‘Courageous to the end’: Partygirl ‘Fifi’ drinks champagne before assisted death in Canada
MUCH LOVED: Fiona Tunnicliffe
By Phil Ascough
A hairdresser who turned heads in her home city of Hull more than 40 years ago with her iconic salon, vivacious lifestyle and passion for pink has had an assisted death in her adopted home of Vancouver.
Fiona Tunnicliffe, known to all as Fifi, remained a party girl to the end. Friends told how she knocked back her final glass of champagne before receiving a life-ending injection from a doctor under Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) programme.
A memorial service was held in Delta, Vancouver, on Saturday, May 10.
Her friend Sue Mott, a renowned sports journalist and broadcaster who began her career in Hull, said: “Even Fifi’s manner of departure from this world was courageously her own.
“As a result of several health conditions, she applied for acceptance on MAID and, when permission was granted in December 2024, she described it as the best Christmas present she had ever had.”
Fifi, who was 65 when she died on April 28, was the daughter of Sylvia and Jim Tunnicliffe and attended Kelvin Hall Secondary school. Hairdressing became her passion from an early age.
She was working in salons in Hull when she was just ten and, by the age of 19 had her own salon, Curl Up and Dye, in Salisbury Street near the junction with Ella Street.
After a brief period living in Saudi Arabia, Fifi returned to Hull to open another salon and then set up in her own home in Welton. A tribute posted on Arbor Memorial shows she was still delivering perfection for clients in Vancouver two weeks before her death.
The same tribute noted: “Although I never went out with her, you could just tell she was a party animal!”
The flat which Fifi and Sue shared in Hull’s Westbourne Avenue in 1980 was known as a regular party venue as Fifi built a huge circle of friends through her work, her visits to the Waterfront nightclub and her trips round Hull in her trademark pink Porsche.
Sue said: “Fifi was a gregarious figure with a mega-watt smile, she had a huge array of friends on both sides of the Atlantic. She had an uncanny ability to know just the right people for every occasion.”
‘Hang on, Doc, I’ll just finish my champagne’
LIVED LIFE TO THE FULL: ‘Fifi’ Tunnicliffe
Acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Sue Mott pays tribute to her former flatmate ‘Fifi’, who died recently. Fiona Tunnicliffe opened her first salon, Curl Up and Dye, in the Avenues, emigrated to Canada and was a partygirl to the end, sipping champagne at her own funeral as the doctor arrived to complete her assisted dying dream
Fiona Tunnicliffe, who has died at the age of 65, was a well-known Hull hairdresser who emigrated to Canada in 2008.
“Fifi”, as she was universally known, eventually settled in Vancouver where she began working as a stylist at the popular Suki’s Salon.
It was here she once surprised Lord Coe, now head of World Athletics, who had popped in for a haircut during the Winter Olympics. He had last seen her at a sporting dinner in London where she had memorably mistaken him for the famous spoon-bender, Uri Geller.
That, as a Fifi adventure, was fairly symbolic. A gregarious figure with a mega-watt smile, she had a huge array of friends on both sides of the Atlantic who frequently weathered her renditions of popular songs: particularly Paper Roses.
Even Fifi’s manner of departure from this world was courageously her own. As a result of several health conditions which caused her “acute, severe, chronic” pain, she applied for acceptance on Canada’s MAID service (Medical Assistance in Dying). Permission was granted in December 2024 – “The best Christmas present I’ve ever had,” she said – and with help from powerful pain relief she was able to live a further four months in a state of contentment and visible happiness.
Fifi was born in Hull on February 19, 1960, to Sylvia and Jim Tunnicliffe. She attended Kelvin Hall Secondary school where she is remembered by fellow pupils as being able to wind the geography master round her little finger and being “what you’d call boisterous, if she’d been a boy”.
She first started working in hair salons at the age of ten and instantly discovered her lifelong career. She was trained to the highest standards by Glemby International in Hull and remained a close friend of their colour specialist Sheila Budd.
By the age of 19 she was running her own salon – Curl Up and Dye – and driving around in a pink Porsche. She was often to be found at the Waterfront nightclub and regularly threw parties at her ground floor flat in the Avenues which I shared with her.
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Fifi with the key to Queen Victoria’s lodge at Windsor Castle
She had an uncanny ability to know just the right people for every occasion. I recall a party that was flagging due to the disappearance of the bottle opener for the beer. Fifi simply sallied forth into the street and found a passing youth whose gift proved to be opening bottles with his teeth.
Fifi married in her early 20s and went to live in Saudi Arabia with her husband who worked for a construction-based business. She also inherited two much-loved stepsons with the relationship. However, the marriage failed after two years and she returned to Hull to open another salon.
After a string of burglaries, she decided to set up her business in her own home in Welton, where clients were frequently offered a glass of sherry or even dinner as the lines cheerfully blurred between business and pleasure.
Fifi was never to marry again but had a series of interesting boyfriends, many of whom will remember her terrier Nik Nak, and possibly not with the greatest of pleasure. He was renowned for his possessiveness which could, and frequently did, escalate into violence.
Fifi was fond of holidaying alone abroad, secure in her ability to make spontaneous friendships and it was on a trip to Cuba that she met an English/German couple who lived in Ottawa. The spark was immediate and the link formed that would eventually entice her to Canada for the rest of her life.
On the night of her farewell flight from Heathrow in 2008, Fifi was invited to stay at Queen Victoria’s former residence in the grounds of Windsor Castle by a friend, Angela Kelly, Queen Elizabeth II’s dresser. She dined that night with friends including the Chief Knight of the Garter, who appreciatively listened to the Yorkshire version of Paper Roses before telling Fifi that she was sitting in the very chair the Queen had occupied the night before. It seemed an apt farewell to England.
On spending the winter in Ottawa, Fifi discovered she didn’t do cold – not even with a borrowed full-length mink coat – and so she took a road trip across Canada with the adventurous son of her good friends.
After numerous escapades she survived to reach Vancouver. Here she settled down for the rest of her life, more suited to the Pacific Coast lifestyle. After her spell of employment at Suki’s, she became her own boss and soon had a large collection of clients. When she was granted Canadian citizenship, she kissed the presiding judge in her case who, perhaps unsurprisingly, said that had never happened to him before.
GREGARIOUS: Fifi, left, with longtime friend and wine merchant Richard Hall, and friend and former flatmate Sue Mott
Latterly, Fifi moved home to the Tsawwassen, an attractive suburb of Vancouver, and despite continuing to work on a part-time basis her health issues began to seriously affect her life.
She approached four different consultants about surgery to heal the ever-increasing pain she was forced to bear but their answer on examination was always that the risk to her survival was too great. She maintained hope for five years but was concurrently exploring the MAID option seriously.
Canada’s assisted death laws being among the most liberal in the world, Fifi was eligible for the scheme – not because she was terminally ill, but because she was enduring intolerable physical and psychological suffering that could not be relieved under conditions she thought acceptable.
Her admittance into the MAID programme marked one final four-month spree of happiness. She could leave home only for short periods of time but the parties could come to her.
Friends flew in from around the world to spend time with her. She had FaceTime chats with her much-loved godchildren. Vancouver friends provided a network of tremendous support and entertainment. Fifi organised her own funeral – complete with a bunch of paper roses – and one of her greatest joys in the final days was a fond and heartfelt reconnection with her step-son, Nick.
Two days before she died, Fifi went for a flight over Vancouver in a light aircraft piloted by a close friend to say goodbye to the city that had embraced her.
On the day of her death friends and a dog called Daisy gathered at her house and in nothing short of a full-swing party the doctor arrived to perform the necessary injection, administered through an IV, that would end her life.
“Hang on Doc,” Fifi interrupted his preparations, “I just want to finish my champagne.”
Fiona ‘Fifi’ Tunnicliffe, born February 19, 1960, died April 28, 2025.