As I explained to a couple of you - the movies I usually show you are carefully chosen so that they will appeal to a mixed audience of both male and female. But to-day's movie was a far gentler kind of movie that, I expect, had more appeal for women than for men. However, like all of them, it was a true story.
One thing that the film did not show was that Beatrix Potter was also a scientist, or that from the age of 15 until she was past 30, she recorded her everyday life in journals, using her own secret code which was not decoded until 20 years after her death. [2]
Some of you may have picked up from the film that one of the things that made Beatrix remarkable was that, despite the restrictions put on women, she lived a remarkable life for her times. It was not easy, in those days, for a woman who had a brain to be able to use it. An encyclopedic reference to her notes: "An uncle attempted to introduce her as a student at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, but she was rejected because she was female."
However, her knowledge and interest in nature led her to become extremely well-known and respected in scientific circles - much to her mother's disapproval. "She was later one of the first to suggest that lichens were a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae.[3]" [In other words she did some new work and made discoveries about mushrooms and other kinds of plants]
"As, at the time, the only way to record microscopic images was by painting them, Potter made numerous drawings of lichens and fungi. As the result of her observations, she was widely respected throughout England as an expert mycologist. She also studied spore germination and life cycles of fungi. Potter's set of detailed watercolours of fungi, numbering some 270 completed by 1901, is in the Armitt Library, Ambleside".
"In 1897, her paper on the germination of spores was presented to the Linnean Society by her uncle Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, as women were barred from attending meetings. (In 1997, the Society issued a posthumous official apology to Potter for the way she had been treated.)" [Posthumous means something that is awarded or given after someone is already dead]
Also, because she was a woman "The Royal Society also refused to publish at least one of her technical papers. " However, "She also lectured at the London School of Economics several times."
Even if you can't understand some of the technical language you will see that Beatrix, had she not been born female, could have been one of the leading scientists in her field. As it was, she had to struggle extremely hard just to get her children's stories printed. Stories of talking animals and cuddly rabbits were at least regarded as a more suitable subject for a woman to be writing about than things like plants and mushroom and real science. I often privately wonder how much knowledge and possible inventions have been lost to the world simply because of the stupid traditions that have operated all over the world regarding what women are and are not allowed or expected to do!
However, In the end it was through those little cuddly animals and children's books that she was able to have a lasting effect on nature.
It was not only through her books that she made money - her character, Peter Rabbit, was the first animal toy ever to be licenced - long before the days of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. Since then, every Peter Rabbit or Gemima Puddleduck toy that sells, each cup or plate or mug with the same pictures on it, and every image of hers that is ever printed earns money. {Beatrix Potter bowls etc. for children are very expensive and are as fashionable etc. as Versache or any other top fashion label).
During her own lifetime this money enabled Beatrix first to buy up and preserve her first farm, but also to preserve not only others, but vast areas of the English landscape in The Lakes District. To-day this whole area is known as one of the most beautiful and peaceful anywhere in the world and artists of all kind go there every year searching for the tranquility and inspiration Beatrix herself first found there.
The on-going money from her books and merchandise continues to go to the National Trust which is the society that preserves historic and beautiful landscape, houses, garden and beauty spots in England. The Lakes District is one of Britain's National Treasures. Perhaps it would have all been turned into ugly towns and cities if it were not for one little talking rabbit in a bright blue coat.
Beatrix Potter is one of the best known and well-loved of English authors.
One thing that the film did not show was that Beatrix Potter was also a scientist, or that from the age of 15 until she was past 30, she recorded her everyday life in journals, using her own secret code which was not decoded until 20 years after her death. [2]
Some of you may have picked up from the film that one of the things that made Beatrix remarkable was that, despite the restrictions put on women, she lived a remarkable life for her times. It was not easy, in those days, for a woman who had a brain to be able to use it. An encyclopedic reference to her notes: "An uncle attempted to introduce her as a student at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, but she was rejected because she was female."
However, her knowledge and interest in nature led her to become extremely well-known and respected in scientific circles - much to her mother's disapproval. "She was later one of the first to suggest that lichens were a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae.[3]" [In other words she did some new work and made discoveries about mushrooms and other kinds of plants]
"As, at the time, the only way to record microscopic images was by painting them, Potter made numerous drawings of lichens and fungi. As the result of her observations, she was widely respected throughout England as an expert mycologist. She also studied spore germination and life cycles of fungi. Potter's set of detailed watercolours of fungi, numbering some 270 completed by 1901, is in the Armitt Library, Ambleside".
"In 1897, her paper on the germination of spores was presented to the Linnean Society by her uncle Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, as women were barred from attending meetings. (In 1997, the Society issued a posthumous official apology to Potter for the way she had been treated.)" [Posthumous means something that is awarded or given after someone is already dead]
Also, because she was a woman "The Royal Society also refused to publish at least one of her technical papers. " However, "She also lectured at the London School of Economics several times."
Even if you can't understand some of the technical language you will see that Beatrix, had she not been born female, could have been one of the leading scientists in her field. As it was, she had to struggle extremely hard just to get her children's stories printed. Stories of talking animals and cuddly rabbits were at least regarded as a more suitable subject for a woman to be writing about than things like plants and mushroom and real science. I often privately wonder how much knowledge and possible inventions have been lost to the world simply because of the stupid traditions that have operated all over the world regarding what women are and are not allowed or expected to do!
However, In the end it was through those little cuddly animals and children's books that she was able to have a lasting effect on nature.
It was not only through her books that she made money - her character, Peter Rabbit, was the first animal toy ever to be licenced - long before the days of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. Since then, every Peter Rabbit or Gemima Puddleduck toy that sells, each cup or plate or mug with the same pictures on it, and every image of hers that is ever printed earns money. {Beatrix Potter bowls etc. for children are very expensive and are as fashionable etc. as Versache or any other top fashion label).
During her own lifetime this money enabled Beatrix first to buy up and preserve her first farm, but also to preserve not only others, but vast areas of the English landscape in The Lakes District. To-day this whole area is known as one of the most beautiful and peaceful anywhere in the world and artists of all kind go there every year searching for the tranquility and inspiration Beatrix herself first found there.
The on-going money from her books and merchandise continues to go to the National Trust which is the society that preserves historic and beautiful landscape, houses, garden and beauty spots in England. The Lakes District is one of Britain's National Treasures. Perhaps it would have all been turned into ugly towns and cities if it were not for one little talking rabbit in a bright blue coat.
Beatrix Potter is one of the best known and well-loved of English authors.
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