Heroes & Heroines

Thomas Hardy died on this day in 1928, he was an English novelist and poet. He is also an author I admire. His book, Far from the Madding Crowd is one of my favourite books of all time, and I have read a lot of books.

Far from the Madding Crowd is a love story, centered around two main characters, Gabriel Oak, a shepherd and farm owner and Bathsheba Everdene, a vain but independent and educated beauty, eight years his junior, who comes to village to live with her Aunt, Mrs Hurst. As with all good love stories, the path of true love does not run smoothly. Our hero & heroine face numerous challenges and changes in circumstances. There are marriages, fires, duels, imprisonment and death, but will there be a happy ending? If you read one book this year read this one, or at least watch the film!

Girl Power was around long before the Spice Girls. On January 11, 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. As the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she achieved another first as she became the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross. She was a member of the National Woman's Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Act. Her involvement was key to the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organisation for female pilots.

In 1937, Amelia Earhart, and her navigator, Fred Noonan attempted to fly around the world's equator. Although an around the world flight had been accomplished before, at 29,000 it was to be the world's longest flight. This would be their second attempt after technical problem thwarted the first. It was the during last leg of a daring attempt that they disappeared, and today, their fate is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time. There have been many theories, books and films about what happened but nothing has been proven and neither them, nor the plane, have ever been found.

Famous quotes from Amelia include:

"One of my favorite phobias is that girls, especially those whose tastes aren't routine, often don't get a fair break... It has come down through the generations, an inheritance of age-old customs which produced the corollary that women are bred to timidity."

"Women must pay for everything.... They do get more glory than men for comparable feats. But, also, women get more notoriety when they crash."

"The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune." "It is far easier to start something than it is to finish it."