First Woman to win the BBC’s ‘One Man and His Dog’ sheepdog trials (1990)
October 2015, on the farm, Shap, Cumbria
b.1961, Cheshire
In 1990, Cropper made television history by winning ‘One Man and His Dog’; sheepdog trials televised since 1976. She was the first woman to do so in the weekly show’s 14-year history. After repeated insistence that ‘women can’t run dogs’ from the male-dominated farming community, Cropper – who has been training animals for nearly 30 years – thought the invitation to participate in the show was a joke. Cropper’s daughter Henrietta has followed in her mother’s footsteps and in 2015 became the youngest handler ever to appear on the show, at just 12 years old.