Margaret Jowitt first delved into the physiology of birth for her 1993 book, Childbirth Unmasked, which made the scientific case for minimising avoidable stress in labour. For her Masters degree she looked at women’s experience of birth, interviewing mothers and comparing notes of home and hospital birth. “Control, that’s the key, really, ” declared one homebirth mother. Margaret edited Midwifery Matters, the magazine of the Association of Radical Midwives, for nearly twenty years, moving on to devote more time and develop a kneeling chair for obstetric units. Her book Dynamic Positions in Birth provides the theoretical underpinning for the importance of freedom of movement in labour. Her next book, the Natural Science of Birth will explore the biomechanics of uterine function.