A falling-out with her boss and a chance call to a former work contact led to April Ducksbury co-founding Models 1, one of the most successful modelling agencies to emerge in London in the Swinging Sixties. Over the next 30 years Models 1 represented many of the era’s leading models, including Yasmin Le Bon, Patsy Kensit, Cecilia Chancellor and Jerry Hall. The agency stood for more than representation, however, and it succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of the King’s Road at a time of enormous social change in Britain.
Ducksbury had been working for the fashion photographer David Anthony but resigned in 1968 after a disagreement. She had no idea what to do next other than wanting to set up her own business. By speaking regularly to the modelling agencies she had amassed some useful contacts, including José Fonseca, a booker at English Boy.
“She would call up and try to interest me in booking her models. She had just discovered David’s talents and was hounding us,” Ducksbury told The Sunday Times in 1998..
