{"id":345,"date":"2021-02-10T10:16:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T10:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/?p=345"},"modified":"2021-02-14T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T15:32:18","slug":"lgbt-history-month-10-28-jan-morris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/2021\/02\/10\/lgbt-history-month-10-28-jan-morris\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBT+ History Month 10\/28: Jan Morris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s entrant in the queeroes series was brought to my attention by a former Kaleidoscope member.\u00a0 She regaled at the significance of their work and the lasting impact they had on the world.\u00a0 This person has had an exceptional career traveling the world and accomplishing many feats, in more ways than one.\u00a0 Without further ado, I introduce to you Jan Morris CBE.<\/p>\n

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Born in Clevedon, Somerset on 02nd October 1926, Jan Morris was assumed male at birth and was called James.\u00a0 She was raised and educated in England but would identify as Welsh, like her father.\u00a0 She would go on to study at Oxford before enlisting with the 9th Queen\u2019s Royal Lancers.\u00a0 Her posting would see her in Trieste, Italy, a place she would later come to document in one of her many bodies of work.<\/p>\n

Following the war, Morris became a writer, working for various UK newspapers including The Times, whom she would leave due to conflicting political views and join The Guardian.<\/p>\n

In 1953, while working as a correspondent for The Times, Morris was part of the British expedition of Mount Everest, going on to report the story through coded messages that were relayed back to London.\u00a0 The news story was published 3 days later which, by sheer coincidence, was the same day as the Queen\u2019s coronation.<\/p>\n

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Jan (then James) 2nd from left<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three years later, while at The Guardian, Morris uncovered collusion between France and Israel and the invasion of Egyptian territory known as the Suez Crisis.\u00a0 In November 1956, Morris discovered that French pilots had attacked Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula with napalm, a volatile petrochemical used in warfare, and provided supplies to Israeli troops.\u00a0 The allegations were heavily rebuked, even by the British government, and it would take almost 30 years before the details were proven and that Morris\u2019 reporting was, in fact, accurate.<\/p>\n

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Throughout her life, Morris would travel the world, writing about her experiences in every place she visited.\u00a0 Her work was different to other \u2018travel\u2019 writers in that she would retell the details of how she felt in those places and by the people she met, the influence each would have on her, while others would provide a tour guide narrative.\u00a0 As a travel writer, something she hated being called, Morris would retell her story in more than 40 books, the most well-known of which were The Pax Britannica Trilogy.<\/p>\n

Morris achieved great acclaim as a writer and her work would see her receive the Heinemann Award for Literature in 1961 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1985.\u00a0 Her work includes essays, historical texts, a biography and numerous memoirs.\u00a0 She would even pen the novels Last Letters from Hav<\/em> and Hav of the Myrmidons<\/em> published in 1985 and 2006 respectively.<\/p>\n

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In 1964, Morris began her gender transition from male to female and would break new ground on the understanding and acceptance of gender transitioning in her personal memoir Conundrum,<\/em> released in 1974.\u00a0 That same year she would appear on television to discuss her story.<\/p>\n

\"I was three or perhaps four years old when I realized that I had been born into the wrong body, and should really be a girl. I remember the moment well, and it is the earliest memory of my life.\" <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Conundrum, Jan Morris<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that she was not picketing fences, advising political leaders, or charging at discriminators with a lamppost.\u00a0 She instead used her social and celebrity status to provide an honest and open insight into the world of trans people.\u00a0 Her book was the first of its kind and would usher in a change for trans people worldwide.<\/p>\n

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It is this that the we are celebrating most in LGBT+ History month.\u00a0 Morris bravely told her story to millions of people, using her fame and influence to tell the story so many could not.\u00a0 At the time, she was married with children.\u00a0 She risked her career and ultimately her life in order to let the world in on a most private and intimate moment in any trans person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

As an early pioneer of gender reassignment surgery, Morris was an icon for taking control of her destiny.\u00a0 Her mind, body and soul were her own and she wanted to reclaim every bit of it.<\/p>\n

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The surgery took place in Casablanca, Morocco by the pioneer Dr Georges Burou.\u00a0 He worked on gender reassignment for trans women using innovative approaches and would help change the field forever.<\/p>\n

Her career continued for decades.\u00a0 She proved that you could be transgender and do the job you\u2019ve already been doing, a novel idea at the time.\u00a0 Morris would often be criticised that her work as a woman was different, somewhat lower quality.\u00a0 Many would say she lost her touch when she lost James.\u00a0 But she ignored this.\u00a0 Morris felt that nothing changed \u201cin the slightest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Feminists would argue that Morris\u2019 viewpoint on gender at the time was wrong and that she was having a negative influence on feminism and equality.\u00a0 Morris agreed that, in her early years, this was probably true, but with age came maturity.<\/p>\n

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Sadly, Jan Morris died in Pwllheli, North Wales on November 20th, 2020.\u00a0 She was 94 years old and was survived by her partner, Elizabeth, 3 sons and a daughter.\u00a0 Her death was something she was (morbidly) looking forward to as she believed it was the next big travel adventure.\u00a0 Her epitaph, which left me in tears, reads \u2018Here are two friends at the end of one life\u2019.<\/p>\n

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For anyone wishing to be a trans ally and support further campaigns for true equality for all I implore you to read Conundrum; it will change your mind and the way you see the trans community forever.\u00a0 Please also take a moment to read the Kaleidoscope guidance on Being A Trans Ally<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can find a collection of her work with the Open Library<\/strong><\/a> to download and read.\u00a0 There are numerous interviews available on YouTube including:<\/p>\n