
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Though married to chicken farmer Harold, Evelyn Oatley has given up on rural life and returned to live in seedy Soho under her showgirl alias "Lita Ward". The coming of war has meant a boom time for those selling entertainment, liquor and sex to the servicemen flooding the area. It is in this world of dancing and drinking that Evelyn lives.
But beneath a fun-loving facade, Evelyn is lonely. Her male callers help stave off this sense of isolation, but only temporarily. And it’s while working that she’ll meet a cruel and sadistic killer and take him back to her apartment.
Sources:
Iglikowski-Broad, Vicky. ‘The Shim Sham Club: “London’s Miniature Harlem”’, The National Archives, 5 February 2020.
National Fairground and Circus Archive, ‘The Second World War’, The University of Sheffield, July 2015.
Sladen, Chris. ‘Holidays at Home in the Second World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2002.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Nights Out: Life in Cosmopolitan London (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
4.5
12091,209 ratings
Though married to chicken farmer Harold, Evelyn Oatley has given up on rural life and returned to live in seedy Soho under her showgirl alias "Lita Ward". The coming of war has meant a boom time for those selling entertainment, liquor and sex to the servicemen flooding the area. It is in this world of dancing and drinking that Evelyn lives.
But beneath a fun-loving facade, Evelyn is lonely. Her male callers help stave off this sense of isolation, but only temporarily. And it’s while working that she’ll meet a cruel and sadistic killer and take him back to her apartment.
Sources:
Iglikowski-Broad, Vicky. ‘The Shim Sham Club: “London’s Miniature Harlem”’, The National Archives, 5 February 2020.
National Fairground and Circus Archive, ‘The Second World War’, The University of Sheffield, July 2015.
Sladen, Chris. ‘Holidays at Home in the Second World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2002.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Nights Out: Life in Cosmopolitan London (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
59,019 Listeners
27,626 Listeners
4,101 Listeners
9,789 Listeners
570 Listeners
14,310 Listeners
404 Listeners
73 Listeners
6,998 Listeners
4,403 Listeners
3,982 Listeners
80 Listeners
391 Listeners
3,499 Listeners
3,043 Listeners
232 Listeners
258 Listeners
1,781 Listeners
7,466 Listeners
433 Listeners
147 Listeners
374 Listeners
332 Listeners
96 Listeners
79 Listeners
3,554 Listeners
354 Listeners
254 Listeners
6,651 Listeners
1,054 Listeners
98 Listeners
67 Listeners