Bea Miles

Beatrice (Bea) Miles (17 September 1902 - 3 December 1973) was an eccentric Sydneysider who regularly hijacked taxis and quoted Shakespeare for money.

Born in Ashfield she grew up in St Ives. Her father was a wealthy and hot-headed businessman who had a tempestuous relationship with his daughter. In 1923, he had her committed to a hospital for the insane where she stayed for two years.Fact|article|date=June 2007 After that she lived on the street and was known for her outrageous behaviour. She was arrested many times and claimed to have been 'falsely convicted 195 times, fairly 100 times'citequote|article.

Her most notorious escapades involved taxi drivers. She regularly refused to pay fares. Some drivers refused to pick her up and she would sometimes damage the cab in retaliation, including reputedly ripping a door off its hinges once. In 1955, she took a taxi to Perth, Western Australia and back. This time she did pay the fare, ₤600.Fact|article|date=June 2007

She was well-educated and spent a lot of time in the State Library of New South Wales reading books until finally being banned in the late 1950s. She was also regularly seen standing on street corners with a sign offering to quote verses from William Shakespeare for between sixpence and three shillings.Fact|article|date=June 2007

When ill-health started to catch up with her, she finally stopped living on the streets, spending the last nine years of her life in the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in Randwick. She supposedly told the sister, she had 'no allergies that I know of, one complex, no delusions, two inhibitions, no neuroses, three phobias, no superstitions and no frustrations'citequote|article.

Trivia

* a portrait of her was entered in the 1961 Archibald Prize.
* a musical based on her life, "Better known as Bee" was first performed in 1984.
* the novel "Lilian's Story" by Kate Grenville was loosely based on her life. It was turned into a movie in 1995 starring Toni Collette and Ruth Cracknell in the title role.

References

* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100486b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography entry]
* [http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/default.php?id=166 Randwick City Council]
* [http://www.nla.gov.au/events/history/papers/Kate_Grenville%20.html National Library of Australia - Kate Grenville]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113658/ IMDB - Lilian's Story]