Lucy Worsley returns with her new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history, with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to meet women who stepped outside of their ordinary lives to do extraordinary things. Together they investigate what their lives and crimes tell us about women in the past, and ask how different is it for women today? In this episode Lucy travels to New York to uncover the story of spirit mediums Maggie, Kate and Leah Fox. The sisters are credited with igniting the nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement, which claims that the living can contact and communicate with the dead. The craze for séances crosses class divides and Spiritualism garners millions of followers across the globe, including First Lady Mary Lincoln, Arthur Conan Doyle, and even Queen Victoria.However, throughout their forty-year career as mediums the sisters face persistent accusations of fraud. To tease apart fact from fiction Lucy is joined by Dr Thema Bryant, past president of the American Psychological Association. A Professor in Psychology at Pepperdine University who specialises in the intersection of spirituality and psychology, Thema brings a modern lens to help understand the minds of the past. We visit the small hamlet where the mysterious occurrences first begin; the Fox property in snowy Hydesville, Upper New York State. Here Tracy Murphy, Director of Historic Palymra, recounts the moment when the young Fox sisters first encounter the mysterious ‘raps’ they convince others are signs from the spirit world. With Fox sisters expert and author Barbara Weisberg, Lucy and Thema examine how the sisters take the world by storm. They ask whether they are really audacious swindlers or the genuine founders of a spiritual movement? Producer: Emily Hughes
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Alex Phelps
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.
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46. Minnie Pheby - Lady Burglar
Lucy Worsley meets Minnie Pheby, a strong and agile young woman who defies all the gender stereotypes of Victorian society – not a homemaker, but a homebreaker. She’s the devil compared with the idealised ‘angel in the house’, sneaking into middle class homes in the dead of night. In West London as the Victorian era draws to a close, Minnie sleeps on a pillow of stolen dresses in a squat furnished with life’s little luxuries, all the proceeds of crime.Lucy is joined by former Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Malton, famously the inspiration for Prime Suspect’s DCI Jane Tennison, who knows Minnie’s patch very well. She gives her expert insights on burglary, women in policing and what really makes a difference for repeat offenders like Minnie.With historian Professor Rosalind Crone, Lucy and Jackie investigate Minnie’s past and discover if she ever hangs up her swag bag for good. Lucy and Ros test their mettle as undercover operatives in Shepherd’s Bush, staking out the house where Minnie was first arrested. Will Jackie be impressed by their efforts?Together, the all-female team ask how common were lady burglars? How were they portrayed in the press? Why were the Victorians both appalled and fascinated by their physical capabilities and boldness?Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Alex Phelps
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.
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45. Bold Conversations
Lucy Worsley returns with another episode of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Joined by historian Ros Crone and comedian, activist and author Deborah Frances-White, Lucy revisits the stories of women who defied societal norms through audacious crimes.They also discuss what their own swindler names would be.This episode focuses on Celia Cooney, the Bobbed Haired Bandit of 1920s New York; Mary Bateman, the Yorkshire Witch, whose supernatural scams turned deadly; Catharine Murphy, the Money Maker, a counterfeiter working from her kitchen table; and Annie Gordon Baillie, a serial swindler with more than 40 false names.Through their stories, Lucy, Rosalind and Deborah explore themes of inequality, gendered justice, and the fine line between boldness and desperation while reflecting on how societal constraints push these women to extremes. Historian Ros Crone provides historical context on the harsh realities they face, from public dissections to burning at the stake.The conversation also explores modern issues like the erosion of empathy in polarised debates and the lingering gaps in women’s healthcare. In this episode Lucy asks what drives women to break the rules - and what can their stories teach us about our life today?Producer: Riham Moussa
Readers: Clare Corbett, Laurel Lefkow, Jonathan Keeble, Alex Phelps
Singer: Olivia Bloore
Historical Consultant: Rosalind Crone
Executive Producer: Kirsty HunterA StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.
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44. Celia Cooney - Bobbed Haired Bandit
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this episode Lucy is investigating the bobbed hair and flapper dresses of New York’s Jazz Age, on the heels of a 20 year old bandit, Celia Cooney. She and her husband Ed hold up local grocery stores and pharmacies in the hope of achieving a better life for their unborn child. But, as Lucy discovers, the papers quickly latch on to two key details - Celia’s stylish bobbed hair, and the fact she is a woman with a gun. With Lucy to explore Celia Cooney’s story is the Emmy Award winning journalist and CBS news correspondent Erin Moriarty, who gives us an insight into why the press were so enthralled by Celia, and can tell us how Celia’s New York compares to the city today. Lucy is also joined by historian, author and Pulitzer Prize winner Debby Applegate, who explains more about the Jazz Age - there was a dark side lurking alongside the flappers and parties. And in a Lady Swindlers first, Lucy speaks to Kat Palmiotti, the granddaughter of Celia Cooney, to find out how her family discovered her grandmother’s biggest secret. Lucy wants to know: what makes a woman like Celia Cooney, with a steady job and a baby on the way, turn to crime? And how much was the mania that surrounded her fuelled by the fact she was a woman, and one with a stylish hairstyle?Producer: Hannah Fisher
Readers: Laurel Lefkow and Jonathan Keeble
Historical consultant: Rosalind Crone
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.
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43. Catharine Murphy - Money Maker
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men. Producer: Jane Greenwood
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
France