I remember meeting Frances on three distinct occasions. I believe the first time must have been in Arlosh Hall at Harris Manchester College. The college held a celebratory dinner for students graduating that year, me and fellow PPEist Eddy among them. I wasn’t sitting anywhere near Frances, but remember seeing her happily being engaged in conversations with people all around her – it’s fair to say that she entertained a good part of her table. I thought it was impressive how quickly she felt at ease among the company of students, tutors, and other guests of the college without ever having met them before.
The second time I recall is when she visited Eddy and me in our 128 Times Square apartment in London. Eddy and I were proud of that place – for recent graduates it was quite a nice place (brand-new Berkeley Homes development!). Frances loved that place as well and enjoyed watching TV and having the occasional glass of wine in the living room. That’s also where she told me the story of how she had met Eddy’s father in the UAE. Apparently, he had been the proud owner of a small boat – surely that must have been unusual for an expat in the UAE at that time. One scorching day, he spotted two or three lovely ladies sunbathing by the beach (Frances and her girlfriends) and promptly proceeded to ask whether they might be interested in taking a ride on his boat. Apparently, Frances rebuffed the first attempts…but ultimately, he must have succeeded :). This episode was probably the first time that I realized what a global life Frances was fortunate to have lived (only later would I learn that the UAE was only one station of many).
Finally, I have the image of Frances sitting on the large sun-drenched terrace in the legendary top floor apartment on Farringdon Road, where Eddy, Asta and I were living. I remember her talking very happily to Asta. I don’t recall the conversation, but the image of a genuinely positive, warm, chatty person having a jolly good time sticks to my mind until this day.