Sally April Long

Costumier, milliner, designer, Dr Who monster maker - wife to Philip Anthony Dwight Sheppard and daughter of Alexander F Long and Margaret Goddard (daughter of the famous pianist, Arabella Goddard).

That's my mum! She's 77 next week. She deserves a much longer post, but for now I will tell you she went to school in South Africa during the war (in Durban - the film 'Cry the Beloved Country' was filmed in the farmhouse she lived in with her uncle and auntie).

She went to art college in Oxford (now known as Oxford Brookes) and worked with many famous people in the theatre and film including Vivien Leigh, Sir John Gielgud, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and many, many more. She worked on Dr Who in the 70s with designers Jim Acheson and John Bloomfield (I noticed John's name at the end of Spiderman 3!).

My parents met at my father's divorce party. His sister, my aunt Angela, invited her (Angela was a costumier too). I have no idea who my father's first wife was, Sally said he married her because it was 'the gentlemanly thing to do'. In other words, they had - ahem! - relations, and therefore he thought he should marry her.

Sally married Anthony in 1955 and my brother Philip was born in 1956. Sally had many miscarriages between my brother and myself, and at least one after I was born.

Sally will have more posts, because her life is an interesting one too (as you may guess from the above 'taster'). I have not pursued her family history - the Longs or the Goddards. I will ask Sally what she remembers. Her cousins are still alive, I believe, they will have more stories too I am sure.