Emily Litella

Emily Litella – a character played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. SNL has always featured a news segment called “Weekend Update”. In the early years, Weekend Update was hosted by Chevy Chase or Jane Curtin and often featured a correspondent named 'Emily Litella'. Emily was an elderly character with hearing difficulty. Her tirades would inevitably be based entirely on a misunderstanding of the intended topic. For example discussion on the 'death penalty' would turn into a tirade on the concept of a 'deaf penalty', saying “Deaf people have enough problems as it is!” Inevitably Litella's tirade would be interrupted in full flow by the anchor, who would loudly insist on the actual topic, leaving Litella to meekly state her catch-phrase, “Never mind.”

Emily Eyefinger

Emily Eyefinger – the star of a series of books written by Australian author Duncan Ball. Emily has an eye on her finger, which she uses to solve mysteries and help friends. The series is designed for kids aged 6 and up and was begun in 1997.

Emily Hobhouse

Emily Hobhouse – a campaigner for human rights back when such a concept barely existed. Hobhouse was born in Cornwall in England in 1860 and found herself in South Africa during the second Boer War fought between Great Britain and two breakaway republics in South Africa. The conditions of the locals during this war were atrocious, both in the concentration camps set up throughout South Africa by the British and in the general populace of the Boer (Dutch-speaking) people. Hobhouse's efforts to publicise these conditions and to bring aid to the victims brought her fame and respect. She was also a vigourous campaigner against World War I.

Emily Carr

Emily Carr: considered by many to be a 'Canadian icon', Emily Carr was a painter and a writer who worked in British Columbia and was famed for her paintings of nature and of native Canadian life. In many ways, the international success of her paintings introduced the northern Pacific coast of North America to much of the rest of the world. A 'late bloomer' whose significant works of art all occurred after she was 57 years of age, Emily Carr was never a member of Canada's famed “Group of Seven” artist society but was closely associated with it. Successful at a time when few women had such opportunities, Carr is also seen as a 'darling of the women's movement'.

Emily Kngwarreye

Emily Kngwarreye – an Australian aboriginal artist who only started painting in her 80s. Emily lived in the “Utopia” community, an aboriginal community in Northern Territory, Australia, where there was a booming art culture. Emily's own works, many of which were inspired by the yam, gathered the most attention. Ultimately, Emily's commercial success carried the whole Utopia community financially, but bright unwanted attention to the elderly Emily, who was often exploited as a primitive, elderly naif. She died in 1996.

Emily the Engine

Emily the Engine – one of the main train engines featured on the children's TV show “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”. Narrated by Ringo Starr and George Carlin among others, “Thomas the Tank Engine” is a highly successful kids' show known in North America as “Shining Time Station” and following the exploits of a number of train engines. The show had received allegations of sexism, in that all of the engines (the machines with power) were male, while all of the coaches were female. Thus, in the seventh season, the producers added a female train engine to the main cast. This was Emily.

Emily Lau Wai-Hing

Emily Lau Wai-Hing – a politician active in politics in Hong Kong since 1991. She started in public life as a journalist before moving to politics. She has played an active role as a supporter for Taiwanese self-determination and for further democratization of China itself.