Love's father, Mark Stone (whose stage name was Joe Murgatroyd), and his wife, Josie (née Bradley), performed a comedy double-act, appearing on Radio Normandy and BBC Home Service.
[1] Billie Love had a natural talent for photography and portraiture and was first discovered by Fred Daniels[2] at a sitting for Tatler in 1950.
Their second introduction was in 1954 during a portrait session to promote her role as Ado Annie in Oklahoma!, which was playing at the Stoll Theatre in Holborn.
One of her first prominent clients was actor Ian Carmichael and she took a series of colour portraits that reveal a direct but intimate style.
In 1989, she moved to the Isle of Wight and began the third part of a career as a collector of rare photographs specialising in late Victorian and Edwardian life, and with her partner Anna Shepherd she created the Billie Love Historical Collection and published several books including How to Become A Child, published by The Billie Love Historical Collection (1996; ISBN 0951841017).