Olive Dehn facts for kids

Olive Marie Dehn (born September 29, 1914 – died March 21, 2007) was an English writer, farmer, and poet. She wrote many stories for children. Olive was also an activist who believed in peaceful ways to make changes. She was active from the 1930s until the 2000s.

Olive started writing with a funny poem in German. She also wrote stories for the BBC Radio show Children's Hour. Later, she focused on children's books and farming at her home. In 1960, she joined a group called the Committee of 100. This group used peaceful actions to protest against nuclear power. She and her husband, David Markham, also worked hard to help a Soviet activist named Vladimir Bukovsky get released from prison. Olive Dehn's writings and life story are kept at the Seven Stories museum in Newcastle.

Early Life and Education

Olive Dehn was born in Didsbury, near Manchester, England. Her birthday was September 29, 1914. She was the only daughter of Frederick Edward Dehn, a cotton merchant, and Helen Dehn. Helen was from a German-Jewish family. Olive had an older brother, Paul Dehn, who became a film critic.

When she was four, Olive showed her creative side. She told stories to her younger brother. She also said she liked corners when asked to stand in one! Olive went to a girls' school in Seaford, East Sussex. She did not enjoy her time there. Because people at the time thought education was not important for girls, she was sent to Germany. There, she lived with her aunt and uncle to learn cooking.

Writing and Farming Career

By age 18, Olive Dehn wrote a funny poem called Goebelchen. It was about Nazism seen through the eyes of a Dachshund dog. This poem led to her arrest by the Gestapo (German secret police). She was sent out of Germany under guard a year later. This happened after the poem was found on its way to Punch magazine in London.

Back in England, Olive wrote stories for the BBC Radio show Children's Hour. She used her high voice to play boy characters in her stories. In 1935, she signed a deal to publish her books. These included Tales of Sir Benjamin Bulbous, Bart and The Basement Bogle. Two more books, The Nixie From Rotterdam and Tales of the Taunus Mountains, came out in 1937.

After the Second World War, Olive moved to Lear Cottage in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex. It was a large property where she and her family became self-sufficient. This means they grew their own food and raised animals. They had geese, hens, pigs, and sheep. They also grew fruits and vegetables.

Olive continued writing children's books. She wrote Come In in 1946 and Folk Tales in 1948. Later, she wrote Higgly-Piggly Farm in 1957 and The Pike Dream in 1958. She won £50 in a radio drama contest for her play There I Must Be. It was about her experiences during the First World War. She used the money to buy a cow. Olive also won first prize for her Maran cockerel (a type of rooster) at a poultry show in 1958. She wrote for Pig Producer magazine, The Observer, and Country Life Punch. In the 1960s, she wrote a series of books about "The Caretakers."

Activism and Later Life

Olive Dehn joined the Committee of 100 in 1960. This group was known for its peaceful protests against nuclear weapons. She was arrested and sent out of Moscow by the KGB (Soviet secret police) in 1974. This happened because she protested against how the Soviet Union used mental hospitals to punish people who disagreed with the government. Olive and her husband worked hard to help a Soviet activist, Vladimir Bukovsky, get released from prison in 1976.

Her last children's story, Good-bye Day, was published in 1980. She kept writing poetry. In 1988, she took the Central Electricity Generating Board to court. She believed they were working with the government to make plutonium for nuclear weapons. Olive lost the case. In 2006, she published a collection of her poems called Out of My Mind: poems 1929–1995. These poems were mostly about nature and country life. In the same year, Olive talked about her life on the BBC Radio 4 show Woman's Hour.

Family and Legacy

Olive Dehn described herself as a "granarchist." This meant she believed in freedom and did not have strict rules at home. She was married to David Markham, an actor and activist, from 1937 until he passed away in 1983. They had four daughters: Sonia, Petra, Kika, and Jehane. Through her daughters' marriages, Olive was the mother-in-law of actors Roger Lloyd-Pack and Corin Redgrave.

Olive Dehn passed away on March 21, 2007, in Wych Cross, East Sussex. Her writings and personal papers, known as the Olive Dehn Papers, are kept at the Seven Stories museum in Newcastle. Her daughters gave these papers to the museum.