SHE has lived through the reigns of three monarchs, and 19 Prime Ministers have run the country since Shellie was born.
Rationing was still in force when she came into the world and Britain’s forces were fighting the communists in Korea.
Yet all of those great world events passed her by — because Shellie is a tortoise.
Now at the ripe old age of 74 she has been caught up in a drama of her own. After almost half a century living happily in a garden in Kent, Shellie has gone missing.
Diana French bought the Mediterranean tortoise for her son Steve’s third birthday in October 1975, the year Maggie Thatcher became leader of the Tory party.
Now ex-teacher Diana fears that Shellie, who has grown to the diameter of a football, has been nicked to order from her garden in Rough Common, near Canterbury.
‘Does mud walk?’
She says: “Unlike humans, tortoises get more valuable as they age, especially females like Shellie.”
Shellie was reported missing on August 1.
Diana explains: “On July 31 she went to bed in her hut as usual at about six o’clock. In the morning she wasn’t there.
“The weather was hot and I just thought she was hiding in the shade under the hedge, so we had a half-hearted look around the garden.
“But in the afternoon we did a bigger search behind the hedge and noticed our fence panel had been pulled up and she’d gone.
“She’s very tame and would walk up to us and beg for food — a banana, nectarines or whatever’s going. She very seldom withdrew to her shell.”
This is not a case for the Kent Police Rapid Response team. With a walking speed of 0.2mph, she could only have waddled up to four miles a day if she had simply escaped.
But as of yesterday, in the 12 days since Shellie vanished, there has been absolutely no sign of her.
Diana says: “We think it’s targeted, as two tortoises were stolen from a garden in Canterbury in May. We wonder if it was somebody who has already sold her or is going to breed from her.
“Tortoises sell for a lot of money on the internet. This week there’s a 30-year-old male Herman tortoise, which is a similar type to Shellie, for sale for £400.
“Males are not as expensive because they can’t lay eggs. Shellie is 74 and female.”
Diana is desperately hoping Shellie will be found before next month when her son Steve, now 51 and living in Australia, arrives here for a family holiday.
She took Steve to a local pet shop on his third birthday in October 1975 to choose a tortoise.
She recalls: “There were lots of little tortoises and a big one in the corner — and he chose her.”
By counting the rings on her shell, the lady in the pet shop said Shellie was about 25 years old. They can live between 80 and 150 years.
Diana says: “Shellie has had some adventures. The children wanted to play with her and paint her. She survived all that but hibernation is difficult and that first winter we almost lost her.
Lofts get warm, so lots of people used to get their tortoises down in spring only to find they were dead.
Diana French
“Every autumn on Blue Peter on television they used to say get your cardboard box and fill it with paper and straw and stick your tortoise in and put it in the loft. Which, of course, is a bad thing to do because the one thing tortoises need is a constantly cool temperature.
“Lofts get warm, so lots of people used to get their tortoises down in spring only to find they were dead.”
Shunning advice from the kids’ show, Diana left Shellie in the garden — and she disappeared.
The children feared she had died.
Diana says: “We were cutting the grass the following spring and my husband said, ‘Does mud walk?’. There was this muddy lump with four legs, so we bathed her at the right temperature and she survived.
“Shellie did that every winter. Around August 25 she digs herself in the ground under our hedge.
‘She’s a special old lady’
“And when it’s time to cut the grass, when the soil warms up a bit, she appears muddy and, well, not cheerful, because you can never say a tortoise looks cheerful.
“She’s been in our garden at this house for 44 years. the neighbourhood kids come and feed her. The neighbours all know her.”
Son Steve is flying in with his daughter and son, who are 12 and nine, next month.
Diana says: “They love Shellie and will be devastated.
“I hope the person who has her takes good care of her.
“Please look after her — she’s a special old lady.”
