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" the only weapon more formidable than humour - is a gun"

Joan Rivers

Her name is Joan

 

* Joan Armatrading

born 9th December 1950

..... acknowledged as the FIRST black female singer/songwriter to gain prominence on the British music scene before she was discovered by America.  She was born on the island of St Kitts and was the FIRST non-jazz artist to be invited to play at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London

 

* Joan Benoit

 born 1957

..... FIRST 0lympic women's marathon champion in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles when she finished ahead in the 400m in 2 mins 24.52 secs

 

* Joan Brady

..... American-born award-winning author who was the FIRST woman to win the Whitbread Book of the Year award in 1993 with her novel Theory of War, which was based on the experiences of her grandfather who was sold as a child into slavery at the end of the American Civil War

 

* Joan Caws

..... in May 1992 she became the FIRST woman in 108 years to be selected for the England draughts team. She had been world ladies champion since 1986

 

* Joan Crawford

ne้ Lucille Fay Le Sueur

born March 23rd 1904 died 1977

..... said to be the FIRST film star to go barelegged when wearing evening clothes in 1926. She was the most representative of the great movie stars of Hollywood, looked like a star, behaved like one and was one. Her career in the cinema was everything to her and her screen persona was one of ' no holds barred, ambitious, bitchy type'. In 1945 she received an Oscar for the title role in the film Mildred Pierce

 

* Joan Davies

..... FIRST woman lecturer in a Military Academy in Europe when she became the FIRST woman lecturer at Sandhurst in May 1973 as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political and Social Studies (P/L)

 

* Joan Galligan

..... one of the FIRST women Scenes of Crimes Officers (SOCO) who worked  as part of London's Metropolitan Police Force's forensic science team. She worked as a dental nurse for seven years but wanted to join the police force. However she was too small to become a WPC and opted instead to become a civilian SOCO , one of only 10 women in the 150-strong London team

 

* Joan Hood Hammond

born May 24th 1912 died 1996

..... born in New Zealand of Australian parents she was the FIRST British-based singer after the war to appear at the Vienna State Opera and at the Bolshoi in Moscow. Her record ' 0 mio babbino caro' from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi was the FIRST classical record to win a gold disc for sales of over lm 

 

* Joan Hassall

born 1906 died 1988

..... FIRST woman master member of the Art Workers Guild

 

* Joan Heaford

..... FIRST black Mayoress in Rochdale, Lancashire in 1992 and their FIRST serving lady councillor Mayoress

 

* Joan Hopkins

..... the FIRST woman to command an operational RAF station when she took command at RAE Neatishead in Norfolk as Group Captain. RAF Neatishead has 500 men and is one of three Sector Operational Centres in time of war and plays a vital role in British defence. It would scramble pilots, direct air battles, control fuel and weapons and deal with all the radar information from ships and shore

 

* Joan Lily Amelia Hughes

born 1918 died 1992

..... one of the FIRST women pilots to fly four- engined bombers in the Second World War and among the FIRST 8 women pilots to sign a contract with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) on January 1st 1940. After the war she became a flying instructor at the West London Flying Club and later at the British Airways Flying Club.  She was also in demand to teach captains of Concorde and other airliners to become light aircraft instructors. In 1965 she starred in the film Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines flying a replica of 1909 Demoiselle. When she died in 1992 at the age of 74 she had 11,800 hours in her logbook

 

* Joan Lestor

Lady Lestor of Eccles

born November 13th 1931 died 1998

..... Labour's FIRST spokesman on women's rights and welfare and championed the causes of women and children in addition to many other campaigns. She had a long and distinguished political career which began when she joined the Labour party in the 1950s

 

* Joan Reeder

ne้ Elizabeth Joan Armstrong

born December 2nd 1921 died 1997

..... FIRST fully-fledged royal reporter on any national newspaper when she became a journalist on the Daily Mirror after the Second World War. In 1952 she was was one of the FIRST journalists to hear of the death of King George V1 , reported on the Coronation the following year and was among those who broke the news about the love affair between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend

 

* Joan Richmond

..... Australian driver who won the FIRST 1,000 mile race in Britain

 

* Joan Ruddock

..... FIRST full-time Minister for Women in 1997

 

* Joan Frances Scutt

born 1909 died1993

..... English woman who pioneered one of the FIRST handicraft centres in Swaziland thereby enabling the women of the community to be self-sufficient by making and selling grasswork, weaving, mats, carpets and batik. She was born in Poole in Dorset and in 1937 left England to become a missionary. In 1953 she moved to Mankayane Mission in Encabaneni where she stayed, as the only missionary, for 30 years. From a small hut there she developed a Christian mission complex which included primary and secondary schools and a health clinic. She also wrote more than 15 books and her Story of Swaziland was widely acclaimed. She served as a secretary of the Swaziland Conference of Churches and was a fluent broadcaster in Siswati. She retired in 1982 and in the same year was appointed MBE. King Sobhuza gave her land on which to build her own home and she did so with her own hands. When she died her funeral was attended by 1,000 people ( 95 % African) with 10 speakers at a five-hour service

 

* Joan Vickers 

 Baroness

born June 3rd 1907 died 1994

..... champion of women's rights who in 1954 was the FIRST woman candidate to appear on television in a Tory party political broadcast and in 1961 was the FIRST woman secretary of the influential Navy sub-committee of Conservative back-benchers. Throughout her career she called for equality for women in pay and jobs, sponsored legislation against kerb crawling and supported the legalisation of prostitution

 

* Joan Beatrice Walker

born June 30th 1902 died 1995

..... established the FIRST diabetic service in Leicester and in 1965 was FIRST woman President of the Leicester Medical Society. In 1966 she was also the FIRST woman to deliver the Banting Memorial Lecture at the Royal College of Physicians. She was a founder member of the Medical and Scientific Section of the British Diabetic Association and of the International Diabetes Federation

 

 

* Joan Wyndham

born 1922

..... opened Oxford's (London) FIRST espresso bar after the First World War

 

 

 

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