Tipped off by
this article in the Age about celebrity inventors which I read in the train on the way home, I googled Barbara Cartland and The Bishop Wright Air Industry Award and discovered that yes indeed, the Pink One did make a recognised contribution to the development of aviation. I did not know that, though it's probably a well-known fact amongst her legions of fans. I'd previously read about Hedy Lamarr helping the war effort by inventing a device meant for radio-guided torpedoes, and knew about Samuel L. Clemens' fondness for taking out patents, but that Dame BC was a recognised pioneer of aviation technology comes as a complete revelation, and a pleasant reminder to watch those tendencies to take short cuts when judging people.
According to Wikipedia :
Privately, Cartland took an interest in the early gliding movement. Although aerotowing for launching gliders first occurred in Germany, she thought of long-distance tows in 1931 and did a 200-mile (360 km) tow in a two-seater glider. The idea led to troop-carrying gliders. I love it when people so thoroughly surprise me in a good way. I love it not so much when they do it in an intolerant, small-minded, ignorant or just plain nasty way, but hey, let's focus on the good way and celebrate the agile minds, free spirits and rich personalities of people like Hedy and Samuel and Dame Barbara Cartland. Here's to them!
According to Wikipedia :
1 comment:
People dismiss Georgette Heyer lightly, too. One of her books about the Napoleonic War was a text at the British military academy for some years.
And Dorothy Dunnett's book 'King Hereafter' - my most unfavorite of her books, by the way - rewrote the thinking about who the real Macbeth was.
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