Gallus Girls and Wayward Women

Although Constance Markiewicz had been elected to parliament before her but refused to take her seat, Nancy Astor was the American whirlwind who became the first female British MP in 1919. She did a heap of good, but life is complicated and HER life was not without a large dose of scandal and controversy. 

Opening music by Stefan Kartenburg, featuring Dimitri Artmenko on strings, and it's from dig.ccMixter.  All other music us...

In early 1817, a mystery woman showed up in the town of Almondsbury in Gloucester, England. She seemed disoriented, and when she spoke her words were incomprehensible to English ears. The only thing anyone could discern was that she called herself “Caraboo.” The young lady was taken in by a Mr. and Mrs Worrall, and several days after her arrival, a man named Manuel Enesso  appeared and said he could understand Princess Caraboo’s st...

Teeny tiny Katherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth and youngest wife. He met Katherine when he was almost fifty, and stuck in a marriage that made him miserable. Katherine, young and full of life enchanted him, and she was still only a teenager when she was ‘showed openly as Queen’ at Hampton Court in August 1540, having married Henry the day he sent Thomas Cromwell, who’d arranged his marriage to Anne of Cleves, to the block. ...

Jessica Mitford was the communist ‘red sheep’ of the aristocratic, fascist sympathising Mitford clan. Known as ‘Decca’, she was the sister of novelist Nancy, Diana (who was the wife of fascist Oswald Mosley) and Unity, who was the subject of our last episode and who was obsessed with Hitler. Her own family, no strangers to bad behaviour and controversy, regarded Jessica as the one who went too far, it was she they regarded as beyon...

Although the rest of her family were fascist sympathisers of one sort or another, which was common among upper classes in inter-war Britain, Unity Mitford became an extreme right winger, a fanatical fascist who described herself as a "jew hater" and talked at length about how much she loved Hitler. Her life goal was to meet him, and she moved to Munich when she was 19 so she could learn German and thus be able to speak with...

Described by some as "the Sarah Bernhardt of opera", Mary Garden was an actress, a talented singer, and quite the character. She was famous for  her formidable  vocal range and she first rose to success in Paris during the first decade of the 20th century. A few years later, she would be a household name in America as an operatic superstar, and starred in operas in several major American cities. Later on Mary would appear i...

We go back once again to Tudor times to look at the life of Henry VIII's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. She has gone down in history (unfairly) as the ugly fat dim one, the one Henry was so repelled by, he couldn't consummate the marriage. Anne was Henry’s wife for just six months, making her the shortest reigning of all his queens and has subsequently been dismissed as little more than a hiccup in the history of England’s mo...

Alexandra Feodorovna, formerly Princess Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice Von Hesse and By Rhine, was grand daughter to Queen Victoria, daughter of Princess Alice of Great Britain, and the last Tsarina of Russia. As a young woman, Alex fell in love with Nicholas, the heir to the Russian throne. The feelings were mutual, and they were married, but instead of living happily ever after, their lives were set on course for tragedy of...

One of the most beautiful and enigmatic actresses of Hollywood's first century,  the words ‘dark angel’ summed up Merle’s hauntingly beautiful, exotic looks perfectly. She was, in fact, Anglo-Indian, something which back in those days would have put paid to any film career if it had been common knowledge. For most of her life, Merle claimed she was born in Australia — but the racism and snobbery of that era forced Merle to spen...

Rising from humble origins during a brutal and turbulent period of British history, Bess became the second most powerful woman in England after the Queen. She used her skills to navigate the risky world of the Tudor court and outlived monarchs and husbands along the way, as well as bearing 8 children and building an empire. Few royal courtiers would climb as high as Bess did, and she made some enemies in her lifetime, and probably ...

Said to be Winston Churchill's favourite spy, Christine was an adrenaline junkie and a countess by birth whose jaw dropping bravery during the Second World War saved many many lives. Over the course of her wartime career, a knack for repeatedly escaping the deadliest of situations had given her almost mythical status. Christine died early at the age of 44, but those years were stuffed to bursting with adventure, the likes of wh...

When American-born English socialite Nancy Astor entered the House of Commons on 1 December 1919, she became the first female MP in British history to take a seat in parliament. But although Nancy was the first woman to take her seat, she wasn't the first to be elected. That was achieved the year before by one Constance Markievicz. Born into County Sligo aristocracy, married into Polish royalty and immortalised by W.B. Yeats in...

Jane has always been portrayed as a meek and watery woman, the exact opposite of her predecessor Anne Boleyn, and whose only effect on the turbulent world in which she lived was to provide Henry VIII with the son he desired, then quietly fade away into the shadows. Saying that, we'll never know for sure whether Jane sought the king’s favour or was a pawn of her family and the king’s desire, and although she is given little cred...

Although these five women - Mary Ann, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary Jane - probably never met each other, they had some things in common, including grinding poverty, casual prostitution, the year of their murders, and the likely-hood that they were killed by the same person. The first "celebrity" serial killer, the Jack the Ripper became so famous that his victims' tragic lives have always been overshadowed by &#...

Evelyn Dove was Britain's first black show business star. She was a true pioneer - she was the first black woman to sing on BBC radio, and the first black singer to move from Britain to make a splash in America. After the second world war, she had her own music series on British television, and was one of the most well loved personalities in what was a new and exciting medium in the world of entertainment. In a career lasting f...

Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine, Duchess of Cleveland, was the most notorious mistress of The Merry Monarch, King Charles 2nd of England, who fathered 5 of her children. Her influence on the king was so great, and she was such a force to be reckoned with, that she has been referred to as "The Uncrowned Queen".

Her greed, bad temper, adultery with the king, and pernicious influence at court provoked the diarist John Evel...

In 1746 a young woman, Flora MacDonald, sailed over the sea to Skye with her Irish "maid", Betty Burke. The "maid" was actually Prince Charles Edward Stuart, a fugitive from the forces of King George II who were hunting him following his escape after the disastrous Battle of Culloden. The grandson of James II of England, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie as he was known in Scotland, had led the ...

Grace O'Mally, The Pirate Queen, was a flamboyant outlaw and the scourge of the Western Approaches. An unsung Celtic heroine, Grace's story is outrageous, involving kidnap, murder, piracy and intrigue. She lived in a time of great change - in 16th century Ireland, the old Gaelic way of life was being encroached upon by the English, and shifting loyalties set clan against clan and tribe against tribe… 

Join Donna and Tom as...

Described by her enemies as a "goggle eyed whore",Anne Boleyn was the first English queen to be publicly executed. Five hundred years after her death, her tragic tale is still the subject of historians and the inspiration for films. Out of all of Henry VIII's wives, Anne is the without doubt the most famous, and most enigmatic. Join Donna and Tom as they talk about her life. 

Music by Stefan Kartenburg, featuring Dimit...