This daring press photograph dates from late-July 1978 when Mary attended a ‘fun day’ at the racecourse at Plumpton, East Sussex. She was raising funds for her favourite animal charity, the PDSA, and promoting an upcoming showing of her movie The Playbirds at the Classic cinema, Hastings (now an Odeon). Incredibly, 8,000 people turned up to see her.
It doesn’t look like a particularly sunny day (look at the wrapped-up crowds in the background), but Mary was game enough to strip down to a bikini and perch precariously on the roof of her Mercedes as it drove around the racecourse. Sitting in the driving seat is her husband Bob, whilst the lady in the back of the car is Mary’s good friend, Sue. Mary was a regular visitor to East Sussex. Her lover Kathy Green lived in Brighton and Mary toured the town for several articles in David Sullivan’s magazines (namely issue #37 of Private and #20 of Cockade, and posthumously in Park Lane #54).
