Cherry Potts, Writer

Author: Cherry Potts

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 10th

    We’re going back to one of our birthday girls for the 8th March today: Louisa M Hubbard 8 March 1836 – 5 November 1906. Louisa was a tireless and practical woman who put her back into creating opportunities for women. She did not do so for political reasons, and made a lot of effort not to…

  • Vocal Chords on Radio3

    Listen to me talking about our lovely choir, Vocal Chords, with us singing too… on iPlayer: Radio3’s The Choir, 0n until Sunday 16th March. We’re about 32 mins in.

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 9th

    Raise your glasses, it’s the birthday of Vita Sackville-West 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962 writer, gardener and serial womaniser. Vita’s relationship with Violet Keppel (later Trefusis) is detailed in Portrait of A Marriage, by her son Nigel Nicholson. They met at school and at one point eloped to France. In her autobiography Violet…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 8th

    International Women’s Day, and I have three birthday girls to choose from. So I’m going with the oldest, and we can catch up with the others later. Anne Bonny, 8 March 1702 – 22 April 1782 born in Ireland, emigrated to America at a young age, where her father did very well for himself. Anne…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 7th

    Today’s birthday girl is Lorena Hickok March 7, 1893 – May 1, 1968 known as ‘Hick’. Hick was a journalist, working in the 1920s on the Minneapolis Tribune when she met and lived with fellow reporter Ella Morse for six years. The combination of Hick’s diabetes and Ella’s elopement with an ex-boyfriend lead to Hick’s…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 6th

    So no particular birthday today, and I am seriously running out of unidentified birthdays to play with. So as it’s world book day, let’s have a writer: Mary Constance Du Bois, 1879-1959 author of ripping yarns for  girls such as The League of the Signet Ring, Eleanor Arden, Royalist and The Lass of the Silver…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 5th

    Today’s celebrations are in honour of Dr Louise Pearce, 5th March 1885– 9th August 1959. Louise was an American research scientist who found a cure for sleeping sickness, doing tests on her own in the field in Zaire (Belgian Congo at the time) during a major outbreak in 1920, for which she was awarded medals…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 4th

    An actual Birthday! Hurrah, quick, light the candles before I find it’s a mistake. Emma Cons 4 March 1838 – 24 July 1912 Feminist, educator and stage entrepreneur, Emma ran what is now the Old Vic, in London. At the time it was a coffeehouse-come-music-hall, and she put on operas and Shakespeare. She was an…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 3rd

    Edith Lees Ellis, 1861-1916 socialist, feminist and writer, was the wife of Havelock Ellis, the sexologist. Her birthday is not recorded anywhere I can find it, so today is a random and arbitrary attribution. Edith was a member of the Fabian society and wrote regularly for The Freewoman. Havelock  characterised her relationships with women as…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 2nd

    So it turns out I was mistaken about not having a birthday party booked for the 1st – my spreadsheet lied to me. So pretend Emilia was today, and Mercedes de Acosta March 1, 1893 – May 9, 1968 was yesterday – I’ll switch them round later when you aren’t looking. Mercedes  was a not…