Return for the family on their last night before departing. Ken and Valerie agreed to go but while Ken was waiting for her at the party Valerie electrocuted herself with a faulty hairdryer and was killed instantly. The electrical fault then caused the house to burn down, leaving Ken devastated and a single father.

In the aftermath of Valerie's death Ken tried his best to sort out his life and find a way to raise the twins successfully. The pressure of raising Peter and Susan on his own eventually proved too much for Ken and he sent them to live with Valerie's parents in Glasgow.

Ken then began to chase after a new wife to keep him company and be a stepmother to his children. Yvonne Chappell was Ken's first new love interest and after they started dating Ken proposed to her. Yvonne however realised Ken was only looking for a replacement for Valerie and turned him down. In a 1972 episode Ken moved into number one with Valerie's Uncle Albert and started teaching at Bessie Street school after which he began to become friendly with a pupil's mother Rita Bates. Nothing ever progressed with Rita due to her being married and he found himself being chased by new corner shop assistant Norma Ford.

Ken held off from her however as he was chasing after the daughter of his school's headmaster Elaine Perkins. When he failed he took up with Norma but he only did so because he was on the rebound from failing to win over Elaine and the relationship didn't last. Soon afterwards he met up yet again with the now single Rita who was on the rebound from Len Fairclough and they spent the night together. The fling never developed into anything else, however.

Relationship with Janet Reid
In October 1972 Ken visited Glasgow to see his children and came back having married Janet Reid. However, Janet had no interest in being a stepmother to Ken's children as he wanted and the marriage quickly broke down. By the May 1974 period, Janet had left Ken. On the re-bound Ken had affairs with Peggy Barton and Wendy Nightingale.

In February 1977 Janet came back to the street having been kicked out by her new lover, Vince Denton. She pleaded with Ken to take her back but he refused. He did however let her stay the night and she slept in his bed while he stayed on the couch. The next morning Ken discovered Janet dead, having taken an overdose. Ken was initially suspected of murdering Janet due to their failed marriage but the truth came out and Ken was in the clear. He did, however, feel guilt over Janet's death and some responsibility for it happening.

Relationship with Deirdre Hunt
In 1979 Ken began dating Deirdre Langton (née Hunt) and proposed two years later. Deirdre and Ken married later that year.

One of the most-watched episodes of the soap was when Ken discovered Deirdre was having an affair with his great rival, Mike Baldwin, and was planning to leave him. William Roache has described how the director allowed him to improvise his reaction to seeing Mike at the front door after Deirdre had confessed to the affair. The question of whether or not Deirdre would leave Ken was a hot news topic at the time.

After Deirdre's romance with Baldwin (who had been her boyfriend before she married Ken), Barlow himself formed a relationship with council secretary Wendy Crozier. When Deirdre found out, she was furious, and famously threw him out just as midnight dawned on the new year in 1990. His relationship with Wendy quickly fizzled, and he attempted suicide just before the new year in 1991, only to be distracted, and inadvertently saved, by Bet Gilroy. Ken and Deirdre subsequently divorced but remained great friends. They supported one another throughout the many trials and tribulations of their lives, most notably Deirdre being falsely accused of fraud in the year 1998 after con-man Jon Lindsay implicated her in a scam.

Whilst Ken and Deirdre were apart, he had relationships with numerous women, including the headmistress of the school where he worked, Baldwin's ex-girlfriend Alma (who later married Mike), and with Maggie Redman, the mother of Baldwin's son Mark. The latter two affairs both resulted in further antagonism between Ken and Mike.

"Attacking" Aidan Critchley
Ken's teaching career was ruined by pupil-from-hell character Aidan Critchley. Aidan mocked and terrorised poor Ken, making fun of his previous occupation of trolley-pusher which resulted in the whole class being disrespectful to him. When Aidan stole and crashed Ken's car, Aidan was arrested but nothing came of it. Aidan goaded Ken, boasting about how he was let off for his crime, prompting a furious Ken to punch him on the spur of the moment.

This resulted in Ken losing his job as teacher and facing criminal charges. He pleaded guilty to assault but received a conditional discharge.

Aidan was arrested under suspicion of being the Street serial killer months later. The character of Ken doubted that Aidan was capable of murder and became an unlikely ally to him. When the real culprit was revealed to be evil character Richard Hillman, Aidan was released having made his peace with former enemy Ken.

Reconcilating with Deirdre Hunt
True love conquered all and Deirdre and Ken reunited in the year 1999. The year 2005 saw Ken and Deirdre remarry in an emotional spring wedding ceremony. The original ceremony in which they had planned to remarry was ruined by the return of Ray Langton. However, they eventually made it up the aisle and everyone was delighted for the happy couple. Coincidentally, the king and queen of soap married just a day before the Prince of Wales wed Camilla Parker-Bowles. This coincidence had occurred previously, with Ken and Deirdre's first wedding in 1981 taking place on the same day as when the Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer.

But tragedy shattered Ken and Deirdre's happiness when Deirdre's former husband Ray, who had built up a relationship with his biological daughter, Tracy, on his return to Weatherfield, died at their Rovers' wedding reception. Deirdre was upset by her ex's demise, and their wedding day had most certainly been overshadowed by heartache.

Mike Baldwin's death
On 7th April, 2006, Mike Baldwin died in the arms of his nemesis of over twenty years, Ken. The aftermath of Mike's death would dominate the Barlow household for several weeks, with Ken's grandson Adam furious after half-brother Danny Baldwin conned him out of his inheritance. This resulted in a fierce exchange between the characters of Ken and Danny at Mike's funeral. Alongside the issue of the character of Adam's inheritance, Ken's marriage to Deirdre was a little shaken by the tragic events. Ken was slightly annoyed at what he considered an excessive amount of grief on Deirdre's part over Mike's demise.

Tracy and marital strain
Ken's marriage was in turmoil. This was because of his adoptive daughter Tracy's murder conviction, she had been found guilty of killing boyfriend Charlie Stubbs. This proved a great strain on his relationship with Deirdre, who blamed Ken for recent events.

In a blazing row, Ken threatened his wife that if she left the house, he would not be there when she returned. After an emotional farewell with mother-in-law Blanche Hunt, Ken left and began rebuilding a relationship with his son Daniel, and the boy's mother Denise Osbourne. Denise took Ken to make amends with Deirdre on 11th May 2007, but this resulted in Deirdre slapping Denise in front of a packed Rovers Return Inn.

Following the furious showdown between Deirdre and Denise in the Rovers, Deirdre visited Ken and apologised for her behaviour and begged to return to Coronation Street, but to no avail.

Ken and Denise grew closer during his separation from Deirdre. Convinced that Ken wanted to rekindle their passion, Denise made a blatant attempt to win him over but when she leaned in for a kiss, he rejected her advances. Denise was humiliated. After this embarrassing encounter, Ken decided to return to Coronation Street. He waited for Deirdre at No.1 and they both apologised for their treatment of one another. The couple forgave each other and reconciled. Deirdre realised that Ken wanted to keep in touch with Daniel and suggested that he continue with his contact with the lad.

Working at Roy's Rolls
In February 2008, Ken started working in the café with Becky Granger, as cover for owner character Roy Cropper when Roy left to visit wife Hayley in Africa. At the moment, people who come into the café wonder why such a man is working in such a job. This had angered Becky but Ken didn't mind working at the café and got on fairly well with Becky, with her calling him "Kenny." Ken became a go-between for the very different personalities of Roy and Becky, Ken has continually urged Roy to see things from Becky's side and to learn to accept her different ways of doing things. Despite Ken's help, the heated rows in the Café have carried on.

Ken later took an interest in Roy's investigation of the bats at Tony Gordon's building site and helped Roy and Becky to stop Tony's plan to carry on the building work whilst bats, an endangered species remained on the site. Ken first politely questioned Tony about his intentions for the bats and gave feedback to Roy. Roy's masterplan was to park Hayley's car in the building site entrance while still being legally parked, Ken and Becky joked about the possibilities of his plan and then Ken drove up and parked the car, causing problems for Tony, the situation was resolved when Tony promised to give money to a bat charity.

Water Leaks, a plumber and a University reunion
At No.1 in May 2008, water started pouring through the ceiling, Ken and Dierdre hired the local plumber, Roger Stiles to fix the plumbing problem, Ken's mother-in-law Blanche kept an eye and wasn't impressed with Roger's skills. Dierdre and Blanche were frustrated when Roger turned up two hours late after bumping into an old friend buying tools. Ken took a more relaxed view and formed a friendship with Roger, who shared similar interests in reading, Ken and Roger often go to the Rovers while sharing views and discussing characters over a pint, much to Dierdre's annoyance who thought Ken was encouraging him not to work on the plumbing.

Ken was later invited to a university reunion in July 2008. Ken was unsure of going because he was embarrassed that he hadn't moved on, as well as the others, in his career. However Roger encouraged him to give it a go. Ken went to the reunion and met an old aquaintance who had done well in his career, they discussed their lives and Ken also met an old flame of his, Marian Lund. They both said that their other classmates expected Ken to do really well, in embarrassment, Ken lied and said he was a successful writer. When he got back home he thought about his life and told Roy that he was quitting his job at Roy's Rolls, Roy was very dissapointed that Ken had decided to leave, with Becky working at the Rovers and Ken being a good friend and worker. Vernon Tomlin decided to take over Ken whilst Roy visited Hayley in africa yet again.

Friendship with Ted Page
Ted Page befriended Ken in July 2008. This led to Blanche's suspicions that Ken might turn out gay, when she told Deirdre, she denied this and said that one night at a cinema won't turn Ken gay, but Blanche is still adamant that Ken could become gay. When Ted rang Ken to meet up again, Blanche answered the phone whilst Ken was out, where as Ted told Blanche to say that Ted had rang to inform Ken about a hotel, this made Deirdre laugh intensly when Blanche commented again; Blanche made some inappropriate comments towards Ken. Ken returned from an art fair with Ted and was angered with Blanche accusing him of being gay, Ken went on to say that Blanche was showing views of a bigot, but Blanche insisted she had no problems with homosexuals, she just didn't want Dierdre to be married to one, on that note, Ken stormed out. Ken and Ted then discussed art and books over a drink in the Rovers, they both shared an interest in each others subject. Ken told Ted about the novel that he had once written, an interested Ted gave him some encouragement which made Ken go home and look over the novel he written.