PAT BOOTHPat Booth, who died on 11 May, 2009, was a woman who showed diverse talents in a variety of careers.
As a model she was one of the icons of the 1960s, with her lithe frame and beehive hair. She modelled for the likes of Norman Parkinson and David Bailey and launched a pair of fashionable London boutiques.
But in the 1970s she moved behind the lens. She photographed British royalty, including the Queen and Queen Mother, and pop royalty, such as David Bowie and Bianca Jagger. Her work was displayed in the National Portrait Gallery and prestigious publications.
Then in the 1980s she embarked on yet another creative direction, writing racy and glitzy romance novels. This proved to be her most lucrative venture yet with her books selling millions of copies.
Ms Booth was believed to be in her sixties when she died of cancer, though she had always been reticent about her age. She grew up in the East End and left school at 15 with ambitions in modelling.
A headstrong woman, many of her career choices seemed driven by the desire to exceed the expectations of the men in her life. Her father, a boxer, never thought she could become a model and her writing career was in defiance of the scepticism of her first husband, the psychiatrist Garth Wood.
In 2008 she married for a second time to advertising executive Sir Frank Lowe. They wed in Barbados on the spur of the moment, proving that Ms Booth was still enjoying the glamorous lifestyle that had given her much material for her books.
Ms Booth was survived by her husband and a son and daughter from her first marriage.
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