Lucy Jones may well be the best British painter who you’ve never heard of. There is no doubt about her disability, because she was born with cerebral palsy. But she has no intention of identifying as a disabled artist. She is a simply an artist, and a very, very good one at that. I hadn’t… Read More from Lucy Jones
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Antonio Gramsci
It’s a romantic tale: a young communist struggling against an authoritarian regime is arrested on a treason charge. A dramatic trial follows, and he is consigned to a long sentence, separated from his wife and family. In prison, he rallies his comrades, organizing education sessions. It could be the story of Nelson Mandela, except that… Read More from Antonio Gramsci
Garrincha
“a phenomenon, capable of sheer magic. It was difficult to know which way he was going to go because of his legs and because he was as comfortable on his left foot as his right, so he could cut inside or go down the line and he had a ferocious shot too.” (Mel Hopkins, Wales… Read More from Garrincha
Wilhelm II
Nearly twenty years ago, I reviewed Young Wilhelm, John Röhl’s extraordinarily detailed book about the early life of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Now, in the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, perhaps it’s an apt time to revisit this story for this blog. Born on 27 January 1859, Wilhelm was the eagerly… Read More from Wilhelm II
May Billinghurst
The Women’s Suffrage campaigner Rosa May Billinghurst was born into a middle class family in Lewisham in 1875. At five months old, she contracted an illness – almost certainly polio – which left her completely paralysed. Despite some recovery, she was left paraplegic, relying on calipers and crutches to walk, and usually resorting to a… Read More from May Billinghurst
Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron was a poet, novelist and dramatist. He was born in Paris: his father was a judge and his uncle was Bishop of Grenoble. He studied at the Sorbonne, and then was tonsured as an abbé (a sort of confessor attached to noble houses), although he never became a priest. He served Charles de Beaumanoir,… Read More from Paul Scarron
William Soutar
William Soutar was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1898, son of John, a joiner, and Margaret. At school, he excelled on the sports field, and led a pupil strike. At Perth Academy, he began to develop his literary skills. Later he would recall: “That was my eighteenth year while yet the shadow of war was… Read More from William Soutar
Ian Dury
There’s been no shortage of disabled popular musicians (Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Gene Vincent), and even a good sprinkling of polio-survivor musicians (Judy Collins, Donovan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young), but no other mainstream-successful singer-songwriter has ever explored disability and attitudes to disabled people as powerfully and memorably as Ian Dury. Ian Dury was born in… Read More from Ian Dury
Ed Roberts
“If I’m going to be a vegetable, I’m going to be an artichoke, prickly on the outside, with a big heart in the middle” Before Ed Roberts contracted polio at the age of 14, he had wanted to be a marine, dragging his mother Zona to visit gun shops. After he recovered from the disease,… Read More from Ed Roberts
Django Reinhardt
Disability is hardly incompatible with musical success, as deaf Beethoven or Evelyn Glennie, and a myriad of blind classical, jazz and blues musicians can attest. Several great musicians have had physical impairments, including reputedly Paganini with Marfan syndrome. But Django Reinhardt was perhaps the best example of a musician who overcame a career-ending injury to… Read More from Django Reinhardt