Jayne Dawson: Denise, you were in the best tradition of wise women

She was still working for a start. There was no fading away, no gradual dimming of the light for this octogenarian.

She continued to look splendid on the telly, with her hair styled and her bright earrings and
 lippie setting off that lovely complexion.

But it was what Denise said that I will miss, and the way she said it.

Because the resident agony aunt on This Morning was warm and knowledgeable in the best tradition of the wise woman.

Just to look at her meant you knew that any secret would be safe with her. Denise was clearly so unshockable as to be bombproof.

Her expression said she had seen it all, heard it all, and been through it all - which indeed she had.

Denise had lost two husbands and a stepson, but she came through with warmth, compassion and wisdom intact.

What I really loved about her was that, while you knew she would be up for a laugh, she was at all times utterly grown-up.

That’s more rare than you might think. We live in an era when women are encouraged to act in ways that are childlike, shallow and ditzy.

You know what I mean. Women in their thirties and forties who will clap their hands and jump in glee like toddlers, and hug and shriek like teenagers.

Who will declare their love of shoes, handbags, shopping, and chocolate. For a while cupcakes were top of this list but, at last, I believe we have passed peak cupcake. Praise the Lord - because they are awful.

Women in their fifties who will fill any theatre in the land featuring the remains of the Bay City Rollers, David Cassidy or anything to do with Jackie magazine.

Denise wasn’t like that. She represented a different type of woman. The type with kind eyes that had seen the lot, who could get a meal on the table in ten minutes flat, who knew how to donkey stone a doorstep even if they didn’t actually practise the art anymore.