Super Siblings
In honour of National Sibling Day today, here is a list of some of the brothers and sisters in history with some facts you may find fascinating:
The Wright Brothers- and sister
I would imagine that most of us have heard of the Wright Brothers- famous for creating the first aeroplane and for making the first human flight. But have you also heard of their sister Katharine, the world’s first female air stewardess and third woman ever to fly in an aeroplane?
Although she trained and began her career as a teacher, after brother Orville was injured in an flying accident she returned to the Wright household and never looked back. She was much more used to socialising than her notoriously shy brothers and her networking and entertaining helped to make the Wright family into celebrities of their time.
The Bell Brothers or The Bronte Sisters
We now know them as Charlotte, Emily and Anne, famous for writing great works of Victorian literature such as Jayne Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Turns the clocks back 150 years, you would have known them as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. It is said that they chose these names to disguise their work and avoid the prejudice from the critics of women writers at the time.
The sisters funded the publication of their work and interestingly, Wuthering Heights was not one of their original successes although internationally known and loved today.
There were six Bronte siblings in total. The only brother, Branwell, painted this picture, originally with him in it but later painted over himself!
The Brothers Grimm
If you’re not sure if you have ever read any of Grimm’s Tales, think again. The Brothers Grimm penned stories such as Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel & Gretel and The Frog Prince. The German brothers were academics and linguists who specialised in researching and publishing ancient folklore.
Many of us know the tales from bedtime stories, or through Walt Disney movies, but in the mid-20th Century they were also used as propaganda by the Third Reich, used to encourage nationalism. At this time, some stories were even banned in Allied countries. In the years following, the stories were edited to be more ‘family friendly’, as it was thought that the Grimm tales were too much so…
King Tut and Ankhesenamun
You may not have heard of King Tutankhamun’s sister but they have made it into particular list because they were not only half-siblings but also husband and wife. Although today this may seem absolutely shocking, but historians actually believe that this was quite commonplace in Ancient Egypt. Tutankhamun was allegedly also the son of an incestuous relationship.
Keeping it in the family takes on a whole new meaning…
Dedicated to my own two super siblings, Rebecca and Feritt*
*yes, my brother is called Feritt**
**No, he was not christened that
