* Sheila Borrett

..... FIRST woman radio announcer on July 28th 1933. Her first announcement lasted for two minutes as she introduced the London National Programme. On August 21st she read the new bulletin at 6 o'clock for the first time. Unfortunately she was sacked two months later for reasons which were never made public

* Sheila Cameron

..... FIRST woman Vicar-General in the Church of England - 1982/83. She was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Runcie, and was to be the senior legal official of the Province of Canterbury. She was already the only woman Diocesan Chancellor, a post she had held at Chelmsford since 1969

* Sheila Edmondson

..... FIRST woman to get a foreign-going Master's Certificate in 1980. It meant that she could take command of any vessel including the QE2 or a super-tanker. She entered the Merchant Navy in 1969, studied at Plymouth technical College and had to apply to 17 companies before getting a job. After that she served in 17 ships from oil tankers and bulk carriers to general cargo ships and in 1980 was a second officer with Ellerman Lines. At the time a survey of women officers in merchant navies throughout the world showed the UK leading with the field with 255 women officers

* Sheila Hancock

..... FIRST woman to direct in the 1000 seater Olivier auditoria of the National Theatre. Already well known as a comedy actress she directed The Critic by Sheridan. The National Theatre opened on London's South Bank in October 1976 and although there were three women on the Board until 1985 only one play by a woman had been produced - Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. Only one had been directed by a woman - Nancy Meeker's version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

* Sheila Macdonald

..... FIRST woman to become an executive director of a UK high street bank - November 2002

* Sheila Masters

..... FIRST woman accountant on the board of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1988 and in 1999 was appointed the FIRST woman President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in its 120-year history. Since 1994 she had been non-executive director of the Bank of England, one of only two women at the time to have held such a post . In 1996 she was made a dame commander of the Order of the British Empire and had held many other senior positions

* Sheila McLean

..... FIRST woman Professor of Law in Scotland in 1990 when given the chair at Glasgow University

* Sheila Parkinson

 Lady Sidney-Farrar

 born August 5th 1913

..... FIRST woman legislative councillor on the Kenya Legislative Council. She was a Corps Commander in the FANYs and in 1977 was made OBE

* Sheila Ruckley

..... FIRST woman on the board of the 129-year-old Alliance Trust, the Dundee-based investment house, when made investment relations director in 2000

* Sheila Scott

born April 27th 1927 died 1988

neé Sheila Christine Hopkins

..... renowned aviator who was the FIRST European woman to fly solo around the world (1966), in 1971 she made the FIRST solo light aircraft flight over the North Pole and was the FIRST British member of the Whirly Girls, the association of the FIRST 100 women helicopter pilots in the world. She was also co-founder and FIRST governor of the British Section of Ninety-Nines Inc - the International Association of Licensed Women Pilots and was the FIRST woman recipient of the Silver Award of Merit of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. She received many aviation awards including the Brabazon of Tara awards in 1965, 1967 and 1968 for outstanding achievement by a woman pilot. In 1968 she was appointed OBE and in the same year received the Royal Aero Club's Britannia Trophy and its Gold Medal four years later. She also helped to found the British Balloon and Airships Club

* Sheila Patricia Violet Sherlock - Dame

born March 31st 1918 died 2002

..... FIRST woman in Britain to become a Professor of Medicine and the FIRST to become vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians.   She was the world's foremost authority on the liver and wrote the FIRST serious modern textbook on the subject in 1954. Diseases of the Liver and Biliary System was translated into at least six languages and ran to 11 editions

* Sheila Shire

..... in 1981 she was the FIRST woman baggage porter employed at Heathrow Airport although four months after being appointed she was still waiting to start work  because the porters union were objecting to a woman being given the job

* Sheila Watson

..... FIRST woman to stand in for the Archbishop of Canterbury

* Sheila Whitaker

..... FIRST woman director of the London Film Festival and FIRST woman Head of Programming at the National Film Theatre

* Sheila Whiteley

..... FIRST professor of pop in Britain in July 2000, when appointed as head of Salford University's popular music department. The university had become the first in England to offer pop degrees ten years previously. Dr Whiteley has lectured there for nine years and earned her new qualification with research into the role of women in pop culture. She has published three books on pop music

* Sheila Young

born 1950

..... FIRST American in the history of the winter Olympics to earn three medals when she received the gold (500m) silver (1500m) and bronze (1000m) in speed-skating