4.2 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2023
⏱️ 57 minutes
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0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
0:05.2 | Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
0:10.9 | On the programme today, I would like to hear from you about something unusual you may have |
0:16.2 | inherited in a will. |
0:18.0 | The reason I'm asking is because later in the programme we'll be hearing the story of |
0:21.9 | the great Stork Derby. |
0:23.9 | Let me fill you in. |
0:24.9 | In 1920s Toronto, a financier called Charles Vance Miller died leaving no direct airs to |
0:30.6 | his fortune, which was over $500,000. |
0:34.6 | The equivalent of about $9 million in today's money. |
0:37.8 | But rather than leave his money to a charity, he made the unusual stipulation in his will |
0:42.6 | that it would go to the woman who in the following 10 years would bear the most children. |
0:48.0 | Well this sparked what came to be known as the great Stork Derby. |
0:52.2 | I know we're going to get into a fascinating story that we will be hearing about a little |
0:55.6 | bit later and discussing all the issues around what he did. |
1:00.0 | But this morning I would like to know if you have inherited anything unusual or surprising |
1:04.5 | in a will. |
1:05.5 | Shakespeare left his wife and half away, his second best bet. |
1:10.4 | Janice Joplin left £2,000 for her 200 favourite friends to spend on one big party in her honour. |
1:16.6 | The comedian Jack Benny arranged for his will in his will for his widow Mary to receive |
1:21.4 | a single red rose every day for the rest of her life. |
1:24.5 | And Dusty Springfields will contain specific instructions of how she wanted her cat, Nicholas, |
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