The Major Characters
The Minor Characters A-E
The Minor Characters F-J
The Minor Characters K-O
The Minor Characters P-T (pending)
The Minor Characters U-Z (pending)

– K –

Gerry Keeling.  (Appears in ‘Rachel’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Roisin’, ‘History Girls’, ‘Debbie’s Gift’, ‘Fracture’, ‘Wyeburn Station’ and ‘Sofia’).   He is a friend of Fiona Capnall.  He has a van and acted as roadie and minder for her band, ‘Lex Feminarum’.  Later he fulfils the same role for ‘Fauld’.  He is 6′ 6″ tall and built of solid muscle, so he can be intimidating with troublemakers, but he is essentially a friendly soul: a real gentle giant. He is married but has a bit of a soft spot for Fauld’s keyboardist, Lizzy, although their relationship always remains strictly platonic. Later he becomes ‘Fauld’s road manager as they become famous but later still takes on more of a bodyguard act for Sofie when she insists of playing a solo act.

Patricia (Trish) Keeling.  (Apears in ‘Wyeburn Station’.  Mentioned in ‘Sofia’).   She is Gerry Keeling’s remarkably patient wife, who puts up with the increasing amount of time he spends running round after ‘Fauld’, a Rock band of four attractive women, including models Annie and Rosh.  He is their roadie but in fact Gerry has eyes only for her and she knows it, even though many other wives might have been jealous.

Diane Kemple.  (Appears in ‘Carol’, ‘History Girls’ and ‘Gold’.  Mentioned in ‘Fracture’).  She lives next door but one to Carol Baxter, at 31 Fiddler’s Walk in Saltbury, and the two are good friends.  In particular, Diane was very supportive when Angela broke up with Carol.  She originally came from Montserrat, but has lived in Britain all her adult life.  Her husband, Kieran is Irish. She is a glorious cook.  Carol adores her Caribbean seafood stews and keeps trying to persuade her to open a restaurant. Her grown-up daughter Julie is the drummer with local Prog-rock band ‘Convex’.  Although they are good friends Carol jokes that Diane is a nosy madam, always looking for gossip.  At first they think she might be the person who spies on them in ‘Carol’, but no.

Julie Kemple.  (Appears in ‘Carol’ and ‘History Girls’. Mentioned in ‘Gold’).  She is the drummer with Saltbury Prog Rock band ‘Convex’.  Carol Baxter and her brother Gary first went to see them play out of curiosity, because Julie is the daughter of Carol’s friend and neighbour Diane, but they become genuine fans, and so does Tina Burns when they take her to see the band at ‘Cheapies’.  Julie is half Montserratian, her mother being from the island while her father Kieran is Irish.  Tina describes her as having the most beautiful milk chocolate skin and long cornrow braids. When Carol and Tina’s cat Leather has kittens, she gives one of them a home, a white queen called Silver.

Kieran Kemple.  (Mentioned in ‘Carol’, ‘History Girls’ and ‘Gold’)  He is Diane Kemple’s Irish husband, and Julie’s father.  He adores his wife’s glorious cooking.  As a result, Tina jokingly describes him as being almost as wide as he is tall.

Elaine Kess.  (Appears in ‘Aleyse’).  She was Ruth Gregory’s girlfriend before Aleyse Guptah.  Elaine played bass in their band and the two lived together, but she eventually moved out to be with someone called Josie.  However, she retains a deep affection for Ruth and likes to be sure she is OK.  She is a hospital administrator and was instrumental in getting her together with nurse Lesley Travis.

Leslie Keys.  (Mentioned in ‘Sofia’).  Amber Barlow falls in love with Leslie when he and his family move in next door to her.  He is the older of two children and not quite 20 when he first appears.  He has a two year younger sister.  Until he and Amber get together she had been in a lesbian relationship with Sofie Fauld, who was also her best friend and Sofie is heartbroken when it ends. It takes her a long time to get over her.

-L-

Gwyneth (Gwen) Langenfield.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’).    She was a Maths teacher at St. Ann’s before Hazel, Tina, Rosie etc’s time.  But she did teach Tina’s mother, Mary Jenner, who found her inspiring, if a bit over strict.  She was born in 1932 and began work at St. Ann’s in September 1952, retiring in 1992, at 60, 4 years before Hazel and Tina arrived in the school and 1 year before Rosh did.  She is 74 by the time of ‘History girls’.  That is still 3 years younger then Miss Stone!  She lives with Ethel Carter, the History teacher, who is 8 years younger than her.  The story is that Ethel became her lodger when she first started teaching and somehow never moved out, but in fact the pair are a lesbian couple and very like Tina Burns and Carol Baxter they are a teacher and former pupil couple, although they too very firmly did not get together while Ethel was a pupil.  These days Gwen is getting a little forgetful, although certainly not senile and she greatly resents how dependent she can be sometimes on Ethel’s devoted nursing.  She remembers the distant past as clearly as anything, but can sometimes be less certain of recent events and sometimes confuses people with others, notably Tina with her mother.  She was a huge fan of St. Ann’s great into-war reforming headmistress, Dr. Grace L. Sanderson.

Agnes Leyford.  (Appears in ‘Daughters’, ‘Rachel’, ‘Martine’ and Wyeburn Station’.  Mentioned in ‘Haze’, ‘Annie’, ‘Sisters’ and ‘Sofia’).  Agnes is the Fauld’s elderly cleaning lady.  She is something of a stern village matriarch in Wyeburn, much involved in running the church and the W.I. and, come to that, every other committee going, including the village’s community shop.  However, she became almost a second mother to Debbie Stewart when she moved back to the village after her husband was killed and the whole Fauld family adore her.  She in turn defends them stoutly against any villagers who disapprove of Deb and Martine’s same sex marriage.  On the quiet she is very interested in fashion, although never one to dress fashionably herself.  She thus has a lot in common with Martine and she became a huge fan almost from the moment they met.  Her husband Frank is the Fauld’s gardener.

Frank Leyford.  (Appears in ‘Haze’ and ‘Martine’. Mentioned in ‘Annie’, ‘Daughters’, ‘Rachel’, ‘Wyeburn Station’ and ‘Sofia’).  Frank is the Fauld’s elderly gardener/handyman, and husband of Agnes Leyford.  He is a gentle soul, rather under his wife’s thumb, but in a deeply contented sort of way.  He truly loves gardens and the Fauld’s is a tribute to his skill.  He is the teeniest bit scared of Martine.

P.C. Trevor Leyford.  (Appears in ‘Martine’).  Trevor is Frank’s younger brother and when Deb first lived in Wyeburn he was the village Bobby.  He had a way of being more obedient to Agnes (not Frank) than his more distant Sergeant in Saltbury.  He majored more on muscle than brain, but did at least have a lot of muscle and he was totally incorruptible, if you don’t count the fact that he’d do virtually anything for a slice of Agnes’ seed cake, or indeed just because she told him to.

Rev. Janet Long.  (Appears in ‘Gold’. Mentioned in ‘Haze’, ‘Daughters’, ‘Rachel’ and ‘Sisters’).  She is the vicar of All Saints church, Wyeburn.  She is around 30 and single at the time of ‘Haze’ in 2001.  The village was initially very sceptical about its first woman vicar, but she managed to make friends with church warden Agnes Leyford, who championed her cause to great effect.  As a result she is now central to village life.  She is a close friend of Debbie Stewart, who has become a regular churchgoer. She is one of the few local priests prepared to bless same-sex marriages in church and blesses Tina and Carol’s marriage in 2010. She is one of the few local priests prepared to bless same-sex marriages in church and blesses Tina and Carol’s marriage in 2010.

Lornie.  (Appears in ‘Haze’. Mentioned in ‘Rachel’, ‘Fracture’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Wyeburn Station’).  She is the singer with Hazel’s favourite Saltbury Goth band ‘Strychnine’.  She performs under her first name only so we are never told her surname.  She is an attractive woman with a substantial bust, something that endears the band as a whole to the boys.  She also has a great voice which the boys pretty much see as just a bonus, but Hazel loves her singing style.

Erasmus Lud.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’).   He was a land agent who helped to manage the estates of the Earl of Dowchester in the 1820s.  His business partner is Androcles Pawthorn the Prodnoze Agent.  His business ethics might not be quite as squeaky clean as his partner’s.

Esmeralda Lud.   (Appears in ‘Wyeburn Station’).   She is a Saltbury estate agent when Hazel and Annie want to buy a house locally.  She is in partnership with Leonidas Pawthorn.  They are the descendants and successors of the Pawthorn and Lud who were the Prodnoze family’s 19th century land agents.  Esmeralda is a sharp but honest businesswoman, while much older Leo is getting rather absent minded.

-M-

Laura Macdonald.   (Mentioned in ‘Daughters’ and ‘Sisters’).    She is a school friend of Annie Roberts when she is in Los Angeles.  The two are the same age, but not in the same class.  They met playing tennis..  She has dark curly hair and is a similar height to Annie.  She is straight, but has an older sister, Paige who is gay.  Annie is desperate to have someone of ‘her own kind’ to talk to, so she introduces her to her sister and her sister’s girlfriend Courtney.

Paige Macdonald.  (Appears in ‘Daughters’. Mentioned in ‘Rachel’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Roisin’ and ‘Debbie’s Gift’).  She and her girlfriend Courtney are friends of Annie Roberts in L.A.  Hazel and Annie stay with them overnight after going to a gig in town.  She is the older sister of Annie’s best friend at school in L.A., Laura.  She is slightly shorter than her little sister and has fairer hair.  She is a college student, studying film and TV, and is noticeably younger than Courtney.  The couple were with Annie Roberts when she collapsed at a gig after taking adulterated acid and in getting her to hospital almost certainly saved her life.

Antonia Makepeace.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’. .  Mentioned in ‘Fracture’ and ‘Gold’).    She is the wife of Gerald Makepeace, and puts up with his eccentricities with wry humour.  She too is a keen athlete and naturist, but is a little less iconoclastic about little details like answering the door dressed.  In younger days, she, even more than Gerald, was a very active member of Saltbury Athletics Club, a hurdler, and a competitive swimmer, but she doesn’t like the world of the seniors athletics groups and prefers to retire gracefully.  However, they are both still very interested, and huge fans of Carol Baxter.  She and Gerald own and run a substantial logistics firm called ‘Saltbury and Dowchester Haulage’.  She is in many way the Company Chair.  She knows business while her husband knows lorries and drivers.

Gerald Makepeace.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’. Mentioned in ‘Fracture’ and ‘Gold’).  Tina cites him as being her most peculiar client.  He is a late middle aged man, still fit as a fiddle, much given to jogging, swimming and cycling.  He is a haulage contractor on a large scale.  He is a keen naturist and seldom wears anything at home, even when he has visitors (such as his lawyer, Tina’s father Desmond Burns!).  Tina and Carol come across him at various outdoor naturist events when he always wears a hat, even if nothing else.  Even when both are naked he always treats Tina with huge respect as part of Burns & Son.  He always raises his hat to her and calls her Miss Burns.  In circumstances without the hat, he gives her a little bow.  He is married to Antonia.  The two own and run a substantial logistics firm called ‘Saltbury and Dowchester Haulage’, or just S&D.  They are millionaires many times over.

Jade Mallory.  (Appears in ‘Sofia’).   Jade is a nasty little madam.  She slips Sofie Fauld a date rape drug several times until caught by Tina and Carol.  She also steals nude images of Ashley from Cassie Valiant’s phone and uses them to try and split them up.

Philip Mancetto.  FRPS.   (Mentioned in ‘Annie’, ‘Daughters’, and ‘Martine’).  He was the genius photographer who shot the pictures for Debbie Fauld’s books ‘Debs’ and ‘Still Debs’.  He specialises in art photography making the ugly look beautiful.  Deb wanted him to show that a woman’s naked body can be beautiful without being titillating and then in her second book, that a middle-aged woman could be the same.

Mark and Brendan.  (Appear in ‘Annie’, ‘Daughters’, ‘Carol’, ‘Rachel’, ‘Sisters’, ‘History Girls’ and ‘Fracture’. Mentioned in ‘Roisin’, ‘Wyeburn Station’ and ‘Millie’).  Mark Grestley and Brendan Kapoor.  They are two very muscular Saltbury High School Rugby players and a gay couple who are distinctly gentle giants as long as no one makes homophobic remarks.  Those that do, need to be very quick on their feet, though.  They call each other ‘Baby’, which Hazel can’t help finding incongruous as they are both such muscle bound hulks.  They are in the same school year as Annie Roberts and Yvonne Wright and are childhood sweethearts.  They are good friends of Annie and meet up once or twice a week at lunchtime at the vegetarian cafe at ‘Cheapies’ for what they call GaySoc.  The three tease each other constantly.  Annie goes to watch them play when she’s not in a hockey game.  Later Hazel finds she gets a kick out of watching them get muddy and their shirts torn, even if she is gay. When Hazel Fauld first meets them, she finds that Annie has been mooning over her with them.  When Annie has to leave the area, they invite Hazel to take her place at their lunchtime meetings.  Eventually Tina and a reformed Yvonne Wright also join and the boys become close and supportive friends.  Brendan comes from a mixed heritage background, with an Irish mother and Indian father.  He jokes that he is the world’s first Catholic Hindu.  At University, Mark does Gender Studies while Brendan studies Computing. We find out in ‘Millie’ that the pair are long married.  They don’t have children.

Jennifer (Jenny) Marlow.  (Appears in ‘Daughters’, ‘Annie’, ‘Carol’, ‘Rachel’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Roisin’, ‘History Girls’, ‘Yvonne’, ‘Fracture’, ‘Gold’, ‘Wyeburn Station’, ‘Sofia’ and ‘Millie’).  Jenny is a girl in Hazel, Tina and Rosie’s year at St. Ann’s.  She is clever and was second only to Tina Burns in her GCSE exams.  She always shines in sport and gymnastics and is a bit of a teacher’s pet to the dreaded Miss Baxter.  Later she was one of Miss Baxter’s ‘Specials’ and in the sixth form she was in the school hockey team, being captain in her final year.  She is described as ‘blonde, petite and very, very pretty.  Boys had always buzzed round her like flies.’  She has a way of at least appearing to have multiple boyfriends at a time, which confuses Hazel Fauld.  For example in the Lower Sixth she has Keith, Matthew and Paul.  No one suspects she might be gay until Hazel meets her in the ‘Gem’ with June Brassington.  She actually tried several times to get closer to Hazel at school, but Haze just assumed she wanted to be friends.  Jenny was born on 19th Jan 1985 and is just 5′ 0″ tall, an inch shorter even than Hazel.  At University she reads Business Studies.  In late 2005 she briefly dated Tina’s ex Sandie Jenkins. By November 2005 she was dating the Faulds’ au-pair, Gaia.  When Gaia’s au-pair year expires she actually has a year at University in Spain to be with her, but the relationship breaks up and a saddened Jenny comes home alone.  For a while she dates a subsequent Faulds au-pair, who by coincidence is also called Gaia. Later, she has a brief affair with Katie Ralstrick .  At the time it seems to be little more than a fling, but it leaves a legacy of slowly developing love and Katie eventually overcomes her own internalised homophobia and they become a real couple.  Katie’s almost desperate pursuit of the right man ends.  For the first time she is truly in love.  People in the ‘Gem’ think it will never last, but it does and she marries Katie in ‘Millie’.  Jenny as an adult is almost manically houseproud.  Sofie finds it almost funny.

Ben Marriot.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’ and ‘Fracture’. Mentioned in ‘Daughters’, ‘Rachel’ and ‘Roisin’).    We meet him as a 14 year old at Saltbury High School that Hazel Fauld’s 12 year old cousin Phoebe takes a shine too.  Her crush is very much from afar, however, and it’s uncertain whether he is more than vaguely aware of her existence. By ‘Roisin’ however they are going to gigs together. Tina describes him as an Adonis in school uniform at 18: tall and handsome and unlike the usual romantic fiction crap, this one really did have a chiselled chin!

Sofia Martínez.  (Mentioned in ‘Haze’, ‘Daughters’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Roisin’, ‘Debbie’s Gift’, ‘Fracture’ and ‘Wyeburn Station’).  She is Hazel Fauld’s great-grandmother.  She was a wealthy socialite in pre-Civil War Spain, married to a former army officer, a rich aristocratic landowner and vineyard owner in the La Rioja region, near the town of Logroño.  Her husband was murdered early in the Civil War.  He had done his best to protect the tenants on his estates and some thought that he had been killed by the Fascists who regarded him as a traitor for remaining loyal to the elected government.  Others thought the Communists killed him, thinking such a man must turn Fascist in the end.  Sofia became a Civil War humanitarian heroine, going into war zones and bringing orphaned children out to safety, regardless of which, if any, side their parents had taken.  She was eventually killed in a bombing raid and an uncle got her only child Andrea Sofia (Hazel’s grandma) out of the country to Britain where distant relatives in Warrington raised her.  Ever since, all the Fauld girls have Sofia as their middle name in her honour, even Sofie and Danielle Fauld, the two girls born to Debbie Stewart-Fauld. She is Leo, Connie and Martine Fauld’s grandmother and Roisin, Hazel, Sofie and Dannie’s great grandmother.  She is also Isabel Watkins’ great grandmother and Phoebe and Spencer Watkins’ great-great grandmother. No photos of her were thought to survive, but one eventually emerges showing an elegantly dressed woman who looks remarkably like Hazel, except for her elaborate hairstyle.

Doris Matthews.   (Mentioned in ‘Martine’).  She and her husband kept Wyeburn’s village pub, the ‘Woolsack’ back in the 1970s when Deb first lived in the village.  With Mrs Leyford and Ivy Benson in the shop, she was reckoned to be one of the matriarchy of three who really ran the village, whatever the men might think.

Detective Sergeant Donald Meakin.  (Appears in ‘Fracture’).  He is a rather officious seeming police officer in Saltbury who tries and fails to bully Tina when he interviews her after Seth’s savage attack on Tim.  It turns out, though, that he’d been told to act like this by his boss, Chief Superintendent Kentish to make sure Tina seems trustworthy as she wants to take her into her confidence.

Georgette Melfort.  (Appears in Fracture’ and ‘Gold’.  Mentioned in ‘Roisin’ and ‘History Girls’).   She is an internationally renowned Canadian middle distance runner who Carol Baxter competes against at the 2006 Commonwealth Games the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 Wold Championships. Carol beats her each time, although she won Gold at the 2007 Worlds when Carol was injured.

Trudy Molyneux.  (Appears in ‘Sofia’).  She is the manager of Old Hall Studios when Sofie Fauld makes her second ‘Sofia’ album there.  She is a very neat and efficient, but friendly, middle aged lady with a tendency to formal trouser suits. She’s a great fan of Debbie Stewart and of her employer, Dame Evadne.

Les (Lesley) Morelle.   (Appears in ‘Rachel’, ‘Sister’, ‘Debbie’s Gift’ and ‘Wyeburn Station’. Mentioned in ‘Roisin’ and ‘Sofia’).    He is the keyboard player with Goth band ‘Dark Portal’.  Patches is his ex-wife. They have never quite gone entirely their separate ways, though. He can be a bit of a philanderer, which is what broke his marriage up.  However, his second wife, Selene, gets him firmly under control.

Patricia (Patches) Morelle.  (Appears in ‘Rachel’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Debbie’s Gift’ and ‘Wyeburn Station’. Mentioned in ‘Roisin’ and ‘Sofia’)   Generally known by her nickname, ‘Patches’, she is the guitar player with sinister Goth band ‘Dark Portal’.  When Hazel Fauld tours with the band as tour drummer the two share a room and Patches is very keen to make sure Hazel knows she is straight.  The two get on well though and end up platonically sleeping together.  She is divorced from Keys player Les, although both still hold obvious candles for the other, but also manage to make each other unhappy when they try a little renewed togetherness.. Hazel describes her guitar style as dystopian, discordant and menacing, as befits the ‘Dark Portal’ ethos. Since her divorce she has been very unhappy and has rather taken to the bottle.

Selena Morelle.  (Appears in ‘Wyeburn Station’).  She is Les Morelle’s second wife.  She seems quite a shy little soul, but actually has Les under much firmer control than Patches, his bandmate and first wife, used to.  On Dark Portal tours she becomes very much part of the team.  Hazel takes to her, as indeed does Patches.

Elsbeth Mortimer.  (Appears in ‘Fracture’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Millie. Mentioned in ‘Loren’).   She is the mother of Sheila Baxter and her older sister, Grace.  She lives a couple of houses further down Laburnum Close from Sheila and Gordon and the two tried hard to turn the infant Carol into a sweet little cutsie thing.  It didn’t go well and left a legacy of resentment.  Sheila had the good sense to abandon a lost course when she saw one, but Elsbeth kept on pushing.  She has a very politely conducted hate/hate relationship with Gordon’s mother, Millie. When Tina is pregnant Elsbeth is determined she’s going to have a boy, which she sees pretty much as winning the jackpot.  She’s disappointed when she actually has Millie and miffed that Millie is named for her rival grandma, Millicent Baxter.

Iona J. Mountaintrout BA.  (Mentioned in ‘History Girls’).   She is a historian of Wiltshire who i.a. researched the Prodnoze family.  She had something of a satirical sense of humour and wrote a book, published by Saltbury University Press which was actually called ‘A Sarcastic History of Saltbury’.

Mrs Lottie Mulberry.   (Mentioned in ‘History Girls’).   She was the housekeeper at Dowchester Old Hall when George Prodnoze first set up home there in the 1820s.  She was kindly but efficient.

-N-

Mrs Naysmith.  (Appears in ‘Carol’. Mentioned in ‘Red’, ‘History Girls’ and ‘Gold’).    She is the Burns family’s neighbour at No. 13 (which is called 15 because 13 is considered bad luck) Lincoln Crescent.  She is an elderly and now partly housebound widow.  She is nosey in the extreme and spends most of her time watching the goings on of the Crescent through her net curtains.  Tina is not sure she ever sleeps, there is certainly not much sign of her surveillance cover having gaps.  The street tolerates her nosiness, even though it drives them mad, because it makes sure that they don’t suffer much from crime.  Tina says that any burglar trying to operate in the street finds themselves under arrest fster than they can say ‘Swag’. She, of course, never admits to spying she ‘just happens to look up’ and see things.  She is Mary Burn’s “Best friend, worst enemy and chief gossip partner.”  She and Mary have known one another for over a quarter century, but still haven’t got to Christian name terms.  Tina doesn’t even know what Mrs Naysmith’s first name is.  Tina and her mother do Mrs Naysmith’s shopping and Tina and her father do gardening jobs like lawn mowing for her as she gets less able to get out and about herself.

Andrew (Andy) Newham.  (‘Martine’).   He is the husband of fashion designer Wendy Newham, who calls herself Yvette Villeneuve professionally.  Yvette inveigles him into a three way sexual affair with a young Martine Fauld.  He hates it and eventually demands it ends.

Wendy Newham.  See Yvette Villeneuve.

Janine Newton.  (Mentioned in Wyeburn Station).  She is a rather sweet child model who works for Faulds Fashions infants range with a young Sofie Fauld.  As usual, her parents are employees of the company as Martine and her partners always like their models to be “part of the family”, i.e. children of friends or employees.

Cynthe Nikaceros.  (Appears in ‘Roisin’).   She is a university friend of Rachel Holmes, who stays with her for a while after she falls out with Roisin Fauld.  Cynthe is bi-sexual and Hazel thinks Rachel might be dating her.

Mavis Nixon.  (Appears in ‘Penny’).  She is Lilly Clearwater’s elderly next door neighbor and best friend.  She lives at 12 Parsonage Green, in Brentford.  She found Lilly when she died.  Lilly and her went to church together every Sunday, with Lilly giving her a lift.  Mavis went to check up on her when she didn’t turn up one Sunday and found her dead in her living room armchair.

Noctella.  (Appears in ‘Wyeburn Station’).  Even to the Saltbury characters, she is a fictional character, not an actual person.  she is a ‘wicked witch’ character in a horror film by ‘Mountain Range Films’, to be played by Brenda George.  She has a cute little pet canary that can grow enormously in size, and turn into a steel-bound raptor, which she sends out to kill.  Hazel and Aimee are asked to design the bird, which will be filmed in CGI.

-O-

Vera Oats.  (Appears in ‘Roisin’).   Vera is a distinctly grandmotherly widow who runs a friendly pub called the ‘Prince Hal’ in the Beckenham district of London.  She retains a broad East London accent despite her pub’s location in a posh suburb.  The pub has live bands on occasionally and Hazel talks her into giving ‘Fauld’ a try, largely on the strength of the undoubted appeal of her beautiful model sister, Roisin.

Dimitri Obmanshchik.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’ and ’Fracture’. Mentioned in ’Gold’).  He is the coach of the Mauranian athletics team, including the amazing runner Svetlana Boreshkova.  He has a reputation as a miracle worker and it is right in a way.  He is actually a cunning fraud, skilled in finding undetectable ways of giving his team performance enhancing drugs.  The name translates as Dimitri the cheat.

Theresa Oliver.  (Mentioned in ‘History Girls’ and ’Fracture’).   She is an award winning sports photographer who also specialises in taking dynamic posed sports shots.  She photographs Carol Baxter for Faulds and for the Makepeaces sponsorship publicity.

Megan (Meg) Owens.  (Appears in ‘Fracture’ and ‘Millie’).  She is the Ladies Captain of the Saltbury Rowing Club.  Tina describes her as a wiry woman of approaching forty, with short dark hair.  She has an infectious enthusiasm for her sport and lets Tina have a go in a racing scull while Carol is injured.  She is married and has a daughter, Olivia, in her mid teens, who is also a keen rower.  16 years later when Carol joins Olivia as a coxless pair team, Meg, now 55, is their trainer.  She’s thrilled when Millie shows an interest in rowing.

Olivia Owens.  (Appears in ‘Fracture’ and ‘Millie’.  Mentioned in ‘Gold’).   She is the daughter of Meg Owens, and a keen rower like her mother.  She is 14 in 2007 (so born in 1993) and already quite the expert when Tina joins the club.  She rather takes Teen under her wing despite the near ten year age gap and by 2008 Tina trains with her and regards her as a friend,.  Much later, when Teen is a mother in her late 30s, she and Olivia are a surprisingly successful double sculls team and watching them race gets Millie Baxter interested.  Olivia is 30 by then.