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I was world’s first ever test tube baby – what trolls who called me ‘Frankenbaby’ put me and mum through was sickening
ALMOST five decades on from her birth making global headlines, Louise Brown is used to strangers telling her: “Thank you.”
But the 46-year-old bakery worker, who was the world’s first IVF baby, hopes a new film will shed deserved praise on the British pioneers who developed the “miracle technique”, despite huge controversy at the time.
Netflix drama Joy — which is named after Louise’s middle name — reveals the sacrifices made by determined trio Robert Edwards, Jean Purdy and Patrick Steptoe.
Scientist Robert was forced to work 170 miles from his family home because the medical establishment would not fund his research.
Embryology nurse Jean was in conflict with her religious mother.
And gynaecologist surgeon Patrick had to put off his retirement dreams.
Even worse, “Frankenbabies” was daubed on their clinic wall, they received death threats, and vile messages were sent to newborn Louise.
Perfect candidate
Sceptics demanded proof that Louise’s mum Lesley really was infertile and claimed the baby would be abnormal.
But a perfectly healthy Louise was born on July 25, 1978, proving them wrong — as did the arrival of 12million more IVF babies since then.
Acclaim for the dedicated team has been a long time coming, with Jean and Patrick both dying before the Nobel committee recognising the incredible achievement in 2010.
The award cannot be given posthumously so only Sir Robert was named on the accolade.
Louise says in an exclusive interview: “I still get people come up to me saying, ‘Oh, you’re amazing’.
And I’m like, ‘I didn’t do anything, it was Mum and Dad and the three doctors’.
“It’s lovely people who want to thank them. It is a shame they can’t be here to see the film, and my mum wasn’t there to watch it with me.”
Released on the streaming service next Friday, the movie features James Norton as Robert, Bill Nighy as Patrick and Thomasin McKenzie as Jean.
Dr Edwards started researching fertilisation in 1955 and hired Jean to join his laboratory at Cambridge University in 1968.
That year, he successfully fertilised a human embryo.
Patrick was brought in to find a way to safely and successfully insert the fertilised egg into the womb.
With the medical council unwilling to fund the research, the trio had to set up a clinic in a crumbling, disused ward of Royal Oldham Hospital in 1969, where Robert had worked.
That meant a lot of travel for father-of-five Robert, whose family stayed in Cambridge, and the growing notoriety of their Centre For Human Reproduction was also distressing.
Louise, who still lives in Bristol, says: “A lot of effort went into it, staying away from their families, and Jean falling out with her mother, who was very religious.”
Both the Church of England and the Catholic Church were opposed to science having a hand in childbirth.
Of the first 100 would-be mothers, only one got pregnant, with that tragically resulting in an ectopic pregnancy — where the fertilised egg has implanted outside the uterus and cannot develop properly.
All that was to change when Robert decided to do away with the growth hormone he was using to stimulate a patient’s ovaries and instead use the one egg they produced naturally each month. Louise says: “Mum had been trying to get pregnant for about ten years.
“She went to her local GP, and they diagnosed her with depression for not being able to get pregnant.”
Lesley was referred to a specialist who said there was “a million-to-one chance she would have a baby” as her Fallopian tubes were blocked.
They recommended she saw Dr Steptoe. Louise continues: “Mum went to Oldham for a meeting with Patrick Steptoe and he said she was a perfect candidate for it.”
But she had to have a gynecological operation to solve other problems in her womb before IVF could even be attempted. That operation was not available on the NHS so had to be performed privately.
At school, everybody was inquisitive.
Louise Brown
Fortunately, her truck driver dad John had won £500 on the football pools so they could afford it.
Even though it was an experimental procedure, Lesley had total trusted in Dr Steptoe. Louise says with a smile: “As soon as she met Patrick, she just she had a feeling he would be able to help her get pregnant.
“And she did say, ‘I feel pregnant’ after the egg implantation.
“She completely trusted Patrick, Bob and Jean. If they had said, go into Trafalgar Square and stand on your head naked and you’ll get pregnant, she would have.”
Louise adds: “It was something like the 101st try, one egg, with my dad’s sperm, and it worked.”
Because Lesley suffered from pre-eclampsia, Louise was born by planned Caesarean section at Oldham District and General Hospital with the world’s media camped outside.
The birth was video-taped so there were images of Lesley’s reproductive organs to prove she could not have become pregnant naturally.
And baby Louise was thoroughly probed and prodded to establish that scientific intervention hadn’t harmed her. Even her fingerprints were taken — staining the newborn’s tiny nails. She explains: “When I was born, I had over 100 tests.
Drama pays tribute
“I had black in my nails — my mum got quite upset about that. But they had taken my fingerprints.
“I have had no extra testing since then, because when I was born I did not have any problems.”
Once the proud new parents returned to their home in Bristol, they received mountains of mail, some of it threatening.
Louise says: “We had a package arrive at the house not long after I was born. There was a test tube in a little box and it was smashed.
“And there was red ink, which I’m assuming was blood, with a little foetus inside. And it just said, ‘We’re coming to get you.’ Mum was a bit uneasy.” The term “test tube baby” always frustrated the Brown family because none were involved.
Louise says: “At school, everybody was inquisitive.
“They used to say, ‘Oh, were you actually born in a test tube?’ And I used to go, ‘No, don’t be stupid, it was a petri dish’.”
Although she was joking, a petri dish did play a role in Louise’s creation.
Her mum’s egg was fertilised in one, with John’s sperm, then the resultant embryo was grown in an incubator jar before being implanted in Lesley’s womb.
A lot of the Netflix film focuses on Jean, who Louise does not remember because she was just seven when the nurse died from cancer in 1985, aged 39.
Even though they weren’t successful, they helped pave the way.
Louise Brown
Robert fought a long campaign to ensure Jean be given equal recognition with himself and Patrick, who died in 1988 aged 74.
He also complained when her name was not included on a plaque at Oldham hospital in 1980.
But it was not until 2022 that the omission was rectified.
The drama also pays tribute to the women who took part in the trio’s trial and error process, knowing there was a good chance it would not work out.
Louise says: “Without them I wouldn’t be here. Even though they weren’t successful, they helped pave the way.”
When Louise became a mother herself, conceiving Cameron, 17 and Aiden, 11, naturally, she had a better appreciation of what the women had gone through.
She adds: “You never really understand until you have children.
“When I had my sons, I realised that feeling. I realised how good those people were.”
Pioneering process
Dr Edwards kept in close contact with Louise, even attending her wedding to security officer Wesley Mullinder, 53, in 2004.
She says: “I’m still in touch with his family now, which is lovely.”
Louise’s sister Natalie, 42, was also conceived using the pioneering process four years later, becoming the world’s 40th IVF child.
Both Louise’s parents have passed away — Lesley died aged 64 in 2012 after developing septicaemia while being treated in hospital for gallstones. John died from lung cancer in 2007 also aged 64.
Normally a private person, Louise chose to talk about Jean, Patrick and Robert because she wants them to be remembered.
She concludes: “They have done it for 12million of us. I owe them my life.
“I would do anything for any of them, my parents and the three scientists.
“Without the five of them, and their determination, I would not be here.”
- Joy (12A) streams on Netflix from November 22 and is in cinemas now.
Coleen Rooney set to become new Holly Willoughby as she’s poised to sign big money ITV deal cashing in on I’m a Celeb
I’M a Celebrity star Coleen Rooney is poised to bag a mega-money deal that could see her become the new Holly Willoughby — if she continues to perform well in the jungle.
Her every move is being closely observed by bosses at ITV as they eye her up to be a presenter on a new batch of lucrative shows backed by big-spending advertisers.
They also want to tap into the “Coleen Effect”, which sees thousands copy her purchases — such as the £1,000 silk pyjamas the 38-year-old Wag wore to fly to Australia and have now virtually sold out.
A TV insider said: “Coleen already brings with her the Midas touch when it comes to endorsing the kinds of products which ITV’s advertisers sell.
“She has over a million followers on Instagram alone, and most of them scan her pictures and observe everything she wears and buys.
“The more glamorous Love Islanders and some soap stars also have large online followings and hugely influence what social media users spend their money on.
“But Coleen has the girl-next-door charm of someone like Holly to connect with millions of ordinary shoppers in a way that few other stars do.
“But they’ll also be watching her time in the jungle to see how she fares and just what the public reaction is to her.
“There are vast sums of money at stake with the deals for the new batch of ITV shows which they are considering her up for.”
She could now appear in shows bankrolled by some of Britain’s biggest firms.
The channel is set to introduce more advertiser funded programmes (AFPs), where companies not only sponsor shows but also pay the costs of creating them.
Recent examples include ITV’s Cooking with the Stars, hosted by Emma Willis, and M&S: Dress for Less with AJ Odudu and Vernon Kay.
Both were paid for by M&S, but more are in the pipeline with other big companies involved.
Mum-of-four Coleen, wife of former England footie skipper Wayne Rooney, has previously presented for the channel on a sporadic basis.
She co-hosted on a 2006 episode of Tonight with Trevor McDonald and on 2008’s Coleen’s Real Women, when she looked for females to front ad campaigns.
Last year she was seen in a Disney+ documentary, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, which chronicled her courtroom clash with rival Rebekah Vardy.
It was a huge hit for the streaming platform.
But she has been brought firmly back into the ITV arena by signing up for the jungle, with reports she may also now be regarded as a potential panellist on the hit daytime talk show Loose Women.
A spokeswoman for ITV and Coleen declined to comment.
I'm A Celebrity 2024
i'm A Celebrity is back for its 24th series, with a batch of famous faces living in the Aussie jungle. The Sun's Jake Penkethman takes a look at the stars on the show this year..
Coleen Rooney – Arguably the most famous name in the camp, the leading WAG, known for her marriage to Wayne Rooney, has made a grand return to TV as she looks to put the Wagatha Christie scandal behind her. The Sun revealed the mum-of-four had bagged an eye-watering deal worth over £1.5million to be on the show this year making her the highest-paid contestant ever.
Tulisa – The popstar and former X Factor judge has made her triumphant TV comeback by signing up to this year’s I’m A Celeb after shunning TV shows for many years. Known for being a member of the trio, N-Dubz, Tulisa became a household name back in 2011 when she signed on to replace Cheryl on ITV show The X Factor in a multi-million pound deal.
Alan Halsall – The actor, known for playing the long-running role of Tyrone Dobbs on ITV soap opera Coronation Street, was originally signed up to head Down Under last year but an operation threw his scheduled appearance off-course. Now he has become the latest Corrie star to win over both the viewers and his fellow celebrities.
Melvin Odoom – The Radio DJ has become a regular face on TV screens after rising to fame with presenting roles on Kiss FM, BBC Radio 1 and 4Music. Melvin has already been for a spin on the Strictly dancefloor and co-hosted The Xtra Factor with Rochelle Humes in 2015 but now he is facing up to his biggest challenge yet – the Aussie jungle.
GK Barry – The UK’s biggest social media personality, GK, whose real name is Grace Keeling, has transformed her TikTok stardom into a lucrative career. Aside from her popular social media channels, she hosts the weekly podcast, Saving Grace, and regularly appears on ITV talk show, Loose Women. She has even gone on to endorse popular brands such as PrettyLittleThing, KFC and Ann Summers.
Dean McCullough – A rising star amongst this year’s bunch of celebs, Dean first achieved notability through his radio appearances on Gaydio and BBC Radio 1. He was chosen to join the BBC station permanently in 2021 and has featured prominently ever since. He has enjoyed a crossover to ITV over the past year thanks to his guest slots on Big Brother spin-off show, Late & Live.
Oti Mabuse – The pro dancer has signed up to her latest TV show after making her way through the biggest programmes on the box. She originally found fame on Strictly Come Dancing but has since branched out into the world of TV judging with appearances on former BBC show The Greatest Dancer as well as her current role on ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
Danny Jones – The McFly star was drafted into the programme last minute as a replacement for Tommy Fury. Danny is the second member of McFly to enter the jungle, after Dougie Poynter won the show in 2011. He is also considered a rising star on ITV as he’s now one of the mentors on their Saturday night talent show, The Voice, along with bandmate Tom Fletcher.
Jane Moore – The Loose Women star and The Sun columnist is braving the creepy crawlies this year. The star is ready for a new challenge – having recently split from her husband. It will be Jane’s first foray into reality TV with the telly favourite having always said no to reality shows in the past.
Barry McGuigan – Former pro boxer Barry is the latest fighting champ to head Down Under following in the footsteps of Tony Bellew and Amir Khan. It comes after a tough few years for Irish star Barry, who lost his daughter Danika to bowel cancer. He told The Late Late Show in 2021: “She was such an intrinsic part of the family that every day we ache.”
Maura Higgins – The Irish TV beauty first found fame on Love Island where she found a brief connection with dancer Curtis Pritchard. Since then, she has competed on Dancing On Ice as well as hosting the Irish version of the beauty contest, Glow Up. Since last year, she has been working on building up her career in the US by being the social media correspondent and host of Aftersun to accompany Love Island USA. She even guest hosted an episode of the spin-off, Love Island Games, in place of Maya Jama last year.
Rev. Richard Coles – Former BBC radio host the Rev Richard Coles is a late arrival on I’m A Celebrity, and he’s ready to spill the beans on his former employer. The former Communards and Strictly star, said the BBC did not know its a**e from its elbow last year. An insider said: “Rev Coles will have a variety of tales to tell from his wild days as a pop star in the Eighties, through to performing on Strictly and his later life as a man of the cloth.”
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Marquette vs. Georgia prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
It is college basketball in the Bahamas as Marquette faces Georgia. It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Marquette-Georgia prediction and pick. Marquette comes into the game sitting at 5-0 on the year. They opened up with wins over Stony Brook and George Mason. Marquette would later beat Maryland 78-74 before […]
The post Marquette vs. Georgia prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.