April Ashley: 50 happy years for sex-swap pioneer
Britain's first transsexual is, in a new exhibition, again challenging ideas about gender, identity and DNA.

By Peter Stanford
Published: 7:00AM GMT 24 Nov 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6637773/April-Ashley-50-happy-years-for-sex-swap-pioneer.html

'It always makes me laugh when people say I was born a man," says April Ashley, who in 1960 became the first Briton to undergo sex-change surgery. "I was born a baby, not a man. From the year dot, I knew I was female, so as soon as I could kneel down to say my prayers, it would be 'God bless Mummy, God bless Daddy, and please let me wake up and be a girl.' "

Next year, Ashley celebrates the 50th anniversary of her operation. Though today the NHS carries out about 150 ae_SNbSyear, then it was a revolutionary procedure, available only at a clinic in Morocco. As soon as she was fit enough, Ashley – born George Jamieson in Liverpool in 1935 – returned to London and became one of the leading models of the Sixties. Even exposure as a transsexual in the News of World in 1961 couldn't derail her. If anything, it added to her lustre.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/sexswap-pioneer-a-model-for-womankind-20091127-jx04.html

''IT ALWAYS makes me laugh when people say I was born a man,'' says April Ashley, who in 1960 became the first Briton to undergo sex-change surgery. ''I was born a baby, not a man. From the year dot, I knew I was female, so as soon as I could kneel to say my prayers, it would be, 'God bless Mummy, God bless Daddy, and please let me wake up and be a girl.' ''

Next year, Ashley celebrates the 50th anniversary of her operation. Though today the National Health Service carries out about 150 a year, then it was a revolutionary procedure, available only at a clinic in Morocco.

Note: I think the term "sex-swap" is rather crude, but it's the title of the article. Very interesting...