The corgis licked Nana’s toes as she modelled for the Queen!
BRITAIN is full of unsung heroes and heroines who deserve recognition. Here, in our weekly obituary column, the moving and inspirational stories of ordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives, and who died recently, are told by their loved ones . . .
EveN on her deathbed, my beloved great-grandmother was still saying that she wished she had done more with her life. This from a woman who had spent a lifetime chasing new experiences. But then, as my great-grandfather often said, his wife was dedicated to what she called bettering herself.
Nana was born in Yorkshire on a cold January morning and, like many of her generation, left school at 14. Along with one of her three sisters, her introduction to working life started in the local pubs, where she worked as a singer for two shillings a song.
Harry Corbett, the pianist who accompanied her, would later go on to find fame as the creator of the glove puppet, sooty. When war broke out, she was rejected by the WAAF on health grounds and instead worked as a progress chaser — checking the work was up to scratch and on schedule — for Lancasters and spitfires at the Blackburn aircraft factory. It was relentless: 12 hours a day, seven days a week and the war’s end was a blessed relief.
By then she had met her future husband John who, like her, wanted to sample life in London.
In 1949, she started work in a women’s tailors as an ordinary shop girl — until the day one of their models didn’t turn up for the fashion shows they put on.
Nana took her place and, as she later said, that was that: ‘something clicked inside me.’
Big-name fashion designers came calling, among them sir Hardy Amies. Then, in the late sixties, she was approached by sir Norman Hartnell, dress designer for the Queen.
Nana was in her mid-40s with a grown-up son, Franklin, but sir Norman made her his chief model — ‘Mara’, he called her. That meant visits to Buckingham Palace to parade his designs before Her Majesty.
Nana recalled her thrice-yearly visits as a rather casual affair, with corgis tugging on Hartnell’s trouser legs and licking her toes while she was barefoot between changes. As for the Queen, ‘delightful’ was Nana’s verdict. Friendly and not at all standoffish, she always made a point of asking after Nana’s family.
Nor was this her only brush with celebrity. While working for Hartnell, Nana went to get her hair cut at a Mayfair salon.
The man gave her a bob which sir Norman loved so much that he then sent all of his models to get the same style. The hairdresser? vidal sassoon. He and Nana remained friends for life.
One of my favourite stories is the time she auditioned for a part in Coronation street and was told to invent her own role.
she suggested she become the long-lost lover — and bearer of the illegitimate child — of the famous love rat Len Fairclough. The producers said it was a bit too risque, but told her to keep in touch. It was one of her greatest regrets that she never did.
Just one of Nana’s memories, recounted to her five adoring great-grandchildren. We loved sitting at the foot of her armchair while she held court, clad in leopard-skin and swathed in gold.
For the past few years, Nana wasn’t in great health, but her spirit was unwavering. Her funeral song choice says it all: You’re The First, The Last, My everything by Barry White. she was fabulous and we all miss her so much.