
Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB
Hannah Bourne-Taylor nominates co-founder of the Royal Society of Birds, Emily Williamson. She's joined in studio by the head of the RSPB, Beccy Speight, and author Tessa Boase.
For over a hundred years no one thought too much about the origins of the RSPB, but among its founders was a woman in Didsbury opposed to the use of feathers in fashionable hats. Emily Williamson was outraged by the widespread slaughter of egrets and the crested grebe. She had tried to join the all-male British Ornithological Union, and when that failed she established her own Society for the Protection of Birds.
Nominating Emily is Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author of Fledgling and Nature Needs You, which is about her own campaign for the introduction of swift bricks into all new buildings. Helping Hannah discover more about this little known life is author Tessa Boase, who discovered Emily's role; plus Beccy Speight the current head of the RSPB. Matthew Parris presents.
The producer in Bristol for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Studios Audio in Miles Warde.
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Broadcast
- Mon 26 May 2025 15:00ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4
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Great Lives
Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.