English model and trans pioneer April Ashley was BOTD in 1935. Born in Liverpool to a working-class family and assigned male at birth, she identified as female early in life, and was bullied for her feminine appearance. At 16, still presenting as male, she joined the Merchant Navy, until being dishonourably discharged after a suicide attempt. Returning to England, she sought treatment at a mental hospital in Lancashire, Pleading with doctors to be made more masculine, she was treated with male hormones and electric shock therapy. She eventually moved to London and began presenting as female. She relocated to Paris in the late 1950s, and became a dancer in the drag cabaret at Le Carrousel nightclub, performing as Toni April. Mentored by the show’s lead performer Coccinelle, Ashley travelled to Morocco in 1960 to undergo gender reassignment surgery with pioneering French surgeon Georges Burou. Returning to England, she changed her name to April Ashley and began a career as a fashion model, appearing in British Vogue with photos by David Bailey and landing a small role in the film The Road to Hong Kong. In 1961, a friend sold Ashley’s story to the tabloid The Sunday People, who published a story outing her as a trans woman. The resulting scandal led to her being dropped by her modelling agency and her name was removed from the film credits. Unable to find work, she moved to the Costa del Sol in Spain, working as a nightclub hostess. She became engaged to the English aristocrat Arthur Corbett, marrying him in 1963 after he divorced his first wife. A fortnight later, she eloped with the Spanish aristocrat Íñigo de Arteaga y Martín. In 1966, she requested maintenance payments from Corbett, who counterfiled to have the marriage annulled on the grounds that Ashley was not a woman. After three years of legal proceedings, the courts ruled that Ashley was “at all times a male” and that the marriage was void. After suffering a nervous breakdown, she opened a restaurant in London, where she entertained celebrity guests. In 1975, following a heart attack, she retired to rural Wales, living in obscurity for a decade. She married Jeffrey West in 1986, moving with him to California until their divorce in 1990. Returning to England in the 2000s, recent law change allowed her legal recognition as female. She published a memoir, The First Lady, in 2006, in which she claimed to have had affairs with Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Michael Hutchence, Grayson Perry and others, and made a number of appearances at Gay Pride events. In 2012, she was made a Member of the British Empire for services to transgender equality. She spent several years attempting to produce a biopic based on her memoir, and coached the actor Eddie Redmayne for his performance as Lili Elbe in the 2015 film The Danish Girl. Ashley died in 2021, aged 86.