In my last post, I casually mentioned a rather striking woman who used to walk around the streets of Richmond wearing a leopardskin coat, bright red lipstick and a bushy black beard. Thanks to Mrs Jones, I now know that this is Brenda, the Bearded Lady of Guildford.Apparently she is something of a celebrity in the local area.
There is a MySpace tribute page, but far more fascinating is this blog which includes an interview with the enigmatic Brenda.
The more po-faced amongst us might question the ethics of publishing material about people who have "issues", but Brenda is completely unaware of the blogosphere and doesn't seem fazed by the curiosity of others. Rather than view her as a victim, I regard Brenda as one of the great English eccentrics, blissfully indifferent to the social norms of 21st century Britain.
10 comments:
Even so, if I were her I'd have saved up for laser depilation.
Heartless, I know. Dully conventional... you strive and struggle and in the end what are you? A mass of received opinion...
The only thing worse than being talked about...
One in the eye for the beauty industry juggernaut though - I like her already.
She is like a living protest.
If I could grow a beard, I might join her and burn effigies of Kate Moss outside John Lewis. In a leopard skin print coat of irony.
I suspect that Brenda has probably never worked which means she would be unable to afford the £100 a time it costs for laser depilation. On top of that I get the impression that she really doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks about it. Go Brenda!
Having explored more of that blog with the brief interviews with Brenda, I am still reeling from the prison inmate who performed self-gender-reassignment-surgery (http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.com/2008/04/17-apr-08-removal-part-2-by-xena-xena.html). Rarely have I felt such a visceral physical reaction from reading a piece of prose.
It certainly looks like an interesting blog, even without the Bearded Lady!
Would I be wrong to quote a little something at this point..."I do ladies' things, you see, because I am a lady..."
I agree! Good for her to just be her eccentric self or is it we are eccentric and she is not? Who knows? We are just individuals -- right? Your posts are great! -- barbara
I believe she wouldve worked, but otherwise may have been wealthy, she spoke well, said hello to my little girl and smiled at her when my daughter was hiding behind as we approached the store entrance she was walking out from, si my daughter said hello back. Bless her, and my little girl. She was eccentric.
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