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The secretary who made millions from her typos

In the 1950s, secretary and budding artist Bette Graham invented correction fluid to cover up her typing mistakes.

In the 1950s, secretary Bette Graham from Texas was struggling to cope with her new electric typewriter.

“My fingers would hang heavy on the sensitive keyboard and the first thing I'd know, I'd have a mistake with a deposit of carbon which I simply couldn't erase,” she said.

A budding artist, she wondered if there was a way she could paint over her typos.

At home, in her kitchen, the single mum cooked up the first correcting fluid. It was a hit with other secretaries and, by 1973, Bette had turned her creation into a multi-million dollar business.

Bette died in 1980 so Vicky Farncombe tells her story using archive from University of North Texas Special Collections.

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(Photo: Correction fluid. Credit: Getty Images)

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10 minutes

On radio

Thursday 07:50GMT

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  • Thursday 07:50GMT
  • Thursday 11:50GMT
  • Thursday 17:50GMT
  • Thursday 21:50GMT
  • Friday 02:50GMT

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