Flying Bras Won Me the Award
I’ve been flinging pink bras up in the air on various stages, on live TV and on podcasts for the past decade. It’s part of my breast cancer prevention work. I try to persuade women to ditch their bras because of the bra-cancer link. It’s stronger than the connection between smoking and lung cancer. I’m thrilled to report that those flying pink bras have had an impact! I’ve just received a letter in the mail from the Duchess of Cricklewood Selection Committee in England notifying me that the 2026 Humour with Heart award winner is “CJ Grace and her Pink Bras.” I believe it is the first year that inanimate objects have been included as prizewinners.
About the Duchess of Cricklewood Award
Many people have heard of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, a global youth achievement programme with three progressive levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold, but there is also another prestigious but less well-known British honour, the Duchess of Cricklewood award.
Begun in the swinging 1960s, the Duchess of Cricklewood Humour with Heart honour is awarded to anyone with a connection to Britain, either as a citizen, resident or frequent visitor, who “demonstrates humour with heart for the benefit of their communities.” Famous celebrities are specifically excluded. The award honours unsung humourous heroes who are known and appreciated in the local areas they serve. To be considered for the award, the Duchess’s selection committee must receive a nomination by mail. Online entries cannot be accepted. One honouree is chosen each year and notified by mail if selected. Winners receive a certificate and a cheque for £500.
The Duchess of Cricklewood: A Unique Character
Henrietta Saxe-Coburg, the Duchess of Cricklewood, is currently 96 years old yet still retains her dry wit and enjoys sharing a pint of bitter with locals down the pub. She has a heart of gold with no airs and graces except for her love of flamboyant hats. “If I don’t wear a hat at social occasions,” she insists, “I feel positively naked.” Henrietta is a quintessential British eccentric and her great appreciation for the quirky or absurd combined with public service led to her creating the Humour with Heart Award.
Although she is fond of the United States and its people, the Duchess cannot abide American spelling. Thus, to respect her sensibilities, I have chosen to use British spelling in this article. Henrietta is somewhat of a Luddite as regards technology. She has no time for social media, declaring, “Why would I need Facebook? I have real friends.” When a reporter from the British News of the World newspaper asked why she had always refused to have a website, she exclaimed, “Well, I do have a website. It’s my garden shed. The spiders love it in there.”
Where Is Cricklewood?
The town of Cricklewood, now in the northwest area of Greater London, has a long history that goes back more than seven centuries. It was a small hamlet established in 1294. By the 1750s, prior to the arrival of the railways there, it was an important stop on stage coach routes. In the 1800s, the area became known for its imposing villas and the “pleasure gardens” of Cricklewood House. This estate has been owned by Henrietta Saxe-Coburg’s family for generations.
Previous Winners
I have to admit that I have gained few awards in my lifetime. About the only previous certificate I can remember feeling as proud about winning as the 2026 Duchess Award was one I got in primary school for swimming 10 yards of dog paddle. I was a poor swimmer at the time. And yes, I still have that certificate.
I first heard about the Duchess of Cricklewood Humour with Heart Award, affectionately known as the HooHa, in 1983, when I was a staff reporter at BBC Radio in London. I interviewed that year’s HooHa winner, Michel Lotito, for the Breakfast Show I worked on. He was a French entertainer who ate indigestible objects. By that I mean seriously inedible items, like bicycles, televisions and even a Cessna aircraft. Apparently, Lotito had a thick lining in his stomach and intestines to be able to consume sharp metal without suffering injury, in addition to unusually powerful digestive juices allowing him to digest the unusual materials. Ironically, soft foods, such as bananas, gave him heartburn, specifically when he had metal in his stomach. Lotito’s daughter had died young from an unusual cancer and had complained about having to spend so much of her short life in hospitals. In her memory, Lotito would visit children’s wards in French hospitals to cheer up the young patients and make them laugh. “You hate spending time in hospital?” He would ask them, “Well, I can get rid of time for you!” Then, to the kids’ great delight, he would eat up a plate of watches and alarm clocks.
A notable previous Humour with Heart awardee was folk singer and environmental activist Katie Lee, from Jerome, Arizona. Katie visited London in 1963 and developed a firm friendship with the Duchess there. Katie won the award more than three decades later, in 1997. A year prior, at the ripe old age of 77, Katie rode her bike through town naked except for a helmet and boots. She howled with laughter as she sailed the mile downhill from Jerome’s Main Street to her house. It was her way to shed the glum, sad feelings she had after a close friend died who had been much loved in the town. News of what she had done spread like wildfire in Jerome, lifting everyone’s spirits.
The Duchess of Cricklewood’s Views on Bras
I have to admit that most likely I won this year’s HooHa because the Duchess is biased in my favour as regards bras. Henrietta Saxe-Coburg has lived her life as a free spirit in every sense of the word, and has always hated the constriction of wearing brassieres. She’s been going braless for decades longer than me. Rumor has it that she received a lot of flak for once attending a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in a gown that allowed her nipples to be seen through the fabric. Her response to critics was blunt, “If you don’t want to see my nipples, why are you looking at them?”