Frances Zagni is the daughter of John and Ursula Valentine. Following an Arts Degree at Southampton University she took a Performer's Diploma on the violoncello. A career as a cello teacher, combined with bringing up a family of four children followed, both in UK and abroad, as her husband was an Irrigation Engineer. On returning to the UK she took an MA in Arts Administration at City University in 1987 and later a Teacher's diploma on the Double Bass. Living in Stanton Prior, near Bath, and in addition to transcribing all her parent's wartime letters, Frances now divides her time between gardening and the viola da gamba.