Joan (Jonnie) Ann Werner Laurie 1920 - 1964
Joan (Jonnie) Ann Werner Laurie , She was painted 1927/8 (?) by Dame Ethel Walker. the painting is held by the Tate Gallery. Almoners Clerk (Middlesex House) (1939). Journalist , of 7 Clareville Grove, London SW7 where she was living with Nancy Spain (1954). Editor of She. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia Joan Werner Laurie (1920-1964) was the daughter of Thomas Werner Laurie, a London publisher with a reputation for publishing risquâe titles. After a war spent in the WRNS and a six-year marriage to Paul Seyler, MC from which issued a son (Nicholas Laurie Seyler, later Nicholas Werner Laurie, now Nick Laurie) she founded and, until her death, edited the woman's periodical She. She lived openly with the journalist and broadcaster Nancy Spain and later the couple provided a home to Windmill Theatre owner and rally driver Sheila van Damm. Among her other achievements she was herself a competent rally driver and navigator. She was learning to fly when she died, with Nancy Spain and four others, in a light aeroplane crash on her way to the Grand National- the Civil Aviation Authority Accident Report ended with the words "Passenger interference cannot be ruled out". She was cremated with Spain at Golder's Green Crematorium, London. The relationship between Werner Laurie and Spain is described in Rose Collis' posthumous biography of Nancy Spain, published in 1997. Joan Werner Laurie ----------- Cassell, 1997 - Nancy Spain, the best-known and most successful all-media woman celebrity of her time, died in a civilian plane crash on Grand National Day in 1964, together with her longtime partner, Joan Werner Laurie, editor and co-founder of She magazine. Their friend Noel Coward wrote in his diary, 'It is cruel that all that gaiety, intelligence and vitality should be snuffed out when so many bores and horrors are left living'. Several years later, the pioneering lesbian magazine, Arena Three, reflected, 'Nancy Spain was not the first British lesbian to make front-page news: she was indisputably the wildest, wittiest and warmest of heart'. It was those very qualities which helped propel Nancy Spain to the forefront of popular newspapers, magazines, books, radio and television, from the 1940s until the day she died: from Good Housekeeping to the News of the World: from Woman's Hour to My Word and What's My Line? to Juke Box Jury, and, of course, her fatuously camp crime novels, such as Poison for Teacher and Cinderella Goes to the Morgue. From her days as a teenage sports reporter on the Newcastle Journal and beyond her vintage years at the Daily Express, where she enjoyed an eventful career as one of the most sparkling of Lord Beaverbrook's 'personality journalists', the self-dubbed 'Roedean Rebel' trod a nimble line between convention and unorthodoxy to stamp her unique brand of English eccentricity on the public consciousness. She was the ultimate 'bachelor' or career woman, blessed with the common touch, who spoke openly of her love for her female partner and their children, while simultaneously and deftly avoiding affronting the less liberal sensibilities of the times and guarding herbiggest secrets. Apart from Coward and Beaverbrook, her friendships included Hermione Gingold, Elizabeth Bowen and Angus Wilson; devoted to 'Jonny', her love also extended to others, including Ginette Spanier and Marlene Dietrich. Great-niece of Mrs Beeton and great-granddaughter of Samuel 'Self Help' Smiles, she was sued by Evelyn Waugh, impersonated by Peter Sellers and 'engaged' to Gilbert Harding. This fascinating biography reconstructs the life and career of one of Britain's most extraordinary postwar female characters, who utilized her energy, charisma, talent and determination in both her starry career and her complex, audacious personal life to such astonishing effect. It draws on a rich diversity of letters, archive material, published and unpublished writings, together with personal testimony from friends, family, former colleagues and schoolfriends, including Denis Norden, Sandy Wilson, Alan Freeman, David Jacobs and Michael Foot, most of whom have never spoken publicly about her before. It also includes previously unpublished photographs and a foreword by one of Nancy's closest friends, bestsetting novelist and creator of Coronation Street, Tony Warren. ---------- There is also mention of the "red 1932 MG J2 owned by Joan Werner Laurie, production manager of Hatchards," Joan = Jonnie ---------- Nancy Spain died in a light plane crash outside Aintree racecourse on March 21, 1964; she was covering the Grand National for the News of the World. Joan Werner Laurie was also killed in the accident. The next day, the tragedy was headline news in every Sunday newspaper. In 1997, Nancy's biggest secret was made public: Joan Werner Laurie's youngest son, Tom, was actually Nancy's child. His father was Philip Youngman Carter, husband of crime novelist Margery Allingham. ----------- Spain, Nancy (1917-64) – journalist, novelist, and television personality, shared a home with publisher Joan (Jonnie) Werner Laurie at 35 Carlyle Square, SW3 from 1951-53, and 7 Clareville Grove, SW7 from 1953-55
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| Born: Hartlepool, Durham, , England 17th Nov 1920 | Baptised:
| | Died: Aintree Laner, Melling, Liverpool, Lancs., England 21st Mar 1964 | Buried: 1964
| | Family: Werner Laurie |
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