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==Biography==
==Biography==


Born George Jamieson on 29 April 1935, in [[Smithdown Road, Liverpool|Smithdown Road Hospital]], [[Liverpool]],<ref name="My Odyssey - Chapter One">{{cite web|last=Ashley|first=April|title=My Odyssey - Chapter One|url=http://www.april-ashley.com/mo1.html|publisher=AprilAshley.com|accessdate=23 May 2010}}</ref> where she spent her childhood.<ref name="How Prescott" /> She was one of six surviving children of a [[Roman Catholic]] father and a [[Protestant]] mother. She had suffered from [[Hypocalcaemia|calcium deficiency]] and required weekly calcium injections at the [[Alder Hay Children's Hospital]]. Because she [[Nocturnal enuresis|wet the bed]] she was given her own [[box room]] aged two when the family moved house.<ref name="My Odyssey - Chapter One" /> She had under-developed genitalia and by the age of 15 she had not developed [[secondary sexual characteristic]]s. She attempted [[suicide]] as a teenager and was sent to the [[mental institution]] in [[Ormskirk]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]], for [[Electroconvulsive therapy|electric shock treatment]].<ref name="How Prescott" />
Born George Jamieson on 29 April 1935, in [[Smithdown Road, Liverpool|Smithdown Road Hospital]], [[Liverpool]],<ref name="My Odyssey - Chapter One">{{cite web|last=Ashley|first=April|title=My Odyssey - Chapter One|url=http://www.april-ashley.com/mo1.html|publisher=AprilAshley.com|accessdate=23 May 2010}}</ref> where she spent her childhood.<ref name="How Prescott" /> She was one of six surviving children of a [[Roman Catholic]] father and a [[Protestant]] mother. She had suffered from [[Hypocalcaemia|calcium deficiency]] and required weekly calcium injections at the [[Alder Hey Children's Hospital]]. Because she [[Nocturnal enuresis|wet the bed]] she was given her own [[box room]] aged two when the family moved house.<ref name="My Odyssey - Chapter One" /> She had under-developed genitalia and by the age of 15 she had not developed [[secondary sexual characteristic]]s. She attempted [[suicide]] as a teenager and was sent to the [[mental institution]] in [[Ormskirk]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]], for [[Electroconvulsive therapy|electric shock treatment]].<ref name="How Prescott" />


In her book ''The First Lady'', Ashley tells the story of the rape she endured while still living as a man. A roommate raped her, and she was severely injured as a result of the sexual assault.
In her book ''The First Lady'', Ashley tells the story of the rape she endured while still living as a man. A roommate raped her, and she was severely injured as a result of the sexual assault.

Revision as of 19:59, 27 August 2010


April Ashley
Websitehttp://www.april-ashley.com/home.html

‎‎April Ashley (born on 25 April 1935) is an English model and restaurant hostess. She was famously outed as a transsexual by the British press in 1961.

Biography

Born George Jamieson on 29 April 1935, in Smithdown Road Hospital, Liverpool,[1] where she spent her childhood.[2] She was one of six surviving children of a Roman Catholic father and a Protestant mother. She had suffered from calcium deficiency and required weekly calcium injections at the Alder Hey Children's Hospital. Because she wet the bed she was given her own box room aged two when the family moved house.[1] She had under-developed genitalia and by the age of 15 she had not developed secondary sexual characteristics. She attempted suicide as a teenager and was sent to the mental institution in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England, for electric shock treatment.[2]

In her book The First Lady, Ashley tells the story of the rape she endured while still living as a man. A roommate raped her, and she was severely injured as a result of the sexual assault.

She moved to Paris in the 1950s and using the name April E became a Drag Queen.[2] She joined the cast of the cabaret show at the Carousel Theatre with the famous French entertainer Coccinelle.

Ashley had her seven hour long sex reassignment procedure on 12 May 1960[2] in Casablanca, Morocco under Dr Georges Burou.[3] All her hair fell out and she was in a lot of pain, but the operation succeeded.[2]

After returning to England, Ashley became a successful fashion model, appearing in such publications as Vogue and winning a small role in the film The Road to Hong Kong, which starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Her credit, however, was dropped from the film after she was outed as transsexual by the Sunday People in 1961.

She married Hon. Arthur Corbett in 1963. However, in 1970 Corbett (later 3rd Baron Rowallan) successfully had the marriage annulled on the grounds that Ashley had been born male.

After a heart attack in London, Ashley retired for some years to the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye. Ashley was once great friends with fellow performer Amanda Lear. According to Ashley's book The First Lady, the two women had a major falling out and haven't spoken in years.

In the eighties, April married Jeffery West, on the retired cruise ship The Queen Mary in Long Beach California; and by all accounts is still married to same.

In 2005, Ashley was finally legally recognised as a female and issued with a new birth certificate after the introduction of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. The then Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Prescott who knew Ashley from the 1950s, helped her with the procedure.[2]

Most recently April gave talks on her life at St Georges Hall Liverpool on 15 November 2008. Details of this evening can be found at the Gender Trust website. and on 18 February 2009 at the South Bank Centre.

Biographies written about April Ashley

April Ashley's Odyssey, a biography by Duncan Fallowell, was published in 1982. In 2006, Ashley released her autobiography The First Lady and made TV appearances on Channel Five News, This Morning and BBC News. In one interview, she said, "This is the real story and contains a lot of things I just couldn't say in 1982", including details of her alleged affairs with Michael Hutchence, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Turner Prize sculptor Grayson Perry and the future 19th Duke of Infantado, among others. However, the book was pulped after it was discovered that it had heavily plagiarized the 1982 book on Ashley[4] Most of the actors mentioned as being lovers of Ashley have denied the truth of these allegations.

References

  • April Ashley's Odyssey by April Ashley with Duncan Fallowell, London: Jonathan Cape, 1982 ISBN 0-224-01849-3
  • The First Lady by April Ashley with Douglas Thompson; London: John Blake Publishing Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1-84454-231-9
  1. ^ a b Ashley, April. "My Odyssey - Chapter One". AprilAshley.com. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Johnston, Jenny (3 June 2006). "How Prescott made a woman out of me of me". Mail online. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Georges Burou, M.D." Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  4. ^ "Discriminating Beauty" (PDF). Out Northwest. p. 23. Retrieved 27 March 2009.

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