2016-02-25 14:36:01 +0000
To: Derby Civic Society
A BLUE PLAQUE FOR FREDA BEDI
Please unveil a Blue Plaque to recognise and commemorate the life of Freda Bedi, née Houlston. Daughter of Francis Edwin Houlston and Nellie Diana Harrison.
5th February 1911 – 26th March 1977
Born in Monk Street - Derby, England.
Freda became the first Western woman to take ordination in Tibetan Buddhism.
DE22 3QB
Why is this important?
Bygones: From Derby to Delhi - the remarkable story of Freda Bedi
"However far she wandered, Freda remained, at heart, a Derby girl"
Freda Bedi's courageous and unconventional life deserves notice. She was a feminist before the term was widely used, taking charge of her own destiny rather than going along with what was expected of her. She challenged boundaries of race, religion and nation. Her politics and her spirituality were reflections of her compassion and intolerance of injustice.
With the help of Freda's three children – one of whom is the Bollywood and Hollywood film star Kabir Bedi, who was a "bad guy" in one of the Bond films (Octopussy) among many other roles – her life story is now being written by the Journalist Andrew Whitehead
Reasons for signing