Eccentricity runs in the blood of the Irish & British. It is intrinsic to our national identity & pride. We laud it in fashion & arts & Eccentrics worldwide see Britain as a haven for eccentrics. Great British Eccentrics #OscarWilde #AngelikaKauffman #Handel & the father of #lateralthinking #EdwarDeBono made London their home. #HRHPrincePhilip awarded me #MostEccentric BritishThinker" as patron of @Eccentric_clubUK inspiring me to research #British #Eccentricity as a cultural meme. Unlike many cultures who consign eccentrics to the footnotes of history Britain celebrates eccentrics even those shunned by the country of their birth. One doesn't choose eccentricity. It's in the blood. A stroll around #westminsterabbey uncovers countless eccentric luminaries, including Aphra Behn/Agent 160 /Astrea; court wit/play playwright & spy of the 17th Century. Aphra (1640-1683) was the swashbuckling heroine & inspiration to the average British women of the Restoration who dreamt of life outside the narrow confines of propriety. Born in Kent in the hostilities pre-Civil War; her mother a midwife, her father a teacher, Aphra became a Royalist at a young mage. Her choice was not based on religious or political grounds but her fear of the violence & chaos of Cromwell's Roundheads mob rule. She started out as court-wit & spy due to her fluency in Duch. She was sent to spy In Dutch Surinam off the coast of South America while still a teenager. Aphra (Agent 160) was appalled by slavery & rallied the slaves to mount a rebellion by persuading an enslaved Royal King to lead his people to rise up against the brutality of their Dutch Masters. Aphra later wrote about this episode in a fictionalised memoir, considered the World's First Novel. "#Oronooko;The Royal Slave; A true story." Published in 1688 was an instant cause célèbre. Aphras tomb in Westminster Abbey declares, "here lies Aphra Behn, proof that wit is be no defence again at mortality." Virginia Woolf wrote; "All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds... " (at St James's Palace)
