Born Joy Johnson, the great-granddaughter of the celebrated Drury Lane clown Sam Laurey, she proudly adopted the stage name Laurey in his honour.

​

During the Second World War, Joy began her professional career with E.N.S.A., performing alongside her mother Dorrie and sister Honor as The Jonathan Laurey Puppet Company. Together they toured Britain, bringing laughter and comfort to the troops through their imaginative puppet shows.

​

After the war, Joy continued creating and performing her unique characters at venues including the Lord Mayor’s Children’s Party in London and summer seasons at seaside resorts around the country.

​

In 1950, BBC producer Michael Westmore invited Joy to design a puppet for a new children’s television show called Whirligig. The result was Mr Turnip — a mischievous and loveable character who became a household name and one of early television’s first stars. The series ran for more than six years, inspiring an unprecedented range of merchandise and a generation of young fans.

​

Joy’s success led to further commissions, including the creation of Twizzle for Gerry Anderson’s AP Films. She built and operated the puppet characters for all 52 episodes, helping to launch another milestone in British television puppetry.