Movie: The Sex Changes That Made History

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    Sex reassignment surgery is now almost a commonplace procedure, but back in the early 20th century, it was seen as 'science fiction surgery'. When the news broke of a successful first attempt, it was a sensation. This is the gripping story of three extraordinary people: the world's first person to undergo a female to male transition; the former Spitfire pilot who became Britain's first to transition from male to female; and the daring advanced plastic surgeon who carried out these surgeries in the 1940s. Michael Dillon - previously named Laura - had persuaded the brilliant Sir Harold Gillies, the founding father of plastic surgery, to carry out the female-to-male operation that no surgeon in the world had ever attempted. Both then helped former race car driver and wartime pilot Robert Cowell undertake their own transition.

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    2015-10-23

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