[1] Karen Finch was born in May 1921 on a farm in Rødding in Denmark to Soren Møller and Ellen Sinding.

[2] After working as a weaver and conservator for the Royal School of Needlework and the Victoria and Albert Museum she set up her own home-based studio in Acton in 1959.

She had to fold her bed to make room for her work and the golden crown of Haile Selassie was steamed on the top of her bathroom cupboard.

She went on to work on valuable textiles including items owned by Royal Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie and film star Marlene Dietrich.

In 1998 the TCC moved to a purpose-built textile conservation centre in Winchester under the auspices of Southampton University.