Hers was a tale of two very different lives. One was the poised and polished businesswoman who made the sleazy sex toys and kinky lingerie industry respectable, earning herself a fortune – and once drawing a knowing look from the late Queen – in the process.
The other was a young girl sexually abused as a teenager by a stepfather whose brutality was ignored by her mother, something she kept secret for 25 years.
Both lives belonged to Jacqueline Gold, the retail genius behind the Ann Summers chain, whose death at the age of 62 after a long battle with breast cancer was announced yesterday.