role resulted in him often being engaged to open fetes and stores (such as the re-opened FW Woolworth in South Shields in 1970.) When asked what he thought when a national British newspaper had dubbed his character "the uncrowned king of the non-working classes", he replied: "Stan is my creation and I am proud of him." Youens was delighted to meet Sir John Betjeman, then the Poet Laureate, who had for many years expressed a desire to meet "Hilda and her ghastly husband". Meet they did, and Youens often commented that Betjeman, bounding around the studios meeting everyone "like a schoolboy" was a fond memory. The Lord Olivier also expressed a wish to appear in the programme. Olivier's schedule precluded an intended uncredited appearance in a January 1978 episode, and, in the bar at Granada TV, Youens told him, "I'm so sorry I couldn't appear opposite you", to which Olivier replied: "Not as sorry as I am." In May 1982, Youens met the Queen when she visited the set of Coronation Street. On 23 January 1984, he and Jean Alexander attended a showbusiness reception at 10 Downing Street with other Coronation Street actors. Illness and death A heavy smoker, Youens suffered a heart attack in 1972, and then on 30 October 1975 suffered a stroke which left him with a speech difficulty, though speech therapy eradicated some of this. The writers brought in Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes) as a lodger for Stan and Hilda. This reduced Youens's dialogue and allowed him to continue as a regular character until early 1984. His final Coronation Street appearance was on 7 March 1984. Having suffered most of his later life with severe arthritis in the neck and knees, Youens was taken into hospital on 2 April 1984 with the condition and over the next three months his health deteriorated rapidly. He suffered a minor stroke in May 1984, subsequently contracting gangrene in his left leg in the July, resulting in amputation. The explanation for his absence from Coronation Street was that he had been admitted to hospital after becoming ill, on the doctor's orders after Hilda collapsed from exhaustion to the strain of looking after him as his health deteriorated. Youens died peacefully in his sleep in Salford Royal Hospital on 27 August 1984 after suffering a heart attack. He was 69. The decision to kill off the Stan Ogden character was made