Cherry Potts, Writer

Category: The Historical Birthday-Tea Party

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 22nd January

    Once more, dear friends, there is no one specific for whom to bake a cake. Therefore, I delve again into the seventeenth century in search of someone to celebrate: Please give a warm welcome to Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle 1623 – 15 December 1673. Mad Madge, as she was known to people emphatically…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 21st January

    Today’s birthday girl is Sophia Jex Blake. 1840-1912. Sophia was one of the first women to qualify as a medical doctor in the UK, despite every attempt to prevent her. She was an ardent feminist who lived with and became a life long friend of Lucy Sewell. I am so impressed with Sophia that I…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 20th January

    late again! In my defense, an over-long dress rehearsal for Orpheus followed by a rehearsal for Vocal Chords put a bit of a dent in the day. So the 20th of January: not exactly a vintage day for lesbians, at least that I have found dates for – so lets meet Cicely Cornwallis, 1656 – 1723,…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 19th January

    Sorry this is a bit late, I’ve been putting in new skirtingboard  in the kitchen in preparation for the new flooring. The kitchen is already warmer – no gaps between wall and floor for draughts. Anyway, back to the party. There are still two birthday girls left for today, after yesterday’s early aperitif, but let’s…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 18th January

    No birthday girl today, but three tomorrow, so let’s get in an early celebration of Patricia Highsmith (19th January 1921). Highsmith is one of those people I admire without much liking. I don’t enjoy her crime novels, and consider them sadistic. However she was a bit of a trail blazer with her novel Carol (aka…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 17th January

    I’ve not found anyone with the 17th as their birthday, so another of my 16th Century muses. Catherine Cooke Killigrew 1530-1583. ‘A learned lady’ proficient in several languages, and a poet. There’s not much information on Catherine, apart from her father Anthony Cooke and husband Henry Killigrew, and that she died in childbirth. Apparently Bathsua Makin…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 16th January

    So did you notice I didn’t post anything yesterday? I was exhausted after the Story Sessions on Wednesday, and slept through my time for posting. So to make up for it, here is  Edith Cooper 1862-1913. Her birthday is actually the 12th but I hadn’t found that out until too late to post her birthday…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 15th January

    Today we are lighting the candles on the cake for author Mazo de la Roche, born Louise Roche in 1879 in Canada. Mazo was the author of the Jalna novels, and said that the (male) character Finch was based on herself. She lived with Caroline Clement for 75 years. Caroline was an orphaned cousin adopted…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 14th January

    Today’s birthday belongs to Jane Welsh Carlyle, 1801-1869. The only thing that makes one place more attractive to me than another is the quantity of heart I find in it. So, if you look Jane up on the web, you might wonder what she’s doing here, one of those archetypal good wives, you might think,…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 13th January

    Today’s birthday girl is the ‘Last of the Red Hot Mamas’ – Sophie Tucker 1884-1966 A Vaudeville and Broadway star of her time, who started out (not her idea) blacked up, Sophie ‘came out’ as a nice jewish girl when her makeup box was stolen on the way to a gig. The audience was delighted…