Yes, Friends, do YOU look good in sunglasses? Or in uniform, maybe? Most people don't, it turns out, so if you're one of that lucky few, you may find you're very much in demand these days. Prepare to be "head-hunted" haha!
This morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire has more....
We're here for a talk, which as it happens, is all about a time when pilots weren't in short supply, which is nostalgic!
If there's anything Lois loves, it's tales of women determined to show the men a thing or two, defying prejudice, bursting through glass ceilings etc etc!
How "groovy" ! And Hilda even looks groovy in that famous photo of her taken for her pilot's licence. Yes, okay, she's just wearing a big hat, but so what, she's still a woman and entitled to "look her best", even on her pilot's licence, so fair enough!!!
Nancy apparently attributes her longevity to her love of "chocolate and vodka tonics", so there you have it. You read it here first (unless you're a Guardian reader haha!!!) !!!
Considering all the work the Yeats sisters did to help other women express their talents and develop powers to earn money on their own account, we have to remember that the two women were pursuing these aims while Ireland was still a part of the UK.
my wife Lois and me - a recent picture
Yes, Lois and I are usually having a nap in bed at 2:30pm, at our home in nearby leafy, semi-skimmed Liphook, Hampshire, so it's been a bit of an effort to get here today, but, as dyed-in-the-wool history buffs, we're determined, with a bunch of other "old codgers" (!), to hear a talk about the heyday of Britain's intrepid early female flyers - "Ladies Aloft" is the title: and who could resist, especially as we've already paid £3 each for our tickets - what madness, isn't it!
(top left) after a preliminary cup of tea and a biscuit in the Museum's foyer,
we take our seats in the lecture theatre with a bunch of other "old codgers"
to hear a talk on Britain's intrepid early female flyers - "Ladies Aloft"
And it turns out that within a few years of the world's first ever powered flight, by the Wright Brothers, in 1903 over Kittyhawk, North Carolina, some of Britain's bravest and "spunkiest" ladies were almost queuing up to get in the air, with many of them active in our local area. Especially Hilda Hewlett, Britain's first female "aeronaut" as pilots were called back in the day, the woman who founded the UK's first flying school, at nearby Brooklands Motor Circuit at Weybridge, Surrey.
And these "ladies aloft" also faced their fair share of male prejudice, no doubt about that!
In 1930, at the incredibly young age of 27, and with relatively few flying miles under her belt, flew solo the 11,000 miles from Croydon Airport, Surrey to Darwin, Australia. Forced to land temporarily at Insein, Burma en route, she was criticised for being photographed in her flying shorts, showing her poor little knees to the cameras - what madness, wasn't it!!!
What a crazy world we live in !!!!
(left) 27-year-old Amy Johnson's epic 1930 flight from Croydon Airport, Surrey
to Darwin Australia, and (right) pictured en route at Insein, Burma
where she was criticised for wearing shorts and showing her knees - what madness!!!!
And although women weren't allowed to fly combat missions over Europe during World War II, female pilots played a key role in the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), known as the "Atta-girls" (!), ferrying new planes, or damaged planes, between factories or repair facilities etc, and delivering them to active service squadrons, thus relieving male pilots from doing this essential work.
Even then these women were criticised for their appearance. "Atta-girl" Maureen Dunlop happened to be "snapped" by a Picture Post photographer just as she was emerging from an aircraft - a totally unposed picture, because she'd been taken unawares, but she was later criticised for allegedly "glamourising" the Atta-girls' role.
What madness (again) !!!!
And for Lois and me this afternoon, here in Haslemere Museum, there are many more surprises in store for us during this lecture we're hearing this afternoon.
Incredibly, one "Atta-girl", Nancy Miller Stratford, is still alive, at 106 years of age. She's an American, but became an Atta-girl for the Royal Air Force during World War II, after she was barred from flying in the US Air Force, which didn't permit women to perform these kinds of roles.
But what a crazy world we live in !!!!!
20:00 But poor women, eh! How they've suffered through the ages, often forgotten by history despite their obvious talents, in favour of their less talented husbands, brothers, fathers etc.
Susan and Elizabeth Yeats were the sisters of celebrated Irish poet, WB Yeats. They were women who, despite being talented artists in their own right, and despite working for years in London with the famous William Morris of the British Arts and Crafts Movement, have been totally ignored by history in favour of their famous brother William.
And tonight, on the free-to-view Sky Arts channel, we hear about two women who, in the minds of posterity, are so unknown, that even Lois hasn't heard of them - which is my private definition of "being obscure".
What a knowledgeable woman I married, when I married Lois !!!!
The two women were kind of glue that held the large Yeats family together, bringing in the money in the early years with their painting and artistic print-work, when the family's male members, including their brothers and their father John Yeats, turned out to be so bad at delivering a regular income. And all the while, those Yeats sisters, working so hard to bring in their £500 a year to keep the family afloat, had absolutely zero leisure time, no love-life, nor any chance to marry.
In a sense the two sisters were also early feminists, but in a quiet, unassuming way, ahead of their time, forming a women's collective in Dublin, teaching and engaging the women in artistic pursuits such as painting and their artistic print work etc.
It's perhaps ironic, that after Ireland achieved independence from Britain, in 1922, Irish leader Eamon de Valera, worked hard to "put Irishwomen back in the kitchen", where they allegedly "belonged".
So a step forward for Ireland turned out to be a step backward for Irish women, which was unfortunate.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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