Amanda Long

Amanda Long, also Amanda Hughes, was another big name on the pre-internet video and top-shelf circuit. She was one of the early fixtures in the Fiona Cooper series, playing the role of one Kathryn who had an on-screen romance with a character in the shape of another regular on the scene at that time, Teresa May. Amanda was instrumental in introducing me to “Leg Show” Jo. She was a dancer from the south coast who did a lot of shows on cruise ships and in working men’s clubs. Her husband was responsible for getting her into modelling. She was the veritable English rose, with the accent to match. She did a number of videos for me before Jo and I got together to exploit the world wide web. Sadly I never photographed her. When Amanda was going through a difficult period, and had lost weight which I thought did not become her, we discussed doing a book in which she would reveal the realities of the less glamorous girlie mag treadmill and the perils that models often encountered. These included being left stranded in the middle of nowhere by a photographer who did a runner after she posed for “flashing” pictures on a motorway bridge and being asked by a long-trusted amateur if he could tie her to a bed and draw circles on her stomach with a knife for a home-made video. A literary agent was interested in the volume but Amanda refused to name any names which saw the work put on the spike before a word was written. The thumbnail picture for this post was taken for a site called Aunt Judys she did some pictures for. This image is a capture from one of my videos transposed onto tiny photopaper by a primitive machine, hence, I apologise for, the appalling quality.