Walking into a house and being greeted with a wall covered in pictures of boobs is a little shocking at first.
Maureen Flanagan was a very successful model and as well as modelling for fashion was also one of the first page 3 models. Rightly so, she's very proud of her modelling career which means that all around her house is photos from her career, including some nude ones. It's not easy to stand with a woman and look at pictures of her own boobs (which were lovely don't get me wrong) with her and not feel like a 12 year old #IfeelAwkward.
Maureen is of particular interest to the story I'm trying to tell. She was good friends with the 'notorious' Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie. She was a hairdresser and knew Charlie Kray, he asked her if she would do a home visit for his mother. She agreed and over a few years built up a very good relationship with Violet Kray and consequently the entire family.
She wrote a very interesting book called "One of the Family: 40 Years with the Krays" in which she details her relationship with the Kray twins and talks about their crimes and reputations.
I travelled down to Hackney to meet her and she couldn't feed and water us enough. In the time we (myself and my boyfriend Charlie who came for the heavy lifting and in case she was a kidnapper) were there we were offered tea, coffee, cake, nuts, fruit, sandwiches, crisps and the posh biscuits.
She was another really interesting woman. She told me about her relationship with the twins and Mrs Kray and she told me about the the twins relationship with their mum, women in general. I was most interested in what she could tell me about the relationship between Reggie Kray and his wife Frances Shea.
She knew Frances well and could tell me about the relationship between her and Reggie. It was really interesting to see it from an outside point of view. She explained to me how controlling and possessive she thought that Reggie was and gave a very clear example about shopping and buying of clothes.
It's given me a lot to think about and Maureen highlighted herself how different relationships like this were in the 60's compared with now.