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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O PQ R S T U V W XYZ

" I hate to see the sun go down, and squeeze itself into the ground

Since some warm night it might get stuck and in the morning not get up"

Grace Kelly ...  American film star and Princess of Monaco

Her name is G ..............

* G B Miller - Mrs

..... FIRST woman owner to win the Derby at Epsom when her horse Midday Sun won the race on June 2nd 1937

* Gabriela Mistral

..... FIRST Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was born in a small Andean village in northern Chile's Elquia Valley and began her career as a rural schoolteacher. She went on to become a renowned diplomat, educator, author and port and it was for her poetry that she was awarded the Nobel Prize. Through her fluent and lyrical verse, she attempted to speak for the voiceless and for women and children. Her epitaph 'What the soul does for the body so does the poet for her people' - describes her contributions

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel

born August 19th 1883 died 10th January 1971

.....  daughter of a wandering pedlar. She first made a name for herself in the 20s and 30s by making feminine versions of trench coats, sailor reefer jackets and matelot blouses. Her grown-up versions of schoolgirl uniforms and soft cardigan suits were also very popular. Her fabrics were mostly Linton tweeds and silk jersey. When her Chanel No 5 was launched in 1923 it was the FIRST time that a perfume had been named after a clothes designer but her greatest creation was the ' little black dress' and it is said that she designed it as a sign of perpetual mourning for her English lover, Arthur Capel, who died in a car crash. She was also a long-time mistress of the Duke of Westminster. Chanel did not mind others copying her designs, being more flattered than annoyed, and this approach helped to democratise the business. "With a black sweater and ten rows of pearls, Chanel revolutionised fashion" said Christian Dior. She retired in 1938 but made a triumphant comeback in 1954 and thereafter produced collections each year until her death in 1971. On male couturiers she said " those who do not like women should have nothing to do with them, because their only intention is to make them look ridiculous"

* Gabrielle Patterson

..... FIRST British woman to earn an instructor's flying licence. She was one of the FIRST eight women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary during WW2 under Pauline Gower

* Gabrielle Roy

   born 1907 died 1983

..... her Bonheuir d'Occasion (1945) translated as The Tin Flute in 1947 was the FIRST French-Canadian work to be awarded the Priz Femina

* Gaby Lomas

..... set up a trauma course in the UK, the FIRST of its kind after she returned from a trip to America in 1990. She is based at Hope Hospital in Salford and her work in the area of trauma has won her a Royal College of Nursing Merit Award and she has had two chapters on the subject published in two books. She has also organised conferences and given presentations in Britain and has been invited to speak on her subject in the Netherlands, Russia and Australia

* Gael Ramsey

..... on May 4th 1992 she became the FIRST woman to command a major garrison when she took over at Aldershot where she controlled 12,000 soldiers. The post was mainly administrative and she would not be required to command troops in the field. In 1974 she won an operational MBE, one of the rare operational awards made to women soldiers, when she helped in the evacuation of civilians from Cyprus when Turkey invaded

* Gail Clough

…..  English girl from Manchester who was the FIRST female DJ in China in 1992.  She had been working in the clubs in Manchester and then went international travelling to France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and then finally to the Far East

* Gail Davies

 ..... FIRST woman in country music to write and produce her own music

* Gail Woodhall

..... FIRST North West of England lawyer to appear in the French Court of Appeal when she contested an appeal by a French machinery manufacturer over a contractual dispute with a major British engineering firm

* Gale Sondergaard

 born 1899 died 1985

.....  won the FIRST debut Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a scheming housekeeper in the film Anthony Adverse in 1936

* Galina Pyshkova

..... Russian who was the FIRST camerawoman with a solo camera credit in 1946 with Songs of Abay (USSR)

* Galina Ulanova

   born 1910

..... FIRST prima ballerina assoluta of the USSR. She was born in St Petersburg and studied at the State School in Leningrad. In 1928 she made her debut at the Kinou Theatre and went on to dance every major classical role including Juliet, Giselle and Odette Odile in Swan Lake. In 1951 she was named the People's Artist of the Soviet Union and two years later was awarded the Order Of Lenin. She retired from dancing in 1963 and wrote several articles on dance for soviet journals

* Gay Kelleway

..... FIRST woman to ride in a Gold Cup at Ascot on Pretty Picture and the FIRST woman to ride a winner at Royal Ascot when her horse Sprowston Boy won

* Gaynor Turner

..... in 1996 she became the FIRST deaf woman deacon in Manchester, England after three years of hard study. She worked as a volunteer at the Manchester Deaf Centre and battled hard against her disability. She was licensed to the Sacred Trinity Church but also continued to minister services for the deaf at St John of Beverley Church

* Gaynor Williams

..... FIRST girl to receive the Humphrey Booth Award - 2nd July 1965. The award is made annually to the girl who, is academically and especially by her character, an example to the whole of the school. The recipient holds the shield for one year and her name is inscribed thereon and in addition she receives a small medallion which she retains

* Gee Armytage

..... FIRST woman to ride a winner in the Cheltenham Festival in 1987 on her horse Gee-A

* Gemma Hussey

..... FIRST person since the foundation of the state (in Ireland) to publish a memoir of life at the top of the political pole She was Minister of Social Welfare and the only woman member of the Cainet (Irish Government?) from 1982- 1987. When the Americans learned that the Minister of Social Welfare was a woman they withdrew their invitation to address Irish-Americans on St. Patrick's Day

* Gemma Paget

..... in November 1994 she became the FIRST girl scout in Worsley, Manchester. She was 12 years old at the time, loved being in the scouts and was glad that she chose it over the traditional girl guides

* Gena Jaeger

.....  FIRST woman to fly around the world non-stop without refuelling - 14th December 1986. Her co-pilot was Dick Ruttan and the trip took 9 days. Gena had her long hair cropped to save weight and on their return 50,000 people were at Edwards Air Force Base in America to welcome them home

* Genevieve Ward

   born 1838 died 1922

..... in 1921 she was the FIRST actress to be made a DBE specifically for her services to the theatre. In her time she was widely celebrated as an actress and opera singer and King George V bestowed the honour on her on the occasion of her 83rd birthday. She remains to this day (2003) the oldest actress to be thus saluted. The honour to her was also significant in that she was an American, born in New York in 1838, a fact that refutes the misconception that only a British-born subject can be named a dame

* Genista McIntosh

..... FIRST female executive director with the National Theatre when appointed in 1990. She was involved in the choice and casting of the 20 productions put on each year. In 1996 she was made general director of the Royal Opera House, the FIRST woman to be so appointed

* Georgia O'Keeffe

..... American who was given the FIRST retrospective of a woman artist ever held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1946. In the 1960s she had several major retrospective exhibitions in cities throughout the United States and in 1968 a collection of her drawings was published. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

* Georgia ' Tiny' Broadwick

   born 1893

….. on 21st June 1913 she became the FIRST woman to make a parachute descent from an aeroplane when she made her first aircraft jump from Glenn Martin's home-built biplane over Griffith Park, Los Angeles and on July 4th 1914 became the FIRST woman to make a  descent from an aeroplane using a manually operated parachute with a rip cord

* Georgina Clark

..... in 1984 she was the FIRST woman to umpire a Wimbledon final when she was in the chair for the women's singles final between Martina Navratilova and Chris Lloyd

* Georgina Reynolds

..... in 1989 she was the FIRST woman patrolwoman for the Automobile Association

* Georgina Russell

..... FIRST head girl at King's School, Rochester Kent in 1988 since its foundation in 604. Girls were first admitted to the school in 1975

* Georgina Thompson

..... FIRST woman to parachute from an aircraft in America on June 4th 1913. She had joined the parachute team at the age of 15, being already a wife and mother, and made her first jump over Los Angeles. The following year Georgia 'Tiny' Broadwick made the FIRST descent from an aircraft using a manually operated parachute with a rip cord ( see above)

* Geraldine Bridgewater

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman in the ring of the London Metal Exchange in 1977 where she dealt in lead, zinc, tin, silver and other metals. She started as a telex operator with commodity brokers J H Rayner and went on to deal with currency, cocoa, coffee and sugar. It was very difficult for her to get the committee of the London Metal Exchange to let her trade and she received a lot of opposition from the men in the beginning

* Geraldine Ferraro

  born August 26th 1935

..... FIRST woman American vice-presidential candidate when she ran with Walter Mondale on  July 12th 1984  against Ronald Reagan and George Bush

* Geraldine Mock

..... American who on 16th April 1964, completed the FIRST solo round- the-world flight by a woman 

* Geraldine Rees

..... FIRST woman to complete the Grand National course in 1982 when she finished 8th on her horse Cheers

* Germaine Dulac

  nee Saisset-Schneider

  born 1882 died 1942

..... Frenchwoman who was the FIRST feminist film-maker and a key figure in the FIRST Avant Garde of the 1920s

* Germaine Greer

..... FIRST ever recipient of a Doctor of Literature degree from UMIST in 2000

* Gertie Almond

  died 1993

..... one of the FIRST female comics, Manchester's 'Miss Comedy' . She enjoyed almost 60 years on the stage retiring at the age of 67. It was said that she was a very cheeky comedienne but never blue

* Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell

  born 1868 died 1926

..... FIRST woman to gain first class honours in history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (1888) and the only European woman of her time to penetrate far into Arabia alone - to Baghdad where she founded the FIRST girls school and the FIRST women's hospital. Known as the Mystery woman of the East, the Uncrowned Queen of Iraq and Diana of the Desert, she was an historian, archaeologist, mountaineer and a woman of action and loved the Arab people. She was a recognised authority on Asia Minor and the lands of the Turkish Empire through which she had journeyed in 1913 and 1914 and had gathered information which was used during the First World War by T E Lawrence in his remarkable Arab campaigns. Her journey was a pioneer exploit and added to the map a whole new line of desert wells previously unknown. In 1915 she was appointed to the Arab Intelligence Bureau in Cairo, was transferred to the Military Intelligence Staff at Basra in 1916 and in 1917 became Oriental Secretary after Sir Percy Cox became Civil Commissioner in Baghdad In 1920 she prepared a Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia. She also made new discoveries on the history of the desert frontiers under the Roman, Palmyrene and Omayyad dynasties. She devoted herself to the Arab world and through her Amir Faisal became King of Iraq in 1921 and was a power of strength behind his throne. She became Honorary Director of Antiquities at Baghdad where she founded the Iraq Museum and where the principal wing bears her name. She died in 1926 in Baghdad and was buried there

* Gertrude Bugler

  born 1897 died 1992

..... who married a cousin of the same name and whose beauty so captivated Thomas Hardy that he asked her to play the part of Tess of the d'Urbervilles on stage. She joined the Hardy Players, an amateur dramatic group, in Dorchester, and in 1924, Thomas Hardy offered the group his own dramatisation of Tess of the d'Urbervilles but made it a condition that Gertrude would play the lead role. She was an instant success but when the play was taken to London, Hardy's second wife, Florence, made scenes which forced Gertrude to reject the part. However, in 1929, a year after Hardy died, she did go to London to play Tess at the Duke of York's Theatre and made history as the FIRST amateur to play the lead in a West End production

* Gertrude Denman

..... the Women's Institute's FIRST chairman in England and guided it for its first 30 years.  In 1947 Marcham Park, a Georgian house, was bought with money raised by members and was renamed Denman College. It was set in 17 acres of beautiful grounds and opened on September 24th 1948

 * Gertrude Ederle

  born 1906

..... American who was the FIRST woman to swim the English Channel from France to Dover on 6th August 1926. She did the swim in 14 hrs 39 mins which was then an overall record. When she was 12 she broke the 880 yds freestyle record with a time of 13 mins 19 secs and also set a record for the youngest age at which any woman had broken a non-mechanical world record In the 1924 Olympic Games she won a Gold Medal and 2 Bronze Medals in the 5 racing events open to women

* Gertrude Kasebier

 born 1852 died 1934

..... American who was one of the FIRST women members of the Linked Ring group in 1900

* Gertrude Von Petzold

 ..... FIRST woman Minister of Religion in Britain who came to Britain from Germany in 1897 and graduated MA in 1901 from St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities. From 1904 to 1908 she was pastor of Narborough Free Christian Church and was later appointed Minister of the Waverley Road Unitarian Church, Birmingham from 1911 to 1915. She then returned to Germany

* Gertrude Mary Tuckwell

 born 1861 died 1951

 ..... one of the FIRST female JPs in London

* Gerty Cori

  born 1896 died October 26th 1957

.....  FIRST woman doctor to receive the  Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1957 which was for her work in effecting the FIRST synthesis of glycogen in a test tube. This made her the 3rd woman Nobel Prize winner after Marie Curie and Irene Joliot Curie. She received her MD in 1920 and in 1947 became a Professor of Bio-Chemistry

* Gilian Baranski

.....  FIRST woman Clerk to the Justices in London - 1997

* Gill Marcus

FIRST woman to chair one of South Africa's big four banks  when made chairwoman of ABSA in 2007. She will take up her appointment on July 1st

* Gill Willans

..... FIRST woman director of Warrington Chamber of Commerce. She said that a new trade mission to Czechoslovakia was being prepared as part of plans to put Warrington more firmly on the European map and to alert members to the challenges of the single market and recent liberalisation in Eastern Europe

* Gillian May Armstrong

  born 1952

..... FIRST woman in Australia to direct a feature film since the 1930s with My Brilliant Career in 1979. It won 11 AFI awards including best film and best director

* Gillian Banks

..... FIRST woman Registrar General when she became the 13th Registrar General for England and Wales

* Gillian Eustance

..... FIRST woman and FIRST civilian to be appointed to the board of the Corps of Commissioners, an organisation which fills many of the jobs open to older people but never openly advertises

* Gillian Fisher

..... in 1979 she was the FIRST woman assistant manager with British Rail when she began work at Redhill station in Surrey

* Gillian Coysh Hanson

 born 25th March 1934 died 1996

..... founder of the Intensive Therapy Unit at Whipps Cross Hospital in 1968, the FIRST hospital to appoint a physician as consultant in charge. With P L Wright she co-wrote the FIRST textbook on intensive therapy as well as contributing to many publications on other topics

* Gillian Lurie

..... one of the FIRST women to be ordained in the Church of England

* Gillian Mitchell

 ..... FIRST woman to receive the MBE for services to the steel industry in 1997

* Gillian Sheen

 ..... won Britain's FIRST ever gold medal for fencing in the 1956 Olympics

* Gillian Shepherd

 ..... FIRST woman Minister at the Treasury in Great Britain

* Gillian Wearing

...... one of the finalists on the FIRST all-female shortlist in the history of the Turner Prize in 1997

* Gillian Wilson

..... a 22-year old Land Economist from St John's College who became the FIRST Conservative to be voted into the sabbatical post of President at Cambridge University in the 17-year history of its student union

* Ginette Harrison

..... a British doctor, in June 1998 she became the FIRST woman to climb Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain when she reached the top with three others . She had already climbed Everest and was setting her sights on K2, the world's second highest

* Gisela Raines

..... with her husband became the FIRST husband and wife team to share a curacy when appointed to St Luke's Church, Charlton. She was to be ordained a deaconess at Southwark Cathedral and could deliver sermons, conduct christenings and hold funerals but was not able to become a priest

* Gisela Smart

 ..... FIRST woman Labour MP for Edgbaston, Birmingham when elected in 1997

* Gladys Beattie Crozier

..... wrote the FIRST English treatise on the tango in 1912. Some 40,000 words provided instruction for the dance which had only previously been seen on the English stage in a show called The Sunshine Girl and danced by George Grossmith and Phyllis Dare.  It swept the country and in 1914 Queen Mary asked for a demonstration at a ball

* Gladys Anderson Emerson

  born 1903

..... American who was the FIRST to succeed in isolating Vitamin E in pure form

* Glenda Hegg

..... FIRST woman President of Stand Cricket and Tennis Club in Whitefield, Manchester in its 147-years history. She had been involved with the club for the previous 27 years with husband Kevin being a member and sons Warren and Martin playing cricket there

* Glenys Latham

..... FIRST woman President of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts since it was founded 

* Glenys Thomas

..... FIRST Penarth girl to win the Welsh ladies singles title in Table Tennis in 1974

* Gloria Allred

 ..... FIRST full-time employee of a teachers union in Los Angeles

* Gloria Cumper

 ..... FIRST black female law graduate of Girton College, Cambridge

* Gloria Foster

 born November 15th 1936 died 2001

..... actress who won roles both on stage and screen that were usually reserved for white actresses. Her acting career spanned forty years and she won numerous awards. She was the FIRST black schoolchild to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.  In 1963 she travelled to New York where she eventually won the title role in In White America and in the play she portrayed 27 characters and explored the experience of black Americans, from the 18th century slave ships to the 20th century campaign for civil rights

* Gloria Hunniford

..... FIRST woman to have a daily show on BBC Radio 2 and it lasted for 13 years. She was voted Radio Personality of the Year on several occasions and also achieved success in television

* Gloria Minoprio

..... magician and one-club golfer who became the FIRST person to win a golf championship match using one club when she won the 1934 English championship at Seacroft, near Skegness.  She also caused a sensation when she appeared at her first match on October 3rd 1933 wearing trousers. From then until the outbreak of war in 1939 she astonished the golf world by her refusal to conform and by playing better with one club than seemed possible

 * Gloria Molina

..... FIRST Hispanic supervisor since 1875 when elected after a case had been brought under the Voting Rights Act, one of the major fruits of the black civil rights struggle

* Gloria Swanson

   ..... FIRST Hollywood beauty to marry an authentic European noble when she married the French Marquis Henri de la Falaise de la Coudraye in 1925

* Glory Of The Morning

..... a Ho-Chunk Native American chief who was the FIRST woman described in the written history of the state of Wisconsin

* Gold Uruh

..... in 1985 she became the FIRST woman television news chief in Nigeria

* Golda Meir

..... born May 3rd 1898 died December 8th 1978

..... FIRST Israeli Minister to the USSR and  FIRST woman Prime Minister of Israel.  She was an ex-Russian who devoted her life to the Jewish people in Palestine. She worked for and ran organisations for Jewish women and played a major role in 1948 in the struggle of Israel to become an independent state. In 1956, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, she was the only woman in the administration and previous to that was the FIRST Israeli minister to the USSR. When Prime Minister Eshkol died she took office as PM on March 17th 1969

* Goldie Hawn

.....  FIRST woman honoree of the American Museum of the Moving Image - 1997

Grace Abbott

  born 1878 died 1939

..... responsible for administering the FIRST Federal Child Labour Law and the Maternity Infancy Act

* Grace Davison

 ..... in 1915 she was the FIRST American camerawoman with the film The Honeymooners

* Grace Murray Hopper

 born December 9th 1907died January 3rd 1992

..... American computer expert who helped to develop Cobol, the automatic programming language which first launched computers as a universal instrument in the 1940s.She was also credited with coining the word 'bug' to describe problems which attack computers and their programmes.  In 1969 she was named the FIRST Computer Sciences Man of the Year and was the only woman and FlRST American to he elected a distinguished fellow of the British Computer Society. In 1973 she was the FIRST woman to be promoted to Captain whilst on the Navy's retired list. She was one of two women to be named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and in 1991 was the FIRST woman to receive, as an individual, the United States Medal of Technology

* Grace Patricia Kelly

 born November 12th 1929 died September 14th 1982

..... FIRST film star to have her face on a postage stamp when, after marrying Prince Rainier of Monaco, new stamps were released. Denominations ranged from 1 to 500 francs. She was the star of many Hitchcock films and others include  Mogambo in 1953 , The Country Girl in 1954 for which she won an Oscar and High Society in 1956. She did not return to films after her marriage

* Grace Morgan

 died 1996

..... member of the English party that went to Australia in 1934 for the FIRST ever women's Test Match

* Grace Robertson

 ..... FIRST woman photographer to work for Picture Post

* Grace Ashley Smith

..... FIRST woman to serve in the FANYs in WW1 driving an ambulance for the Belgian Army - September 1914. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Ordre de la Couronne (Belge)

* Grace Chisholm Young

..... in 1895 she was the FIRST woman to receive a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Gottingen

* Gracie Fields

 neé Grace Stansfield

 born January 9th 1898  died 1979

….. English comedienne, singer and film actress who was the FIRST woman to be awarded the CBE for services to entertainment . She was also the FIRST star to sell 4m records (1933).  The last great figure of the British music hall, she had a pure soprano voice. In films she kept her Lancashire accent and usually played the part of an ordinary working girl with a great singing voice and a penchant for slapstick humour. She was known as the “Pride of Lancashire” and “Our Gracie” and her song Sing As We Go became the favourite of working class people everywhere. By 1938 she was said to be the  highest paid star in the world and appeared in tenRoyal Variety shows. At the beginning of the Second World War she retired to the Isle of Capri  where she lived until her death. She was made DBE in 1979. Films include – Sally In Our Alley, Sing As We Go and Queen of Hearts.  In 1931 she sang the FIRST ever English football song

* Grainne Close & Shannon Sickels

* Greta Anderson

 born 1927

..... American who was the FIRST woman to consistently beat most of the men in her long distance races. She was renowned mainly as a distance swimmer who first achieved fame when she won the 100m freestyle for Denmark at the 1948 Olympic Games in London

* Greta Garbo

 ..... film star who was the FIRST woman to wear a pillbox hat when in 1932 it was created for her by the costume designer Gilbert Adrian for the film As You Desire Me

* Grete Waitz

 born 1953

..... Norwegian who was the  FIRST woman to run the New York Marathon in under 2½ hours in 1979 and in 1983 was the FIRST official world champion of the marathon

* Grisell Baillie

 born 1822 died 1921

..... FIRST deaconess in the Church of Scotland in 1888 when appointed to Bowden Church, Roxburgh

* Gro Harlem Bruntland

born April 2nd 1939

..... FIRST woman Prime Minister of Norway. She was a qualified doctor and worked in several health departments and before becoming Prime Minister was appointed Minister for the Environment

* Gwen Alston

 nee Hannah Gwendolen Shone

 born 22nd May 1907 died 1993

..... FIRST holder of the Air League Scott Farnie Trophy for services to air education. She and her husband had a remarkable partnership as flight test observers but he was tragically killed in 1939 when the RAFs first American Harvard trainer spun into the ground. She continued and in 1940 established the R P Alston Prize for the improvement of safety in aircraft in his honour. This has since been elevated by the Royal Aeronautical Society to a medal. In 1970 she was elected an honorary companion of the society

* Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies

 born January 25th 1891 died 1992

..... classical actress and the FIRST centenarian to be made a Dame when she reached her 100th birthday in 1991. She began her career as a chorus girl and was encouraged by Ellen Terry to become an actress. Her stage debut was in 1911 in A Midsummer Night's Dream

* Gwendolen Randall

….. FIRST woman head in the 134-year history of the Headmaster's Conference when she took up the post at Framlington College, Suffolk in September 1994

* Gwendoline Margaret Slazenger

 nee Ascroft

  born March 28th 1920 died 1990

..... FIRST woman President of the Irish Aberdeen Society and of the Pedigree Cattle Breeders Council in Ireland. She was a leading figure in Irish life and earned considerable respect in cattle-breeding circles for her herd of Aberdeen Angus

* Gwendolyn Brooks

 born 1917

..... FIRST African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize which was awarded for her second volume of poems, Annie Allen in 1950 and in 1976 was the FIRST black woman inducted into the National Institute of Arts & Letters. Among her other awards is the American Academy of Arts and Letters award for creative writing in 1946. In 1968 she was Poet Laureate of Illinois

* Gwyneth Dunwoody

born 1931 died 2008

..... longest serving woman MP in the English parliament. Her father was at one time general secretary of the Labour party and her mother was a Labour peer. When Gwyneth was made a trade Minister by Harold Wilson in 1967 it was the FIRST example of a mother and daughter team in the same government

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