“I was Disney’s first Maid Marian,” Joan Rice would often proudly tell friends at her local pub in Maidenhead. Through my research into the life of this often-overlooked actress, her contribution to the Robin Hood legacy on the silver screen is finally receiving the recognition it deserves. And on this day, celebrating Maid Marian, I also want to honour the young girl from a fractured family, raised in an orphanage in Nottingham, who played in Sherwood Forest, worked as a waitress in a coffee shop, and was personally chosen by Walt Disney to bring Maid Marian to life.