By all accounts, Jacqueline Gold, the executive chair of Ann Summers who has died aged 62, was a devoted family woman. This may come as a surprise to those who associate ‘the queen of sex’ purely with ‘willy warmers’ and frilly knickers.
Business-minded Gold managed to transform what had been a male-dominated, backstreet cottage industry into a glossy, female-friendly high street brand. Gone were the ‘dirty mac brigade’, those sticky plastic door curtains and the even stickier carpets. To the casual passerby, Gold’s jollily lit Ann Summers stores seemed almost respectable sitting alongside other high street brands.
These days the old purple polyester bras and skimpy knickers come with more outlandish stimuli, such as Aphrodisiac Stimulating Lip Gloss, Caramel Flavoured Body Paint, edible underwear and Woo Woo Cranberry Wipes. It’s reassuring to know that the classic naughty maid’s outfit, essentially a few inches of black polyester with a doily stuck to the front, remains one of the store’s biggest sellers, demonstrating men’s touchingly predictable tastes.
Gold believed her all-female get-togethers would allow women ‘to reclaim their sex lives’ without interfering partners sticking their oar in
Named after founder Michael Caborn-Waterfield’s secretary Annice Summers, Ralph and David Gold purchased the business in 1971, transforming the original Marble Arch shop into the established high street brand we know today. David’s daughter Jacqueline took over her father’s business in 1981 aged just 21. That same year the plucky Gold had gone to a Tupperware-style party in east London, which gave her the idea of selling sex related paraphernalia directly to women from the privacy of their own homes.
Even as the sex industry moved online, she knew there would always be a place on the high street for harried husbands in need of an emergency pair of crotchless panties. As sexual mores changed, Gold didn’t completely abandon her more sheepish ‘gentlemen’ clients although she did become known as a sexual pioneer, tapping into the complexities of female desire. Her infamous Party Plan concept, introduced over 40 years ago, remains as popular as ever. In line with current feminist thinking, she had recently opted for a rebrand; ‘parties’ were now to be called ‘Sisterhoods’ while ‘party planners’ were renamed ‘ambassadors’.
Gold believed her all-female get-togethers would allow women ‘to reclaim their sex lives’ without interfering partners sticking their oar in. The company’s all-male board members were less enthusiastic. One even had the temerity to argue ‘Well, women aren’t even interested in sex so why would this idea work?’ Gold later told the BBC. Of course, the parties were mainly an opportunity for groups of women to knock back copious amounts of inhibition-busting Cava while sniggering at the latest innovations in vibrator design.
The popularity of the parties, along with an expanding high street presence, made Gold one of Britain’s richest women. By 2002, she had accrued 7,500 home-party planners, while her shops sold a million vibrators a year, mainly to women who made up 75 per cent of her customer base. In 2019 she and her family were No 287 on the Sunday Times rich list, with a fortune estimated to be worth £470 million.
But her life wasn’t all private Lear jets with G-OLD emblazoned on the side. Throughout her life, she experienced a good deal of tragedy. Abused by her mother’s partner, Gold recalled how through her Ann Summers stores she ‘deliberately set out to reclaim the most painful part of my life’. Later she underwent several rounds of IVF – eventually giving birth to a son, Alfie, who died aged eight months from a rare brain condition. In 2011, the nanny of her daughter, Scarlett, was imprisoned for attempting to poison her employer.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, Gold went into remission the following year after treatment. The cancer returned in 2019, during which Gold endured three rounds of chemotherapy, sharing her experiences with other women in the hope that it might offer comfort.
In an increasingly lurid industry where pornographers continue to push the limits of acceptability, Gold was unique in that she tried to make the absurdities of human fornication fun while also allowing women to explore their sexuality without shame or embarrassment.
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