Random women who deserve to be noticed

[RTH10260]

very recent ...

UK’s first black female Michelin-starred chef: ‘We’re at the forefront of west African food’
Adejoké Bakare, founder and head chef of Chishuru in London, says her achievement feels ‘quite surreal’

Neha Gohil
Tue 6 Feb 2024 21.00 CET

Fermented rice cake, mushroom puree and a side of plantain. West African cuisine is gaining traction in London, according to the first black woman to be awarded a Michelin star in the UK.

Adejoké Bakare is the founder and head chef at Chishuru, which received the honour on Monday. The restaurant, which specialises in modern west African cuisine, began as a pop-up in September 2020 after Bakare won a competition in Brixton Village. It then moved across various sites in London before finding a permanent home in Fitzrovia in September 2023.

Bakare said her achievement felt “quite surreal”. “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” she said. “Until this morning I was just focused on enjoying the accolade itself, which I’m hugely honoured by. But seeing reactions on social media today, I’m starting to feel a weight of responsibility on my shoulders too, it’s lovely.”

The dishes include sinasir (fermented rice cake), moi moi (bean cake) and ekoki (corn cake). Matt Paice, Bakare’s business partner, said more customers in London were talking about the “west African movement” in the capital.

Bakare said: “We’re [at] the forefront of west African food and there’s still much more to do so we focus on that … and just build and grow that way. In many ways being an independent restaurateur and chef is incredibly liberating. We make our own rules, we answer to no one, we do our own thing. As a black female chef I’m not totally sure I could have done it any other way.”



https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/f ... ed-chef-uk

[neonzx]

[Suranis]

No specific person, just a picture I found interesting.

US History Uncovered

Young girls with their cameras, late 1930s.

Girls cameras.jpg (96.13 KiB) Viewed 525 times

[qbawl]

Love their hair!

[Suranis]

Elisabetta Sirani, "Timoclea Killing Her Rapist," 1659

Timocea.jpg (157.36 KiB) Viewed 490 times

Plutarch tells us that in 338 BC Thracian forces invaded Thebes. The Captain of the Thracian forces raped Thebes resident Timoclea at her house. Afterwards he asked her if she knew where there was money to be found. She replied that she did, took the Captain out to the well in her garden, and said there was money in the well. When he peered into it, she gave him a good shove. Then she threw heavy stones in until the Captain was dead.

Also, a fine example of a 17th century Female Artist. So this is a twofer.

[AndyinPA]

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Way to go Timoclea. He could have killed her.

[Foggy]

Excellent.

[Suranis]

http://www.bessiecoleman.org/

Bessie Coleman
An American Legacy

Bessie Coleman, a beautiful "fly" brown-skinned woman earned her pilot's license in 1921 in France, two years before her more famous contemporary, Amelia Earhart. Denied admission to American aviation schools because of her race and gender, she learned French and went to France. On June 15, 1921 she received her pilot's license from the highly respected Federation Aeronautique International, becoming the first American to earn this international pilot's license in France.

Excerpt of her full biography from her "official web page"

Then in August of 1917 Eugene Jacques Bullard, an American volunteer in the French army, became the first black military pilot in history. Born in Columbus, Ga., on Oct. 9, 1894, Bullard left home at the age of 11 when he witnessed his father barely escape being lynched. He settled in France as a prizefighter. When WWI started in 1914, he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and rose to the rank of corporal. For his bravery as an infantryman in combat, Bullard received the Croix de Guerre and other decorations. In May 1917 wearing his French Royal Air Force garbs, he became the first black fighter pilot. But when America took over the allied forces, Bullard was grounded.

Bessie Coleman’s persistence to get into the skies led her to share her dream with Robert S. Abbott, editor and publisher of the Chicago Weekly Defender. Abbott, captivated by the thought of a black woman pilot, did some investigating for Coleman and found that the French still possessed a kind of "aero mania" and were more liberal in their attitudes toward women and "people of color." On his advice, Coleman learned French at a language school on Chicago's Loop, she took a better-paying job as manager of a chili parlor and began applying to French aviation schools. Of course the applications had to written in French.

With the savings from her manicurist's job and working in a chili parlor, Coleman sailed to Europe from New York City on the S.S. Impersonator on November 20, 1920. Armed with the determination and sacrifices of Bullard, Quimby and la Roche, she was not to be denied. She met this, like all the obstacles in her life, the same way - she refused to take no for an answer.

She was accepted to France’s most famous flight school - Ecole d’Aviation des Freres Cadron et Le Crotoy - managed by French aviators and plane designers Gaston and Rene’ Caudron. For the next ten months, she walked each day to the flight school and while in the air she mastered tail spins, banking and looping the loop. Aircraft were fragile, flying was hazardous and nervous students were often killed. Coleman saw more than one of her fellow students die. But the shock was not enough to deter the young women from the East Texas cotton patch. She signed a waiver of relief in case of her own death and persisted in her goal.

While in Europe, Queen Bess attended the Second Pan-African Congress Paris Session. This Congress was spearheaded by the renowned William Edward Burghardt Du Bois whose stated purpose was to “emerge with a program of Pan-Africanism, as organized protection of the Negro world led by America Negroes.” Her older brother, Walter was a Pullman porter. At that time Pullman porters were predominately African American and were held in high regard. They carried Abbott’s newspaper “The Chicago Defender” from the north and spread many hopes and dreams to south. To many they were considered the first generation of the Talented Tenth as expressed by W.E.B. Du Bois and Bessie intended to use aviation as a means for upward mobility for her “race”.

It is important to note that the “Tulsa Race Riot” took place on June 1, 1921. According to Bieke Gils, “this incident greatly affected and shaped African American’s perceptions of aviation.” After an unresolved lynching incident, six white pilots dropped bombs on the wealthy black Greenwood district of Tulsa, setting fire to the town and killing 75 Tulsans, two-thirds of whom were black. It was the first time in history that airplanes were used to attack an American community and this community was black. Marcus Garvey encouraged African Americans to become involved in aviation and to secure as many airplanes as possible in anticipation of a catastrophic race war. And most black newspapers promoted aviation in an effort to dispel stereotypes about African Americans being less intelligent, incompetent and lazy. Bessie Coleman was doing what everyone was talking about.

After seven months of stringent training, and two weeks after the Tulsa Race Riot, Coleman was declared to be a qualified aviator on June 15, 1921, when she received her international pilot’s license No. 18.310. She was the first American of any race or gender to be directly awarded credential’s to pilot an airplane license from the Federation Aeronitique Internationale in France. To receive this license, she had to demonstrate high skill sets comprised of life-saving maneuvers including turning off the engine before touching down.

Coleman returned to New York on Sunday, September 29, 1921 on the ocean liner Manchuria. She was greeted by reporters from several national African American newspapers. White mainstream reporters largely ignored her.

However, the Aerial Age Weekly, October 17, 1921, took note. "Miss Bessie Coleman," it said, "a colored girl of Chicago, twenty-four years old, who had been studying aviation in France for ten months, arrived in New York recently on the American liner Manchuria. She brought her credentials from the French certifying that she had qualified as an aviatrix. "Miss Coleman, who is having a special Nieuport scout plane built for her in France, said yesterday that she intended to make flights in this country as an inspiration for people of her race to take up aviation."

http://www.bessiecoleman.org/bio-bessie-coleman.php

[Suranis]

https://www.ranker.com/list/who-was-ele ... rly-silver

16 Facts That Prove Eleanor of Aquitaine Was Not to Be Messed With

Updated June 15, 2021 296.9K views

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a wife to two of the most important kings of the 12th century, but even aside from her marriages, she was a fascinating woman in her own right.

The facts about Eleanor of Aquitaine speak for themselves: she was the rightful ruler of the ancient duchy of Aquitaine in southern France, heiress to witty sovereign dukes who both supported great musicians and conducted love affairs with abandon, and forcibly married to a monk-like boy as a teenager. Decades later, she managed to separate from him, choose her own husband (though her independence in the choice is debatable), and become a powerful ruler on both sides of the English Channel for multiple decades.

The life of Eleanor of Aquitaine included crusades, art, numerous children, and diplomatic journeys across Europe, even as she reached her seventies. She sought to keep her family at peace – except when she rebelled, of course – and she was a fierce advocate for her own rights as a sovereign duchess. Intelligent, desirable, and savvy, Eleanor was truly a woman for the ages.

She Was Married Twice To Two Rival Kings

Eleanor walked down the aisle twice, both times to a powerful monarch or monarch-to-be. In order to ally her duchy to France, which was actually smaller than Aquitaine at the time, King Louis VI arranged the marriage of young Eleanor to his own heir, also named Louis. They wed in July, 1137, just prior to King Louis's passing a month later.

The match was ill-fated from the start; the two had many disagreements, as Louis was reputedly very religious and Eleanor very sensual. After two daughters and 15 years of marriage, Eleanor and Louis divorced.

Eleanor married Henry, Duke of Normandy, just two months after her marriage to Louis ended. Two years later, Henry was crowned king of England and Lord of numerous French lands – and thus a rival to Eleanor's first husband.

Legend Says She Confronted Her Husband's Mistress In A Maze

Sadly for Eleanor, Henry was far from faithful. Rumors contest that Henry kept one of his favorite mistresses, the beautiful Rosamund Clifford, in a home at the center of a maze at his palace of Woodstock. He found his way each time by following a red string.

But clever Eleanor soon learned of her husband's infidelity and wound her way to the center of the labyrinth, where she found "Fair Rosamund." One version of the story claims that she offered Rosamund two means of escape: a bowl of poison or a dagger to the heart, of which Rosamund chose the former.

In reality, this tragic tale was nothing more than a fable. Rosamund actually passed in a convent, and Eleanor was most likely in prison, thanks to her husband, Henry.

She Was Captured By Her Grandson

Eleanor favored her son Richard above her other children, though her youngest, John, was slated to be crowned king following Richard's rule. Geoffrey, another of Eleanor's sons, was born between the two, though he passed before he could succeed Richard's throne. Geoffrey's son, Arthur of Brittany, was technically the rightful king – not his uncle John – but Eleanor supported John rather than her teenaged grandson. One reason for this may have been that Arthur at one point captured Eleanor, whereas John was the one to free her.

To settle the conflict once and for all, one of John's lieutenants took Arthur and delivered him to the king. Historians still debate what happened to the young duke, but he was certainly imprisoned and most likely put to death, perhaps by John himself.

She Went On The Second Crusade With Her First Husband

Eleanor was exceptionally well-traveled for a woman of 12th-century France.

Louis VII and his German counterpart, Conrad, led the charge for yet another Christian Crusade in 1147, though many French citizens, Eleanor included, were unenthusiastic about traveling such a great distance merely to reinforce the Crusader vassal states. In Louis's eyes, however, the crusade was an opportunity to atone for his sins (including burning a church full of people), so Eleanor eventually agreed to join him on the journey.

The Crusade (1147–1149) was a terrible failure, both personally and militarily. Louis and his allies did little to aid their Frankish cousins in the Middle East, and his relationship with Eleanor deteriorated drastically during their time away. The French also lost many men at The Battle of Cadmus; this massacre of Frenchmen was blamed on Eleanor because she allegedly became an unwitting pawn in a Turkish attack.

She Was Ambushed Once And Nearly Kidnapped Twice

Prior to her marriages, Eleanor constantly faced the threat of abduction: as a rich heiress without a husband, greedy lords may have sought to kidnap her, marry her against her will, and claim her lands and wealth as their own. This threat was one reason why, shortly before his passing, her father arranged her marriage to the eventual Louis VII, and another reason why Eleanor was most likely concerned for her own safety once she divorced Louis.

Despite her newfound freedom upon this separation, Eleanor knew she couldn't enjoy the luxuries of single life for long; she had to find a new husband for her own protection. After a council annulled her first marriage, she went home to Poitiers, barely evading two different captors: Theobald, Count of Blois (who would later marry one of her daughters), and her future brother-in-law, Henry Plantagenet's younger brother, Geoffrey. Fortunately, Eleanor took an alternate route home and arrived safely – she arranged a marriage to a new protector soon after.

In 1200, Eleanor was successfully ambushed and held captive by one of her son John's enemies, Hugh of Lusignan. Her imprisonment wasn't for the gain of her land, however: Hugh attacked Eleanor in order to extort John's support in Hugh's claim to a random piece of land.

She Was A Duchess In Her Own Right

As a teenager, Eleanor was one of the most sought-after heiresses in Europe because she ruled a fertile, valuable region of what would later become France.

Eleanor didn't hold Aquitaine by virtue of marriage, as was often the case; instead, she inherited the land in her own right. As a result, she alone was the territory's legitimate duchess, and any man who sought control would have to marry her. For this reason, securing the marriage between Louis VII and Eleanor was a prosperous coup for the late King Louis VI.

Even In Her Old Age, She Traveled Europe As A Diplomat

After she was released from prison, Eleanor remained politically active. She served as an unofficial regent in England for her son, Richard the Lionheart, while he was crusading. Eager to arrange royal alliances, she went abroad in 1199 when she was in her late seventies.

Eleanor traveled to Castile, visiting her daughter, also named Eleanor, who was Queen of that country, as well as her many grandchildren. Her task was to ally her own family yet again with the royal clan of France – Eleanor, once married to a king of France, and Henry often opposed their rivals across the Channel. The prince in question was the grandson of Eleanor's ex-husband (by another wife): the eventual Louis VIII of France.

Eleanor met her granddaughters and picked one of them, Blanca, to become a queen and marry Louis. This diplomatic maneuver was a true success: Blanche became a powerful consort and mothered many sons, including Saint-King Louis IX.

She Advocated For The Tradition Of Courtly Love

In true family tradition, Eleanor promoted the literary genre of courtly love, which advocated a particular code of conduct for women and the knights who lived to serve and love them. Whether or not Eleanor ever established a formal "academy" in Aquitaine to teach chivalry to men and women is unknown, but she may have instructed her ladies-in-waiting and male attendants to follow its precepts.

Marie of Champagne, one of Eleanor's daughters from her first marriage, fostered the tradition even more than her mother at her court in Champagne.

She And Her First Husband Didn't Get Along

Arranged marriages were successful on occasion, but not in the case of Eleanor and Louis. Beautiful and deeply sensual, with a love of literature, music, and especially courtly poetry, Eleanor was a worldly woman. In contrast, Louis was more ascetic at heart, a deeply religious man. As he was a second child, he spent much of his childhood raised in a monastery, perhaps destined for a career in the Church until his elder brother died.

Louis was rather naive, especially in contrast to Eleanor's sophisticated nature; he loved his wife but didn't share her passions. Eleanor was even said to have exclaimed that she'd married a monk.

She Birthed Ten Children, But Only Nine Survived

As the life expectancy in 12th-century Europe was fairly low, child mortality was quite high. Fortunately, Eleanor's children didn't succumb to the statistics. She gave birth to ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Sadly, her first son with her second husband did not survive. This child was named William, most likely for Eleanor's paternal ancestors and for William the Conqueror, founder of Henry's own dynasty.

Young William died at the age of three, but Eleanor went on to birth four more sons by Henry – all of whom revolted against their father later in life. Henry (1155-1183) was the nominal ruler of England, although he held very little power before his death from dysentery. Richard, better known as Richard the Lionheart, was born in 1157, while Eleanor bore her last child, the troublesome John, in 1166 or 1167 when she was about 44 years old.

Her Second Husband Imprisoned Her For 16 Years

Eleanor's second husband, the eventual King Henry II of England, was perhaps more suited to her in terms of sensuality and ambition, but the temperamental Plantagenet didn't hesitate to punish his wife if he saw fit. Fed up with Henry's rule and infidelities, Eleanor eventually backed her sons' rebellion – led by Richard – against their father. The effort failed, and Henry captured a fleeing Eleanor, whom he may also have suspected of having tried to harm his favorite mistress.

Starting in 1173, he kept his wife in prison for 16 years, forcing her to live in relative seclusion in various castles in England, including Salisbury Castle. Henry moved Eleanor often and only allowed her to see her family on special holidays. Only after Henry's passing in 1189 did Richard, then the king, free his mother.

She May Have Had An Affair With Her Uncle

While she was traveling in the Middle East with her husband, Louis VII, on the Second Crusade, Eleanor met up with her paternal uncle, Raymond, ruler of Antioch. Raymond welcomed his niece and nephew into his principality, but some contemporary sources suggest more: they allege incest between uncle and niece.

Raymond was a bastion of culture in comparison to the monk-like Louis, and Eleanor and her hubby were suffering marital difficulties at the time. Raymond also had much in common with Eleanor, such as her love of all things luxurious.

Despite these historical rumors, however, there is no concrete evidence to support this claim.

Her Favorite Child May Have Been Richard The Lionheart

Modern scholars believe that Richard, Eleanor's second-eldest surviving son, was her favorite out of all of her children. She appointed him as the future duke of her beloved Aquitaine, although this may have been because her eldest son, Henry, was already bequeathed the rule of England.

Like his mother, Richard was passionate about music and poetry and often patronized troubadours. In fact, one story claims that a poet found where Richard was being held captive because he heard the king singing a beautiful tune.

Others caution against the opinion that Eleanor played favorites. Most evidence of their close bond comes from the time after Richard became king; she may have also been very close to her eldest son, who died before his father.

She Stood Up For Her Sister's Affair

Eleanor was fiercely protective of her younger sister, Petronilla, a wealthy heiress in her own right. Like her grandfather and her sister, Petronilla began an illicit affair – hers with a married man she met while living at court. This man was Count Raoul of Vermandois, an important noble, cousin of Louis VII, and brother-in-law of the powerful Count Theobald of Blois.

Despite the clandestine match, Eleanor fully supported her sister and even tried to convince her husband to get Raoul's marriage annulled so her sister could marry him. Unfortunately, Theobald told the Pope about the affair, Raoul and Petronilla were excommunicated, and Louis invaded Theobald's lands, even burning down a church full of people.

Her Grandmother Was Originally Her Grandfather's Mistress

Eleanor's paternal grandfather, Duke William IX of Aquitaine, was one of the original troubadours, medieval bards, and courtly poets who composed songs of adoration to their lady loves. William's work is the first known surviving literature in the language of Aquitaine, Provençal.

Although he was married to Philippa of Toulouse, William took the wife of one of his vassals, Dangereuse, as his mistress. He even brought his lady love to live in his castle at Poitiers – a decision that was obviously met with disapproval from his wife. William was excommunicated from the Church twice, but, reluctant to give up his mistress, he threatened the bishops.

Despite her lover's tantrums, Dangereuse tied her own family to his by marrying off her daughter, Aenor, to the duke's son and heir, also named William. The resulting child was Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Her Life Ended In A Nunnery

Eleanor eventually retired to Fontevraud Abbey in France, a spot popular with high-ranking women as a place to retire at the end of their lives. The abbey also had close personal ties to the Plantagenets, the family of Eleanor's second husband, Henry, including Eleanor's own mother-in-law, Empress Matilda. Even Eleanor's own daughter, Joan, passed just after taking the veil as a nun at Fontevraud.

Eleanor, Henry, Richard, and other Plantagenets were buried at the sanctuary.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Of course she was something else, Katherine Hepburn portrayed her in a movie -The Lion in Winter"!

[Ben-Prime]

Of course she was something else, Katherine Hepburn portrayed her in a movie -The Lion in Winter"!

In my permanent Amazon Prime library. One of the few movies I have purchased rather than relying on a movie being available for free.

[John Thomas8]

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bas ... tlin-clark

Through Title IX and the courageous efforts of so many, women's sports have not only grown, but thrived. Whether it's Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Chamique Holdsclaw, Lisa Leslie, Maya Moore, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum and countless others, women's basketball is now mainstream and at its nadir of popularity.

Yet, with all of those great players of the past, we have never seen anything quite like the phenomenon that is Iowa's Caitlin Clark.

Clark is now the all-time scoring champion of NCAA women's basketball. She is the most exciting and recognizable college basketball player in the country. Period. Men or women. Her games sell out, at home and on the road. Every sports fan knows her. Every. Single. One. Yet, the responsibility of carrying the women's game doesn't seem to faze her one bit.

[Volkonski]

"nadir of popularity"? Nadir?

[Suranis]

I hate it when people use words they think sound classy but don't have a clue what the words mean.

...

Why are you all looking at me?

[Sam the Centipede]

"nadir of popularity"? Nadir?

Look on the bright side: all the apostrophes that should be there are present and those that shouldn't be there are absent.

What does it matter if the author picked up a thesaurus and chose a word from the antonym column instead of from the synonyms? Words, words, words, slippery things!

[Suranis]

"Ex-Slave with Long Memory, Alabama" (ca. 1937) by photographer Dorothea Lange.

Slave.jpg (68.2 KiB) Viewed 260 times

Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange

[Suranis]

Ancient Egypt's first recorded female pharaoh, Sobekneferu. Discover how she became a ruler in a mans world, her life in on of the most troubled times in ancient history and her mysterious death and burial pyramid...

With Dr Colleen Darnell, Dr Zahi Hawass, Sofia Aziz, Dr Sahar Saleem, Kayleigh During, Auset Rohn & Roann Hills.

A Documentary by Curtis Ryan Woodside

[Suranis]

One for the Trek fans

RetroFan Magazine ·

Happy Birthday to lovely Andrea Dromm, born in Long Island on February 18th, 1941.

Dromm is the daughter of an engineer, and attended school in Patchogue, and later in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Dromm became nationally-known after a 1960s 'National Airlines' TV commercial in which she played a stewardess who delivered the tagline: 'Is this any way to run an airline? You bet it is!'

On the strength of the ad's popularity, she was urged to seek a Hollywood career. Her first TV job was playing 'Yeoman Smith' in 'Where No Man Has Gone Before,’ the second pilot for STAR TREK. Dromm says, “Since STAR TREK was only a pilot, they could keep you under option for six months and change your character, or even worse — drop you from the series. You had no guarantee that they would sign you for the series. I thought that doing the movie would be more exciting, and a great thing to do. That was a choice I had to make, and you can't look back.”

The film of which Dromm speaks was the 1966 Carl Reiner-Brian Keith vehicle, 'The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming,' in which she played a teenage babysitter who falls in love with a handsome Soviet sailor. Dromm says, “They told me I either had to do the film or the (STAR TREK) series. I chose the film. But, had I known that STAR TREK would become such a phenomenon, I probably would have opted for the series.”

In 1988, 'People' magazine reported that she was living off real estate investments and splitting her time between homes in The Hamptons and Palm Beach.

She would be 82

Andrea.jpg (36.91 KiB) Viewed 184 times

[John Thomas8]

[northland10]

"Ex-Slave with Long Memory, Alabama" (ca. 1937) by photographer Dorothea Lange.


Slave.jpg

Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange

I love Dorothea Lange's work, and the one you posted is wonderful.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... of-history

From thrilling Edwardian short stories about Sherlock Holmes, to the jaded gumshoes of 20th-century American pulp fiction, the figure of the lone private investigator, who watches from a shadowy street corner, has been chiefly assumed to be a male role. But now a new historic examination, to be discussed at the London Library on Thursday, is changing all that.

Fresh research has revealed that, in real life, women have been at the sleuthing game for as long as men. And they were, in fact, often more sought-after due to their particular skillsets. Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths, published by the History Press, has assembled the recent work of historian Caitlin Davies, now newly qualified as a private investigator herself, to tell the story of leading British lights of this secretive trade.

Prominent among them is the trained opera singer Annette Kerner, who began her undercover career in the 1940s after flirting with a passenger on a channel crossing who turned out to be an intelligence officer observing a suspected spy. He asked her to get hold of the suspect’s suitcase, which Kerner claimed she calmly did.

Once established as founder of her Mayfair Detective Agency, Kerner became expert at donning disguises, transforming at will into a charlady, a society hostess or an opium addict, with the help of a few deft costume alterations. In 1948, Leader Magazine described her as “the woman of a hundred faces – at one moment she is a neat, matronly children’s nurse pushing a pram, only to confront a gentleman blackmailer, then she is an untidy waitress in a dingy backstreet restaurant mixing with fences.”

London-born Davies said she first became interested in the history of this shady trade when she was researching her previous book, Queens of the Underworld, which involved detailing the antics of shoplifting gangs and the women store detectives who were employed by department stores to defeat them. “I wondered who the store detectives were and what their lives were like,” explained Davies, 59.

She then wondered why it was that she could name a string of fictional female sleuths, such as Miss Marple, television’s Jessica Fletcher or writer Alexander McCall Smith’s Precious Ramotswe, but none from real life. Davies discovered there had been plenty out there, but most of these real women were far from Miss Marple, the gentle amateur imagined by Agatha Christie. Instead, they often ran highly profitable businesses.

[Suranis]

Ethel “Sunny” Lowry was born in Longsight in 1911. Her dad was a fish wholesaler and she was a 2nd cousin of the artist, LS Lowry.

From an early age, she loved swimming. She would swim regularly at Victoria Baths and Levenshulme Baths. She went to Manchester High School for Girls. The school thought that Sunny was rather too much focused on swimming. Sunny later said: "The headmistress was a rather stern woman and she looked at me from over her half-moon glasses and said 'Lowry, what is your ambition?' I replied immediately, 'To swim the Channel' and she said, without another word, 'Dismissed!'."

By her late teens, Sunny had developed into a strong distance swimmer. She took advantage of family holidays to swim the length of Windermere and along stretches of the North Wales coast. She often liked to wear a two-piece costume, which was very daring for those days. On more than one occasion she said she was "branded a harlot for daring to bare her knees".

She entered an X-Factor style competition in which the winner got to be trained by a top team for a cross-Channel swim. Out of 300 applicants, Sunny was chosen. So, in 1933, at the age of 22, she caught a train from Manchester down to the south coast to begin rigorous training. Her trainer was tough - the first thing he said to her was "'If you say the water's cold, you may as well get off home".

On her first attempt to swim the Channel, she was defeated by strong currents. She tried again the next day, and got to within sight of the French coast. But then a storm blew up. It grew so wild and dark, the team boat completely lost sight of her. She was only spotted when one of the crew caught a glimpse of her swimming cap during a flash of lightning. So that attempt was abandoned as well. After two failed attempts, the team considered giving up, but Sunny said she really wanted to give it one last go.

She set off again, this time from the French side. It was in the small hours of the morning and was still dark. As usual, she had to be covered in grease to protect from the cold. In preparation, she'd been eating up to 40 eggs a week (mostly in omelettes) and pushed up her weight to 14st 7lb, because it was predicted that she would lose a pound for every hour in the sea.

During the swim, she ate nothing, but paused now and again to drink coffee, cocoa and beef tea, which she swigged from a medicine bottle dangled over the side of the escort boat.

After swimming for 15 hours 41 minutes, she finally emerged from a rough sea, and crawled up the beach at St Margaret's Bay, near Dover. Her face and neck were swollen with jellyfish bites, and her lips were cracked and blue. She was exhausted. But she'd made it.

She thus became the 6th woman to swim the Channel and the 3rd British woman ever to do so.

After her successful swim, Sunny returned to Manchester and was she greeted by cheering crowds at Central Station. She accepted that her moment in the limelight would not last and she dedicated her life to teaching swimming. She later married and her husband, Bill, was also a swimming teacher.

She was later awarded an MBE. Sunny was described as a wonderful, gentle, kind lady. Her great niece said: "She was as fit as a fiddle, as sharp as ninepence, and she kept on swimming well into her 90s".

Sunny died, aged 97, in 2008.

[Foggy]

Oh, that one is awesome. Ethel Lowry.

[Suranis]

I forgot to mention that there are 14 pounds in a stone. So 14 stone 7 pounds is 204 pounds.