On this day in 1917, Stella Cunliffe was born. She became the first female President of the @RoyalStatSoc in 1975 and during her life was associated with many famous institutions including the British Girl Guides, the Guinness Brewery and the Home Office. 1/9

Born in Surrey, she was the first person from her school to go onto University, gaining a degree in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1938. 2/9
Her statistical career began in 1939, when she joined the Danish Bacon company, working on food allocations. During the war she was in charge of rationing in London. The bacon ration was 3 or 4 rashers per person per week. 3/9
At the end of the war she joined The Girl Guides and went to Europe to help feed the war refugees. She was also among the first civilian volunteers to go to Belsen Concentration Camp to oversee the de-lousing of inmates there. 4/9
Cunliffe then took a job as a statistician at the Guinness Brewery @GuinnessGB where she stayed for 25 years. It was here that she famously redesigned the instructions for quality control workers who had to accept or reject the handmade beer barrels. 5/9

More from History

Thank you so much to the incredible @gregjenner and his team for having me on "You're Dead to Me" and to @kaekurd for being so hilarious and bringing Gilgamesh the restaurant into my life!

Here’s a thread of some of the stuff referenced in the podcast for those interested


First of all, what even is cuneiform?

It’s a writing system from the ancient Middle East, used to write several languages like Sumerian and Akkadian. Cuneiform signs can stand for whole words or syllables. Here’s a little primer of its evolution
https://t.co/7CVjLCHwkS


What kinds of texts was cuneiform used to write?

Initially, accounting records and lists.

Eventually, literature, astronomy, medicine, maps, architectural plans, omens, letters, contracts, law collections, and more.


Texts from the Library of Ashurbanipal, who ruled the ancient Assyrian empire when it was at its largest in the 7th century BCE, represent many of the genres of cuneiform texts and scholarship.

Here’s a short intro to the library via @opencuneiform https://t.co/wjnaxpMRrC


The Library of Ashurbanipal has a complicated modern and ancient history, which you can read about in this brilliant (and open access) book by Prof @Eleanor_Robson

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