The female investigator has been a staple of popular culture for over 150 years, from Victorian lady detectives to plucky Miss Marple and tattooed hacker Lisbeth Salander. But what about the real-life women behind these fictional tales? Caitlin Davies traces the history of female private eyes who investigated everything from fraud and shoplifting to international espionage.

Guest: Caitlin Davies, journalist and author of 'Private Inquiries: the Secret History of Female Sleuths’ (The History Press)

Women undercover: the secret history of female sleuths

LNL stories separated out for listening. From razor-sharp analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture, Late Night Live puts you firmly in the big picture.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

Politics

At the end of the Greek civil war 12,000 communists were secretly evacuated from Albania to the USSR and resettled in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Stalin orchestrated the move to hide them in freighters where they were forbidden from coming up for air until they reached the Black Sea. The combatants were resettled in former POW camps and many were not allowed to return to Greece until an amnesty in 1981. Among them was Helen's Vatsikopoulos's aunt.

Guest: Helen Vatsikopoulos, journalist, academic and Professional Industry Fellow Journalism and Writing, University of Technology Sydney.

The Greek communists who were shipped to Uzbekistan by Stalin.

Anne Applebaum makes the argument that there is a global campaign by autocratic countries like Russia and China to discredit democracy and liberalism. MAGA supporters are also being influenced by propaganda campaigns on issues like Ukraine and COVID and are also starting to believe that democracy and human rights are not worth fighting for.

Guest: Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the soon to be released Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want To Run The World.

The new propaganda war

Bob Rogers landed his first job in radio as a panel operator in Melbourne in 1942. He became an announcer at 7HO in Hobart in 1949 and he's still behind the microphone in 2012, now as the morning presenter on Sydney radio station 2CH. He talks about the history of commercial radio in Australia and his part in it.

Bob Rogers - A Life in Radio

In the 1960's Jane Goodall became a household name for her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees in Tanzania. Now, at 90 years old, she has travelled to Australia to inspire people to take action to slow down climate change. 

Guest: Dr Jane Goodall - primatologist and anthropologist; UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute. She is currently in Australia for her Reasons for Hope tour. 

Listen to Phillip and Jane doing an extended interview back in 1997 here.

Jane Goodall's reasons for hope

It's now 30 years since the Rwandan genocide that saw almost one million citizens die in just 100 days in likely the fastest genocide in history.  Soon Rwandans return to the polls where it's almost guaranteed that President Paul Kagame, the leader now for 20 years, will be re-elected. 

Despite a dire human rights record and the assassination of perceived critics and enemies, at home and abroad, Kagame remains the "global elite's favourite strongman" and continues to be economically propped up by the West.

Guest: Michela Wrong is the author of Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad

Women undercover: the secret history of female sleuths

Download our free app to listen on your phone