Ladies Who London

LONDON IS BEING INVADED BY DRAGONS! Well, they mostly have been here for a while, and almost all of them are made of stone, but let's not let that get in the way of a good headline. Fiona's off on the hunt of some of London's most fearsome dragons this week, with a sprinkling of St George, a dash of Chinese New Year, and a boundary marker or two for good measure. How many can you spot around Londo...

Inspired by Emily's episode from last week, Alex is going back to an old favourite, the story of Dorothy Lawrence, the woman who, in WW1, set off to war-torn France armed with nothing but a notebook and a bicycle. Her aim? To get to the front and be the only female war correspondent, and jump start her journalism career. Will she make it? Come and find out! TRIGGER WARNING - some discussion of sex...

Our guest this week is the lovely Emily Laurence Baker, fellow Blue Badge Tourist Guide and champion of women's history. So it is only right that we get her to talk about one of her favourite women, Kit Cavanagh. Kit was one of those women we love - fearless and determined, who decides to go incognito into a man's world! When her husband disappears, she decides to enlist in the army - disguised as...

WARNING - discussion of the Georgian sex trade in this episode The marvellous Moll King is the subject of this week's episode - a wonderful businesswoman in the 1700s, who skirted the line of the law with loopholes and cunning. From growing up in Covent Garden and learning the lay of the land, Moll met her husband Tom King, and together they established one of the most famous - and infamous - wate...

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London calling! Have you even visited London if you haven't stood in a queue to have your photo taken in a classic red heritage phone box? This week we chat all things phones - from the first phone call made, to where you can find little cherubs on the phone on some London buildings! Why are phone boxes red? What exactly IS a K2? And how can you spot them and tell them apart from other types? We a...

Happy New Year! We are starting the year off strong with the tale of a London eccentric, William Reginald Bray. Known as the 'postal prankster', Bray took it upon himself to test the (then) newly formed postal service by sending ever wackier things through the post, culminating in having himself delivered by the postman! It is a story almost too mad to be true, but we have the photos and the postc...

Happy Christmas, folks! It's time to open up the grotto again for this year and welcome back one of the friends of the pod, Mr Lee Ingleby. We take a look at some festive traditions, and where they all come from. Dead birds and hares on bicycles, anyone?! See you in 2024! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Picture this - you are dug into the trenches in France during WW1, and suddenly a red double decker with a Tetley's tea advert trundles past. OK, we are being dramatic, but a large number of Transport for London's buses and drivers were shipped over to the continent during WW1. What happened to them? Did they come home?! And what happened in London in the absence of all these essential parts of Lo...

We are joined by a friend of the pod this week, our tame black cab driver, Ollie, for a deep dive into the iconic mode of London transport. We're going to rewind further than you might think to get to the origins of the hackney carriage, the little black cabs with their orange light punctuating the dark nights. Hop in, let's get going! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...

Fleming?! Pah! Behind every famous man is a team who made it work - this is the amazing story of how that team took Fleming's discovery of penicillin to the people. While Fleming discovered it, the development and production of what was hailed as a miracle drug is a much more interesting story than you would think. It's wartime England, and in a lab in Oxford university a team of scientists have m...

It's spooky season, so we have to give you a good ghost story, don't we? And it's a right royal rumpus, this one, as we head to St James' Palace. Enter the troublesome Duke of Cumberland, who - despite getting himself embroiled into many a scandal - was haunted his whole life by what happened to his valet, Joseph Sellis. As the Duke returned at night to the safety of St James' palace, an attacker...

Tart Hall - a cheeky little spot on a map opens the key to a very interesting person... Fiona has gone off at a tangent this week after checking some blog images for the last episode - and oh my goodness, she has unearthed a whole family chest of exciting characters and more skulduggery. First stop on a multiepisode tour of one famous family, perhaps? Keep your eyes peeled... Learn more about your...

Ever dreamed about stealing the Queen's underwear?! No, us neither, but we know someone who did just that. Come and enjoy the story of a plucky urchin known as the Boy Jones, who around the age of 14-16 broke into Buckingham Palace on several occasions and spent days...DAYS!...exploring and spying on Queen Victoria! Who was he, why did he do this, and how did it all end up?! Find out on this week'...

We're back! Hello team, we've missed you! We're starting back with a bang, and we are off to Piccadilly. Central London, the hustle and bustle, a tourist's playground. Beneath the shiny shops and West End's twinkling lights, there's a lot more going on, and history lurks around every corner. Fiona chats to Midge Gillies, who is the author of a new book all about Piccadilly. Who better than to unea...

A little bit of news from the pod - a short hiatus Alex and Fiona are taking a couple of weeks to regroup, but we will be back in August! See you soon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the 1700s, and theatre is all the rage, kids. One of the biggest stars of the era was the phenomenally successful Sarah Siddons. How did Hollywood bring her back to prominence in the 20th century in a really strange way? Fiona takes a look at one of the hugest name in London's theatre, and also tracks down her statue hidden in 2 rather intriguing spots - both hard to find, but well worth the...

We rise at dawn! It's the showdown of the two big names in recipe book development - one well known and celebrated, and one overlooked and forgotten. How did that happen? Get your oven mitts at the ready, rolling pins in hand, let's go. This week's episode is a listener request (thanks Despa!) and we take a look at the two women who were instrumental in creating the ubiquitous cookbook that we tak...

A cheeky little mid-week bonus for you, gang - we revisit the match girls with a descendent of one of the major players in the match girls strike! Find out more on the website - https://www.matchgirls1888.org/home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the middle of a Victorian artistic revolution comes Evelyn de Morgan, breaking rules and expectations as she goes. A pre-raphaelite artist, Evelyn took the rules of the movement and bent them to her own unique style. Evelyn was a woman who trod her own path, and really went where others hadn't yet gone. She's the subject of a stunning exhibition at the wonderful Leighton House, and on this week...

What do you do if you first and second treasonous plots are foiled? No matter - go for a third, but this time, make it a doozy.  We're back on a treasonous footing this week - it's a theme! We are heading to the Tower of London to find out about one of the most audacious plots in English history - Colonel Blood's attempt to steal the crown jewels from one of the most highly guarded and secure plac...

In a small hayloft in Marylebone, a daring plot was formed. This plot was so audacious and terrifying that it could never really happen. Could it? Against a backdrop of feverish political unrest and suppression of radical thought in 1820, a group of men intent on reform decide to take matters into their own hands. What they are planning to do is unthinkable, but - to them - necessary. The idea - m...

It's Fiona's week to chat about one of her guide crushes, the polymath Robert Hooke. Is he everything he is cracked up to be? Or is there trouble afoot? We delve into one of the lesser known contemporaries of Christopher Wren, and find out why he is overlooked more often than not. Why does he not get the headlines that Wren does? And why do we need to proceed with caution on his story? Find out in...

Mid-may sees the anniversary of the downfall one of the most famous queens of England - Anne Boleyn. 2nd wife to Henry VIII, the story of her fall from grace is as shocking now as then. Accompanied by our guest Phillippa from British History Tours, we take a look at the details of this tragic execution - the speed at which it happened, the machinations and pre-judgement, and what may and may not b...

We're joined this week by the lovely Adam Scott-Goulding, otherwise known as the Music Man for a romp around London's musical legacies. From the rock n roll of Soho to the classical Kensington, Adam joins us to talk a bit about why London is such a hub for music. Visit https://www.ladieswholondon.com/  for more information on this week’s episode. Find Adam at https://www.instagram.com/adamlondongu...