Joan Werner Laurie

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Joan Werner Laurie (1920 - 1964) was the daughter of Thomas Werner Laurie, a notable London publisher with something of a reputation for publishing slightly risqué titles. After a war spend in the WRENS and a short-lived 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 until her death. 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 Reported ended with the words `Passenger interference cannot be ruled out'. She was cremated with Nancy at Golder's Green Crematorium, London. Nancy and Joan's relationship is mentioned in Rose Collis' posthumous biography of Nancy Spain, published in 1997.