Transvestia

a real swimmer to complete the last fifty yards to the reception base, starting out of sight of this base of course. The idea was to have this done by a male student wearing an outstanding red bathing costume, and to substitute a similarly dressed lady student at the time of coming a- shore.

This scheme fell through however, as the girl student (from a separate college) had to withdraw, as her own college did not agree to helping us, in case it might in- terfere with their own plans. This put us in a fix, and we could not back out of the arrangements we were com- mitted to, so we had an anxious time until someone sug- gested that, as I had gone to a dance last year dressed as a girl, and as the idea had been mine from the start, I should take on the part of Miss Anne Dapenny!

I may say that after my experience as a girl at the dance, I was not at all reluctant to take on the job, but I realised right from the start that being dressed as a girl for a fancy dress dance was a very different thing to carrying it off for a whole day, and in the company of V.I.P.S.

We got in touch with hairdressers, fashion shops, shoe stores, etc., and asked them to provide clothes in ex- change for publicity. The hoax had by that time attained such magnitude that they were all eager to assist, es- pecially when we promised them advertising in our news releases, and I spent a whole week before Charities Day in Beauty Salons, Fashion and shoe shops, being fitted for everything a well dressed girl requires. The first shop I went to I went in my own clothes, but when I had tried on the outfit I got there, I decided to do the rest of my shopping dressed in girl's clothing.

It was at this stage that I had a peculiar experience.

I went to the leading shoe store in town, where I was trying shoes for fit, when the clerk suddenly remembered that they had in stock a full wardrobe of shoes which had been specially made for a customer who had since left the country. They were thus left with 12 pairs of special- ly made shoes with heels so high that no ordinary cus- tomer was interest in purchasing them. When I tried them for size, I found they fitted perfectly, but I was very

52