Think of Liz Taylor and the picture which springs to mind is violet eyes, hedonistic party days and several failed marriages.

However, Jenny Reason, Hove's brown-eyed answer to the glamorous Hollywood actress, has decided to shun the celebrity shenanigans for a quiet life.

Jenny is 69, the same age as Elizabeth Taylor, of whom she was a professional lookalike for 15 years.

Now a teacher of quilling, the device of creating three-dimensional images from tiny strips of paper, Jenny's life has far from mirrored that of her old alter ego.

During the late Seventies and Eighties, Jenny worked in London for a lookalike agency, decking herself out in sparkling frocks and dazzling jewels to fool the public into thinking they had a bona fide star in their midst.

Jenny took up the job of playing the star after friends and colleagues said how much she looked like Liz.

With the star's likeness, came the trappings of the star's lifestyle - almost.

Jenny said: "Everyone used to call me Liz. I don't think anyone knew my real name.

"One time, I had to fly to Switzerland to launch a newspaper there and they wanted to be sure that I really looked like Liz.

"They asked me to fly there dressed as her. At the time I had short blonde hair, so I had to go to Heathrow with a wig on and all of the make-up and believe me she wore a lot of make-up.

"When I got to Heathrow I hid behind a newspaper. I felt an idiot and people came up and asked me, 'Well, are you her?'. It was usually foreigners who asked. English people would just pretend they hadn't seen me. I'd tell the truth and say no but tell them I was a lookalike so they wouldn't feel silly for asking.

"The trick was not to take it all seriously."

Fortunately Jenny did not mimic every aspect of Liz's life.

Although they shared their age and certain physical characteristics, Jenny has never shared Liz's passion for drink and drugs.

She said: "I'm happy with my life. I don't smoke and I've always been into healthy living. I like a glass of wine now and then but that's it. I do share her yo-yo weight, though. I've got a very sweet tooth."

Jenny decided she had had her fill of playing Liz's double in 1992 and left to retire in Spain.

She said: "I'm happy with who I am. I just wanted to be free to be me, although people still stopped me in the street sometimes in Spain to ask if I was Liz."

Jenny found fame of her own while living in Marbella after becoming renowned for her craft work.

She had always had a love of crafts and spent her time sitting in cafes in Marbella, making things out of basic materials.

She said: "I got into crafts because I was a one-parent family and when my two children had school holidays I'd set them something to make each day.

"When I went to Spain I used to sit in a cafe and people would come up and ask what I was doing and I would say they could sit and watch or I could actually teach them.

"An English TV company started up on the Costa Del Sol and asked me to present and produce a weekly half-hour show called Jenny's Handicrafts. I used to tackle a different craft each week."

After two years of presenting and producing and six years living in Spain, Jenny came back to England and settled in Hove.

She said: "I came back to England because my two grandchildren had arrived and I wanted to see them grow up and teach them crafts."

Jenny has been giving private tuition in crafts ever since and practises about 15 different kinds.

Her current passion is for quilling, a time-consuming craft dating back to the 15th Century.

Jenny explained: "Quilling is good for the nerves. I believe people should sit down and chill out for one hour each day and do a craft because it lowers the blood pressure.

"I do quilling because you don't have to know how to draw, which puts a lot of people off. Also people can't afford to buy the equipment. I like to do crafts that are not expensive and this is one of the cheapest going."

Another recent past-time for Jenny are her pastel pictures of animals but her appetite for crafts seems infinite. She gives regular talks about various handicraft methods and has contributed to several books and magazines on the subject.

Jenny has an exhibition of quilling at Hove Library, Church Road, containing examples of quilled pictures, eggs and jewellery.

Report by Ruth Tierney