I am nearing the end of my current book, which is all about the Victorians, and was slightly intrigued by the brief mention of James Miranda Barry MD, (c1795 -1865), a high-ranking medical military officer who, after his death was discovered to have been a woman... and was therefore the first female doctor in the modern world, a very good one too by all accounts.

From what i can discover, here are the bare facts of the case: women were not permitted to be doctors in those days, hence the lifelong pretence. Serving abroad, he almost died of yellow fever, was described as dandy and flirtatious, was rumoured to have been sexually involved with other officers and their wives, fought duals, served in the Army for over 40 years...the post-death medical investigation also discovered that at some point, he had possibly been a mother. How that must have shocked the dusty old Colonels and Generals of the day.

Also, and totally unrelated, one event that i missed this week was the world record attempt at bra-unhooking, held in New York. The current record of 56 in a minute was left unbeaten, an eye-popping statistic i'd say, on the day the best effort was achieved by a woman, who managed 37. Now thats what i call a decent spectator sport!
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