PHOTO FINISH

ROBERTA COWELL 1954

Racing driver and WWII Spitfire pilot Roberta Cowell was the first known person in Britain toin 1972, Cowell stated that her gender reassignment was justifiable because she had been born with a chromosomal abnormality known as XX male syndrome. Despite her pioneering surgery, Cowell was not a champion of the transgender community as a whole, though, and had little sympathy for individuals with XY chromosomes who underwent gender reassignment.