A Titanic survivor

12:14pm Friday 4th January 2008

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THE last living survivor of the Titanic will be giving a rare talk about how the fateful event shaped her life.

Millvina Dean, will be speaking on April 11, three days before the 96th anniversary of the sinking at The Turner Sims concert hall as part of a three-day programme of events organised by Southampton City Council to remember the disaster.

The 96-year-old recently hit out at the BBC's Christmas Day Doctor Who episode depicting the liner as a spaceship colliding with the Tardis as "disrespectful to the dead".

She said: "I didn't watch it. I don't watch anything connected with Titanic because it upsets me."

Millvina, who will be discussing her thoughts on a life under the spotlight with the council's Oral History Manager and author of Titanic Voices, Sheila Jemima, said: "It won't be a prepared speech. It will be spontaneous. I was asked to give the talk and I don't like to say no.

"In the last few weeks I have given interviews to Channel 5 and a Mexican channel."

Millvina has received more than 100 Christmas cards mainly from America and a heap of gifts including books, a bed jacket and a stationary set.

She added: "I haven't had a chance to open all my presents. There's so much stuff in my room and I'm still receiving Christmas cards - it's great."

Millvina was just nine weeks old when she left Southampton with her parents aboard the doomed ship in April 1912.

More than 1,500 died, including Millvina's father Bertram and 549 others from Southampton but her mother and brother survived.

The family hoped to emigrate to the United States and open a tobacconist in Wichita, Kansas.

After a stay in New York, Millvina and her mother and brother returned to England on board the liner, Adriatic, where the tot quickly became a celebrity baby.

Millvina, a former Gregg School pupil, only learned about the tragedy aged eight when her mother was about to remarry.

Millvina herself never married, working for the government during the Second World War drawing maps, and later in the purchasing department of a Southampton engineering firm.

She has attended Titanic related events across the globe since the wreck was discovered by Dr Robert Ballard in 1985.

Millvina, who has lived at Woodlands on the edge of the New Forest for many years, was invited to travel aboard the QE2 to America in 1997 to complete her family's voyage to Wichita, Kansas.

Councillor John Hannides, Southampton City Council's cabinet member for Leisureand Culture said: "This is such an amazing event for Southampton to be hosting.

"It is a rare opportunity to hear Millvina talk and has international appeal. This is going to be a really special evening where Millvina will tell 96 years of stories and is a must for anyone with an interest in the 20th century and the Titanic."

Click HERE for more Titanic stories including a list of events marking the 96th anniversary.