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IF YOU EVER find yourself about to give birth in a park, you could do worse than bump into actor Brian Blessed.
The 78-year-old recounted an incredible incident while being interviewed on BBC Radio 4′s Midweek programme yesterday, where he described how he helped a woman give birth in a park – and even bit through the umbilical cord. He assured the stunned interviewer Libby Purves that the story was indeed true.
While Blessed and fellow guests – midwife Mark Harris, campaigner Satish Kumar and artist Alinah Azadeh – were discussing midwifery and women giving birth, the actor said:
“Years ago when I was in [the TV show] Z Cars, about 1963, I was running all over Richmond Park and a woman was having a baby under a tree and there was no one around.”
He said that he had “been brought up with babies; a working class background, and helping babies”, so he “rushed across to her” and saw that she was giving birth.
“She knew me from Z Cars – ‘please, I’m having a baby’… ‘it’s alright dear, breathe deeply’,” recounted Blessed.
“And gradually I got the baby out slowly,” said Blessed, who also helped deliver the afterbirth (the placenta) and clots. He then bit through the umbilical cord, which attaches the newborn to the afterbirth, and “tied it into a knot”.
The unexpected arrival was a girl.
Then I just called for help and eventually an ambulance came. I was covered in blood, my shirt was covered in blood, I was wrapping and wiping – ‘it’s alright darling’ – and I was licking the baby’s face.
He said the incredible story was “absolutely true” but he hadn’t talked about it before.
“It was natural, wasn’t it,” he said. “You will tell her to breathe deeply, push, push, push. I’d seen my mother do this, I was always kept in the background… because all the neighbours were almost our midwives.”
Hats off to you, Brian.
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A shortage!?! Lettuce pray!
It’s ridiculous that Ireland can’t supply herself with salad and vegetables. The country has great land and weather for such produce. We should be easily self sufficient . We should be able to supply Europe too! The likes of Tesco Ireland should only sell home grown produce.
The weather is not right , 12 months of the year . We depend on Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere produce based on seasonality to supplement what we can produce.
@Niall O’Reilly:Try growing lettuce during wintertime in Ireland.
@Brian MacCarthaigh: No problem, its growing in the Botanical gardens in Dublin outside right now. Even easier in a tunnel.
@Colm Vambeck:- Correct. There are a lot of farmers in North County Dublin / Meath areas that grow lettuce through out the year. Then Keelings by the Airport have Gigantic greenhouses that grow peppers, lettuces, berries and all other types of veg you would think wouldn’t be plausible to grow in Ireland. They actually have an excellent Farm Shop at their entrance on the St. Margerets Road. (Finglas to Swords )
@The Viking:
Price……
There will always be a market for homegrown greenhouse vegetables and some people will pay a premium for them but the vast majority will buy the cheapest available.
Best of luck to the Keeling’s in their shop by the way.
Nonsense. We can grow everything in Ireland. You just need a greenhouse or a plastic tunnel. In Iceland they are self sufficient in tomatoes and cucumbers and my neighbor here in Brittany has 100 oranges on his orange tree in a climate often colder than Ireland!
Have you heard of a green house.?No problem at all under glass.
@Richard Paul: In a wee greenhouse (6 x 10) in the south of the country, we have all salad ingredients for our house all year around. We are still eating the spuds, carrots, parsnips and more from the wee veg plot. Hadn’t bought a spud in 5 years.
@ Paul Somers; Fair Play to you If it is practical for you to do that . But certain produce can not be grown in Ireland, in the quantities needed to satisfy the demand for them.
Sorry who buys more than one in one go?!
@Paul: People buying for a family.
@Paul:
Harvey the rabbit??
@Paul:
That new chain of shops, Chopped?
Be interesting to see what they substitute lettuce with now.
Restaurants, Pubs, Cafe’s
A number of local establishments purchase salad ingredients in Aldi / Lidi as the cost is sometimes below ‘Musgrave’s’ price point.
This is a great day for salad dodgers
Just have a bloody salad without lettuce. A salad with sausages and rashers and eggs and pudding. A salad with no salad.
Managed to buy some from a shady character on Moore street . Bit pricey though, €5 for a half dozen lettuce leaves and €7.50 for a reasonably sized courgette.
I’d say the Kinahans and the Hutches are repurposing the grow houses as we speak ….
RIP to all the poor slippy slugs
lettuce spray…
So busy giving out to super valu the farmers forgot about the poor oll lettuce
I blame vegetarians for eating all our side salads for their main courses.
Went to Supervalue, Tesco’s and Aldi looking for courgettes. Lidl is the only place you can get them.
Swear to God, I was blaming bloody operation transformation !
Woa muah gawd, cannot cope, like whats a B.L.T. without the L. :(
And I’m a vegan so no B either. :((
Didn’t take long for someone to announce they were vegan did it
Simply weather related.
Do we not grow it here?
Iceberg hopefully… its the marmite of lettii
@Hugh Gallagher: At least Jamie Oliver had the right idea with Iceburg lettuce…put them in a clay trap and blast them with No.7 shot. It’s a veg designed for supermarkets and catering due to lasting longer than most people who eat it.
Leaf it out will ye!
Ah..sure I can see it now “garda raid grow house..”(surely it’s herbal and illegal) ..garda looks sad and says “nah tis only lettuce..feck it”
Nothing of nutritional value in lettuce anyway
have your say