Ladies Who London

The radical preacher who served in Parliament and the son who followed in his footsteps, but maybe for very different reasons. Between them they span the 1600s,a time of great change in London, and the century that might just be Fiona's favourite. Praise God for the Barebones family. And the bricks and mortar legacy of one of London's most ambitious, unscrupulous businessmen. As Alex says "it's another historical rotter!". If Jesus had not died for thee, thou wouldst be damned.

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The 2nd week of project 32, and London's 2nd most populous borough. This week we are stumbling around in the fog of the Battle of Barnet. Who is fighting who? who trusts who? We're in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, and the kingdom is at stake. The biggest failure of the battle - it's Heraldry itself. Hang your head in shame heraldry, you cost lives that day.

Plus the tale of Dirty Gertie's arrival from France, and the gift that Barnet keeps on giving to the rest of London. Ooh, a lovely Barnet fair, hexcellent.

A little bit late this week - sorry gang. Fiona's internet died at the critical moment. She could have taken her laptop to a cafe to work, like a proper modern person, if she had a working laptop. There's nothing like losing the ability to do something, to realise how much we take it for granted when it works. Modern technology is a marvel. When it works.

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We're in between boroughs this week as Alex goes gaga for Miss Lala (as painted be Degas). She wowed the crowds in Paris and London with her phenomenal strongwoman act, on the trapeze, holding herself, and others, with her teeth. Her portrait is still wowing the crowds at the National Gallery. Pop in to pay her a visit and decide for yourselves, what do you see at first glance? Is she jumping? We know more about her performances than her life, but there are moments when we can glimpse her, moving to London, appearing at the Royal Aquarium, getting married. A mixed race pocket rocket gymnast who performed as at Black Venus and one half of Les Deux Papillons. She was last recorded applying for a passport, on the brink, maybe, of a leap across the oceans into the unknown. But we can admire her still, as Degas saw her that night, in white and gold, dazzling the Parisiennes high above the Cirque Fernando.

Oh and we go off on a tangent for the benefit of Mr Kite. That makes a change, it's usually Fiona who does the tangents.

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It's the long awaited, hotly anticipated, much hyped launch of Project 32. Our deep dive into all the boroughs of London. And Alex is kicking off this week with Barking and Dagenham and a group of women who changed the world of work for the better. It's 1968 and the female sewing machinists of Ford are not happy. Not surprising when they are classified as less skilled than the men sweeping the factory floor. When striking doesn't work they head to Whitehall to meet the minister. With cars backing up at the factory, do they do a deal and get equal pay? And how much does the stoppage cost Ford? HOW MUCH??

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We're BAAAACK! Oh gang, we've missed you! After an eventful summer, Alex and Fiona are back in your ears, and we have been out and about. Following on from our episode with the Gasketeers a while ago, we have been to meet the very lamp lighters whose job it is to keep the London gas lamps lit - we have visited HQ and nerded out about finials, housings, mantles and how to tell your Grosvenors from your Rochesters.

We've missed you!!

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We're off travelling this week, from London to Oxford, via Greece and Egypt, to find out about the female manifestations of the rivers Thames and Isis. How did the Thames get its name? Is it as simple as it sounds?

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1966. A year that lives on in the memory of the English as the year that England won the World Cup. But it's also the year that England LOST the World Cup too. Huh? Alex delves into the last topic she thought she would ever discuss, which is FOOTBALL. Not her natural home, but there's a good reason why, on this one. Because, like everything, there is a fantastic story behind the story of how the world cup trophy, the Jules Rimet, was stolen while on show in a stamp exhibition in London in March of 1966. Who took it and why? Most people know that it was found by a dog called Pickles, but how did that come about? Join us for a romp through south London to find the cup, as well as a little secret about a replica as well.

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What does the 6th June have in common this year? It is both D-Day and national fish and chip day. So we are spreading two themes in one here, which have a bit of an odd link. We are not just talking f&c, but we are looking at how it links in to WW2, as well as seeing how the very unlikely gooseberries and mulberries fit into the picture. Confused? Yeah, we thought you might be. We're not, however, talking fruit, but talking mulberry harbours, which helped hugely in the aftermath of D-Day to disembark troop and kit into Normandy, and how the London docks played a very big part in that impressive feat of engineering. Come find out more in this week's episode.

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Fiona is back, and cracking out a fantastic story, picking up a loose thread from a few weeks ago, Mary Wortley Montague. An intriguing woman, Mary disappeared to Italy after her marriage went a bit wonky, and also took up the mantle of innoculating children well ahead of the UK more generally, and showed people how it could be done, and how it could help by publicly innoculating her own daughter. This is the fascinating story of one woman who broke boundaries.

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Alex is flying solo this week, as we take on the story of Dido Belle, the young mixed race woman, born to am enslaved woman, and brought up in British high society. Born to a British ship's captain, and an enslaved woman being transported to Jamaica, Dido was brought back to the UK and entrusted to one of the highest Judges in the land. Her story was hidden until the 1990s, and we are taking a look at her story, her glorious portrait, and also her uncle, Lord Mansfield, in this week's episode. Join us for a truly intriguing story of a woman of colour in Georgian society.

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