Jane Lumb

Mar 18 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

SHE had everything a rock musician could want – long legs, a short skirt, a come-hither pout, a rich dad and a boarding school voice.

However, beneath the glamorous sheen of this calendar girl, there lurked a keen mind, though that wasn’t to the fore when she was stepping out with the beautiful people, drawn across the class divides by the promise of love, sex and peace.

Then, as the 60s rolled into the tougher 70s, her business acumen gave her considerable power in the fiefdoms of pop.

Jane Lumb was born in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, the daughter of a mill owner, who hoped that an expensive education would groom her into the ways of the aristocracy.

Instead, like so many young people of that generation, she was whisked along by rock and roll and a little safe rebelling.

So, despite passing four A- levels and a place at Oxford to read English, she headed for London, where she fell in with a fashionable set which included the Beatles and Rolling Stones, later Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa, Twiggy, Joanna Lumley and cool photographers, such as David Bailey, who liked to be seen with a pretty girl in tow. For a while she lived with Bailey’s assistant, Vic Singh, on the King’s Road.

Miss Lumb was very pretty, with high-cheekbones and a confident stare. She quickly found work in New York, London and the European capitals.

Although essentially a model, who famously posed for the Pirelli calendars and became the face of Fry’s Turkish Delight, Miss Lumb also appeared in decorative parts in popular films such as Goldfinger, various Carry On romps and, controversially, as a female St Sebastian in Ken Russell’s TV film on Debussy.

She also appeared with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in a 13-minute film about Swinging London called Reflections on Love (1966).

Her closest friend at this time was Tony Hicks of the Hollies.

In 1976, she married Tony Gourvish, a pop manager, finally taking her degree with the Open University while pregnant with their daughter.

PR was her next move and her clients included Showaddywaddy, the Bay City Rollers, Duane Eddy and the Dorchester Hotel.

From the girl who bloomed at a happy time, Miss Lumb, who died from cancer, matured into a trusty friend and a sparkling companion.

Jane Lumb, model,born November 23, 1942; died February 8, 2008.