By the age of 14, Jill was landing TV and theatre roles, and she's appeared in The Darling Buds of May, Tucker's Luck, Grange Hill and a host of TV commercials. At 19, she began starring in West End musicals, including Me and My Girl and West Side Story.
Any day in the Franks family is normal crazy but there are always a few laughs. Today was no different, or so I thought. How wrong was I?! Our lovely postman, Lee, knocked on the door with yet another parcel. Yes, I had been shopping on QVC for presents.
Scruncher decided to walk out of the door like a bull in a China shop, walking straight into the postman. 'How rude' I thought, as they say never sleep or dine with a bulldog or expect any manners. Still, it was unlike my boy because, as you can imagine, in my eyes he is an angel.
The next thing he walks into the garden gate and I start thinking that something's a little strange here. He came back inside and then nearly walked into the wall. I sat him down and my heart almost missed a beat. His eyes were completely closed. He had been perfectly fine the night before.
My immediate thought was, 'Quick! Get him to the vet!' as, being his first crisis (and mine) I didn't have a clue what to do. Our vet is amazing and got him an appointment straight away.
I suddenly realised that I couldn't lift him into the car. Being a bulldog, he is all muscle and I didn't want to put him under any more stress with me trying to get him into the car.
For my husband and me (left, with Scruncher), the Isle of Wight has a special place in our hearts.
When we got married 16 years ago on the beautiful island of St Lucia (my trip down memory lane is still to come) our witnesses were two wonderful people called Pat and Peter who live on the Isle of Wight. 16 years down the line we are still great friends.
We took a trip to see them (left) this weekend and it was the perfect opportunity to spend some time with Jen, Lisa and Lin at the Isle's Liz Earle store on Union St. The shop is like a beauty boutique and the girls looked so gorgeous in their uniforms.
The shop has a wonderfully organic feel to it and the aroma of Liz's new fragrance lingered in the air. As you can imagine I was so at home.
We took some pictures and decided to take this one (left) for Liz and Kim as I know it would make them laugh so much.
Of course it had to be the infamous Cleanse and Polish we were holding. The girls love it too and have put this one in their staff room. I could have spent hours in the shop looking at the products as I am such a beauty junkie. Many customers came in and there was a wonderful buzz in the air.
I met lady a lovely lady called Hayley (left) in the shop. She was on a trip to the island and her husband was so funny. He said that when he goes out he has to take the remote control, phone and his wallet. That really made me laugh but Hayley has it sussed, that's my kind of girl. We had so much fun and I didn't want to leave.
On saying goodbye the girls kindly gave me the turquoise Liz Earle bag that makes any girl go weak at the knees. It had three of my favourite products in. So naughty of them and incredibly generous. If I didn't know the Liz Earle team as I do I would have thought that Chinese whispers were telling the girls I was starting to age and in the need for more moisture! Haha!
It was a beautiful day and we went for a walk with Scruncher on the beach. We had lunch on the sea front and spent a lovely evening with Pat and Peter. Our time together is very precious and we have so much fun together. We had a lovely meal at the beautiful Castle and my banoffee tart with clotted cream ice cream was simply a dessert to remember.
On Sunday we just relaxed over breakfast and before we knew it we were on the ferry home waving goodbye. Another great weekend for the Franks family!
I will show the pics of my weekend on Thursday 12th November in the two-hour Liz Earle show. I can't wait to see Liz's face when she sees the Cleanse and Polish picture!
Have you been to the Liz Earle store in Union St, or had any special trips that stay in your heart...
Luv
Jill x
Check out the Liz Earle range on QVCUK.com
As you know I just hate the cold and so I am still in denial that winter is really on its way. But the heating went on this week and the Birkenstocks were put away until summer 2010.
I really work with my winter coats and add loads of different accessories as I feel a little drab in them and never that comfortable. I can wear the same coat over and over but I just change the look with my accessories. I love my gloves and scarves and choose boots and bags to match. They never tend to match in fabric but all co-ordinate in a design way.
My scarves have to be either a little chic or completely the other way with a very on-trend feel. I have three huge boxes with windows on top of my wardrobe filled with gloves, scarves and throws to get me through the winter.
Here are some of my favourites this year at QVC and I've already made one purchase from the adorable and ever-so-chic Beth Terrell range.
I couldn't resist this Beth Terrell scarf (left) as I have boots to match. So kitch and I wear both with my dark brown leather full length coat. I have kept the coat simple in design as the boots and scarf scream animal print. I love it, so soft and so warm.
My black coat comes just under my bottom and has a big collar with double breasted big buttons. I wear it with black skinnie jeans, black knee-length flat suede boots, a black soft cap and black suede gloves from Beth Terrell in black (right).
Mind you I am on the look out for some purple boots to go with the purple colour too..oh don't encourage me. A black cross the body bag works well with this look too.
In the evening I'm not really a big coat girl so I live in warm luxury shawls over my outfit or over a light coat. I have my eye on this Dreamkeeper beaded ruffle wrap (left) as it is very glamorous with black velvet ruffles and an elegant floral design. It's perfect Over that little black dress with velvet black shoes at Christmas or even to pick out some of the colours in the floral design looks stunning.
Let me know your favourites and winter choices as I love to hear them.
Jill
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
p.s: I've got lots to tell you soon about my trip down memory lane with my husband after 16 years of marriage, my visit to the vet with Scruncher (what an experience!) and also my trip to the Isle of Wight and going into the Liz Earle store on Union St.
What a wonderful day of celebrations.
I dedicate this blog post to my adorable mother and father-in-law. That sounds so formal doesn't it? Mum and dad sounds so much warmer.
Mum was 70 and wanted a low-key time with a few close family members. It was a truly special day honouring a mum, wife and dear friend to many.
She has so many special qualities. Her kindness, warmth and love is very endearing. The little things she does makes our relationship very special. We have had special moments that I will treasure forever. I adore her and see so many of her wonderful ways in my husband.
What a fabulous night out! How many times have I been? This was my third time seeing the award-winning musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. It's won so many awards, including Best Musical and an Olivier Award in 2008. It doesn't get any better than that.
A passion for musicals
Having spent many years on the West End stage in musicals it will always be my first love and this show is just a huge hit with an incredibly talented cast. You come out feeling on top of the world and singing all the tunes for days and days. It's a great night out, I promise.
Brian Conley is Edna Turnblad
You may ask why I went to see it for a third time. Brian Conley took over from Michael Ball in the role of Edna Turnblad. I am a big fan of Brian's and had to see him fill the shoes of the very talented Michael Ball. I also happened to go to stage school with him.
My old schoolmate
Brian Conley was two years above me and always the comedian during class. He was always imitating the teachers and was so funny. You guessed it, he got away with murder as you just couldn't help but laugh.
I remember I had a night off from performing in 42nd Street at Drury Lane and took the opportunity to see him in Me and My Girl at the Adelphi. He was great in that too.
What shows have you seen recently that you can recommend?
I was racking my brain last week trying to think what I could write for my blog this week. I went out to lunch with a few girlfriends last week who are big QVC fans and we put on our QVC thinking caps for new ideas.
We just weren't getting anywhere when all of a sudden I realised my blog for this week was staring me in the face. I jumped up and screamed at the top of my voice 'I've got it! I've got it!' nearly taking the table, coffees and cakes with me. Saving the handbags from any spillage of course. 'What, what, what?' asked my girlfriends, sounding like the Beverley Sisters (looking years younger of course!).
How had I never realised this before? There they were, my three beautiful girlfriends who happened to have the same initials as QVC. Queenie, Veena and Catherine. So I decided to dedicate this blog to them and get their feedback on what they love on QVC and what they would like to see more of! Lunch was going to be so much longer than we thought but the cappuccinos and chocolate cake kept us going.
Let me introduce them to you. No better place to start than with the one and only adorable Queenie.
So many of you send me emails and letters asking me how Scruncher is doing. So I thought it was time for an update.
My gosh, time has flown and we have just celebrated his third birthday. Oh yes, we did the cards and doggy cake with the candles to celebrate and the Scruncher presents were wrapped to perfection (as you can imagine). When you're a Franks it's all or nothing.
This year I hit 44 (another blog, another day!) and while I've always been very strict on my skincare regime, I've never seemed to get the results I was looking for with the cocktail of products I was using. I would go to the big department stores and find myself faced with so many different brands.
I'd love looking at the pots, getting the assistant's advice and trying out products, but I wouldn't get the results I had hoped for. Then I met Fiona Brackenbury from Decleor (right) and I began to realise it's all about your skin's needs and not just about using a cream because you liked the look of it, or because of the price, or because your mum or friend used it and loved it.
I also realised there isn't such a thing as 'perfect' skin, but we can still have great-looking skin that glows every day and, on the days it doesn't, we just have to work a little bit harder to achieve that glow with the right skincare. Fiona invited me for a Decleor facial and took a good look at my skin.
Well, as I am sure you've noticed I've been away from your TV screens for a while!
My husband Larry and I took a tour around the USA and I can honestly say it was the holiday of a life-time.
Larry planned each destination as a surprise and off we went on our travels. Luggage - don't even go there. How was I to know what shoes I needed?! Needless to say the airport check-in labeled my suitcase as heavy!
We adore the west coast of the USA. The beaches and coastlines are just beautiful, the people are adorable and, of course, the weather you can't not love - well, most of the time.
One of our stops was Miami. We hadn't been there for quite a few years so we decided to spend three days there after four amazing days at Palm Beach. One of these days was my husband's birthday and he'd booked a fabulous restaurant on recommendation.
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