Fiona was born and lived in Cornwall, moving to London in her early teens and ending up living in Bedfordshire to look after her nonagenarian mother. She started life as a croupier in London, and spent 1984 being paid to deal blackjack and roulette on the QEII while doing a world cruise. After realising she couldn’t stay awake much past four in the morning, which is when the casino closed, Fiona realised a change of career was in order and settled down to selling and advising patients and staff about oral care, specialising in Xerostomia (dry mouth syndrome). For a brief period Fiona ran her own company, and after a particularly difficult patch turned to writing about her childhood, simply to cheer herself up. This led to writing letters to friends and family during lockdown and Fi’s Ability – a memoir was published as a result in March 2022.