John d Green photographed Shirli Scott-James for Birds of Britain at his Kensington studios on 4 July 1966.
Model Scott-James had a long and on/off relationship with figure and landscape painter Anthony Fry. In an interview he gave for the British Library in 2006 Fry described Shirli as “Crazy and exciting.. she had an incredible group of friends from a most varied background.. the daughter of a postman.. she loved her dad but couldn’t stand her mother.. she lost touch with her sister.. and wanted to escape her family. She was exceptionally bright, obtained the highest grades, could have done anything… but she was self destructive, destroyed others on her way. Manic depressive, but somehow always managed to find somebody to look after her.”
Fry supported her financially for many years after their tumultuous relationship ended but eventually had to stop. She died from an extremely rare disease of the nervous system in 2005.
