Cynthia Payne through by standing for Parliament as a candidate for the Payne and Pleasure Party in the Kensington by-election in July 1988, followed by her standing in her own area of Streatham for the Rainbow Dream Ticket in the 1992 UK General Election. She did not gain a parliamentary seat. There are two films that are loosely based on her life, both released in 1987: "Wish You Were Here", about her adolescence, with Emily Lloyd in the lead role, and "Personal Services", about her adult life, starring Julie Walters. Both were written (and "Wish You Were Here" was directed) by David
Cynthia Payne Leland. Payne made appearances as an after-dinner speaker and launched a range of "adult" services and products in 2006. Payne died on 15 November 2015, aged 82. Her family celebrated her life a month later with a colourful humanist funeral, in accordance with her wishes. Cynthia Payne Cynthia Payne (24 December 193215 November 2015) was an English brothel keeper and party hostess who made headlines in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was acquitted of running a brothel at 32 Ambleside Avenue, in Streatham, a southwestern suburb of London. Payne first came to national attention in 1978 when police raided