Shirley Hebbert obituary

My mother, Shirley Hebbert, who has died at the age of 96, combined lifelong intellectual curiosity with an extraordinary ability to make and keep friends of all ages and from all walks of life.

She was born in Gibraltar, to William Draycott, the then colony's director of public works, and Winifred Moore, a D'Oyly Carte actor and the daughter of Charles Moore, the celebrated landlord of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub in Fleet Street, central London. Returning to Britain, the family led a happy bohemian existence in Odona, a caravan (complete with piano) on Hengistbury Head overlooking Bournemouth bay.