A curious detail at the end of the
NYT obituary for Eva Ibbotson, whose father was a physiologist who did pioneering work on artificial insemination:
Survivors include three sons, Piers, Toby and Justin; a daughter, Lalage; two half-siblings, Jonathan and Ruth, from her father’s second marriage; and seven grandchildren.
Because of her father’s dedication to his work — “Thanks to DNA profiling,” Piers Ibbotson said on Tuesday, “it’s been established that he did indeed ‘draw on his own resources’ ” when outside sperm donors could not be procured — Ms. Ibbotson is also survived by an additional raft of half-siblings whose precise number is unknown.
Fascinating! Lalage is not a name you hear these days. I remember (on reading your post) that there was a girl at school, much older than me, called Lalage. It has a certain odd mysterious ring to it.
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