She dared to dream.
A former stuntwoman in the UK has received a returned job application letter 48 years after she sent it — though it didn’t stop her from pursuing a remarkable career that took her all over the world.
“I always wondered why I never heard back about the job. Now I know why,” Tizi Hodson, 70, told the BBC.
“How they found me when I’ve moved house 50-odd times, and even moved countries four or five times, is a mystery,” she added. “It means so much to me to get it back all this time later.”
The daredevil from Lincolnshire, England was told her handwritten cover letter, sent in January of 1976, had been held up at the post office all this time, reportedly found stuck behind a drawer.
“Every day I looked for my post but there was nothing there and I was so disappointed because I really, really, wanted to be a stunt rider on a motorcycle.”
The ill-fated job application as a stunt motorcyclist was returned with an unsigned, handwritten note back to Hodson, which read, “Late delivery by Staines Post Office. Found behind a draw [sic]. Only about 50 years late.”
Nevertheless, Hodson went on to live, work and pursue other remarkable interests in Africa, as a snake handler, trick pilot and horse whisperer, per the BBC.
“I remember very clearly sitting in my flat in London typing the letter,” said Hodson, who was “very careful” not to reveal her gender identity to employers of the time. “I thought I would have had no chance of even getting an interview.”
“I even stupidly told them I didn’t mind how many bones I might break as I was used to it,” she added.
Nevertheless, her promise to endure injury for the sake of the job was apt.
“I’ve had such a wonderful time in life, even if I have broken a few bones.”