BECKY SHEAVES

H no! Jilly Cooper. I had the absolute joy of meeting her once in person and also of speaking to her once on the phone. And - believe it not - she had phoned me! Could there be any higher honour? I don't think so.

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Hearing of her demise this week, I am so sad for her family and also sorry that, as a nation, we've lost such an absolute treasure. She was still working and published her most recent novel, Tackle! just two years ago.

I've loved her books since I first read her huge novel Riders in the '80s and thought to myself: "Wow! This is completely marvel-lous." I could not stop turning the pages. To this day, if I need cheering up and entertaining, Jilly is my go-to. I also hugely enjoyed the recent TV adaptation of her book Rivals last year and have been on the edge of my seat waiting for the next series, which is filming now.

It was back in the day when I was a feature writer at the Daily Mail that I met Jilly. Back then, in 1999, I'd just started working at the Femail section of the paper. Along with the job came invitations to all sorts of what were known as "jollies": lunches, launches and even free holidays. And so it was that I found myself invited to the launch of her book