Ginnie James - Telegraph Obit

Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 2/23/08 | An American Mother

[AnAmericanMother]

Ginnie James, who has died aged 67, was a feisty yet warm-hearted figure, equally at home in the bullrings of Portugal and the racing villages of the Lambourn Valley.

One of the high points of her life came in 1961, when she decided she wished to become a bullfighter. Aged 21 she took herself to Portugal, immersing herself in the culture and being taken under the wing of one of the most prominent families in the largely closed world of Portuguese bullfighting (which differs from the Spanish version in that the bull is killed away from the ring). Determined to become a rejoneadora (the rejoneador fights on horseback and plants rosettes in the bull's back), she spent the next three years training.

She became famous in Portugal, fighting in bull rings across the country under the name of Virginia Montesol. When she was invited to fight in Mexico, an American director asked to make a film about her - but with typical modesty she declined both offers, fearing it might embarrass her parents.

[AnAmericanMother]

A lady of remarkable courage, if a bit alarming.

Thanx and a hat tip to dighton, who must scan the Brit Obits every day . . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

Better ping the usual suspects . . . .

[dighton]

Thanks for posting. Usual suspects pinged, and the one name I recall from FR’s horsey set.

D’you picture a Thelwell?

Ginnie’s star pony was Mr Sponge; her worst was Wellington, which had no brakes. One morning the jockey Joe Mercer, who was riding for her father, promised he would sort out the pony after breakfast. His tactic was to gallop him flat out at a brick wall. “This will stop him,” Mercer announced confidently. Wellington thought otherwise, jinking left at the last possible moment and firing the hapless jockey into the wall like a human cannonball.

[AnAmericanMother]

Absolutely Thelwell.

All horsey people know at least one shaggy, malevolent pony with an unkempt forelock and a REALLY bad attitude . . . .

[dighton]

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.