Hated Heroines: teenage moms

“I might be a teenage mom, but it does not mean you have to be a failure.

Hannah White managed ten GCSEs, seven at A or A*, despite giving birth part way through Here's The Observer, on Sunday, August 28, 2005:

Teenage mother Hannah White is celebrating GCSE success despite going into labour half way through her exams. The 16-year-old from Bisham, near Blackpool, got 10 GCSEs - seven at A* and A - and wants to become a doctor. She had sat six subjects before going into labour just hours after an English Literature exam. She gave birth to 7lb 15oz Ebony at 5am the next morning. She then sat a 90-minute Religious Studies exam in a hospital side room the following day.

The Sun takes up the story:

“An exam invigilator came to the hospital with a copy of the paper.

“We had to go into a special room where she held Ebony on her knee while I did the exam.

“I wasn’t tired — all I remember is being on a massive high. I wanted to run about after the birth.

“All I wanted to do was cuddle my baby girl but I knew I had worked so hard so I thought I might as well give it a go.”

In The Guardian, Laura Barton's "Sidelines" wrapped it in heroine spin:

Gymslip mums, they're only in it for the council flat, right? No siree bob. And certainly not Hannah White ... My, the Daily Mail must be fuming.