Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer was born on 29 January 1939 in Melbourne, Australia.
Germaine Greer was educated at Melbourne and Sydney Universities in Australia and in 1964 she left to go to England where she studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, gaining her PhD in 1967.
From 1968-1973 Greer lectured in English at Warwick University. This period encompassed the publication of her famous book, The Female Eunuch in 1970, which had a pivotal role in a key period for feminism.
Amongst other books, in 1999, Germaine Greer wrote the sequel to The Female Eunuch - The Whole Woman saying in the introduction: "The time has come to get angry again".
Greer certainly does not avoid confrontation, she once said: "The more people we annoy, the more we know we're doing it right."
Germaine Greer certainly did not mince her words in her comments a few years ago about Australia being a sports-mad suburban wasteland devoid of intellectual stimulation. Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, described her comments as "pathetic".
Greer had attracted controversy in the Southern Hemisphere before. Bizarrely in 1972 she was fined in New Zealand $40 (£15) for offensive language. The incident surrounded a speech she gave attacking anti-abortion campaigners at Auckland's Town Hall. She was arrested for swearing during the speech.
Germaine Greer has written for many periodicals and was a regular 'pundit' on BBC2's The Late Review.
In 1998 she returned to Warwick University, where she became Professor of English and Comparative Literature Studies, but when in 2004 I looked at their website I could not see her name amongst the staff listed.
Germaine Greer was married for just over three weeks, to Paul Du Feu, who later married Maya Angelou.
Germaine Greer was listed in Prospect Magazine's 100 Greatest Thinkers.
For more information on Germaine Greer, please visit Germaine Greer News, which has information about her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. Also there is an interesting article by Alex Kasriel, entitled Getting on with Greer.