Jilly Cooper RIP

 Louise, the protagonist of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' (what a terrible name that is) song Perfect Skin, is "sexually enlightened by Cosmopolitan magazine". That's Lloyd being cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Lloyd likes American things. He has a New Yorker tote bag. His pumpernickel is on rye. He's been holding the mayo for 50 years. 

When I was growing up in the shires of merrie old England, I met posh girls for the first time at sixth form college. They'd been educated at private schools, where long handled hairbrushes were banned, and they'd been sexually enlightened by Jilly Cooper. 

Gawd bless yer, Jilly. 

I could never have cut it as a Rupert Campbell Black. But I was a passable Jake Lovell, with my woolly hair and holey jumpers. 

I've never read any of Jilly's books and I probably never will. But she seemed nice. And her gappy smile and giant hair were never off the telly when I was growing up, a benign presence on a pastel sofa, so implausibly posh I needed subtitles.