My mother, Brenda Almond, who has died aged 85, was a philosopher, author and ethicist.
She was born into a poor, working-class family in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Her father, Edward, a painter and decorator, was called up during the second world war and died soon after; her mother, Margaret (nee Potter), died of a respiratory illness when Brenda, an only child, was five.
