Janey Godley Born: January 20, 1961 Died: November 2, 2024 IT was the morning after the Brexit vote in June 2016. Just as Britain was absorbing the news that David Cameron had resigned, Turnberry Hotel & Resort, in Ayrshire, was putting out the red carpet for Donald Trump, the hotel’s owner who was also the Republican presidential nominee in the US. The world’s media was on hand to watch Trump and his entourage arrive by helicopter.
It was a momentous day, yet one of the lingering images was that of a small, lone Scotswoman, defiantly holding a sign that described Trump in terms as crisp as they were scathing. The protestor was the comedian Janey Godley. A mounted policewoman asked her to move, but Godley declined politely.
“She was really sweet actually and when I refused to give my ‘details’ she just went off on her lovely horse”, Godley later tweeted. Godley, a stand-up comedian, author and broadcaster, has died at the age of 63 after a long fight with cancer. Brave and open to the last, she posted a video on the X platform on September 25.
She wrote: “I’m now at end-of-life care - palliative care - and will be going into a hospice for the foreseeable - thanks to everyone who sends me love and support- you’ve been amazing”. The previous week, she had cancelled all future dates of her autumn tour, which had gone under the title of “Why Is She Still Here?”, after her doctors had advised that she should stop working “for the foreseeable future”. Sp.