Bloody Brilliant Women: The Pioneers, Revolutionaries and Geniuses Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention

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Author Cathy Newman on History’s Forgotten Heroines Author Cathy Newman on History’s Forgotten Heroines

In the final episode we’ll meet Elizabeth Nyamayaro, Laura Bates, Caroline Criado-Perez, as-well as incredible female MPs serving in all strands of government, powerful women writers who have written their names into history, and the current crop of determined, resilient campaigners who, collectively, target a broad spectrum of injustices. However, the narrative that women have achieved full equality and that our job is done is frankly ludicrous, so we’ll also explore the new mechanisms for silencing women that have evolved in the modern era. There are enjoyable anecdotes aplenty. But it’s not all a comfortable read. The detailed execution of the wartime nurse, Edith Cavell, by German firing squad, is harrowing. You might know her statue in Trafalgar Square; you may not have known her story. In this episode we’ll meet Jane Drew, a visionary architect of the mid-20th century; and the better-known novelists Iris Murdoch, Agatha Christie, and Muriel Spark. You'll meet women who pioneered in the fields of law, medicine, social activism, engineering, and the military, hear their incredible stories, and see how they made history.Through their stories we’ll explore how female entrepreneurs prospered during the 80s 90s, and early 2000s, succeeding in the financial sector and prospering from the boom years of the Internet and tech companies, and how this was set against the overall picture for women at this time of statis and compromise.

Bloody Brilliant Women, with Cathy Newman on Apple Podcasts

This is a history of our times. This is a history of the pioneering women who defied the odds to make careers for themselves and alter the course of modern history. This is a history of women who achieved remarkable things, but have faded into oblivion. In this episode we’ll meet Marjorie Hurst, the founder of the Brook Street Bureau secretarial agency.Newman points out that the likes of the Brontës and Florence Nightingale, though great figures, have almost become “brands” (I am sure there are tote bags and mugs). She also corrects further historical wrongs in including diverse women often sidelined: women of colour, trans women and those with disabilities. In particular, asylums play a prominent role. Cathy Newman has written a bloody brilliant book. Bloody Brilliant Women (perhaps a cheeky takedown of Ken Clarke’s description of Theresa May as a “bloody difficult woman”) is one of a few recent titles celebrating lesser known women – or, as the subtitle of Newman’s book puts it, “the pioneers, revolutionaries and geniuses your history teacher forgot to mention”. It is an excellent addition to volumes such as Modern Women: 52 Pioneers by the Guardian’s Kira Cochrane; Zing Tsjeng’s Forgotten Women series; and Hannah Jewell’s riposte to Trump, 100 Nasty Women of History. Through the stories of their professional success we’ll learn about the creation and implementation of the Festival of Britain; the ways in which women had to push the boundaries to get ahead; and the ‘fabulous fees’ of flourishing women novelists. In this episode we’ll explore Thatcherism: the woman and the movement. We’ll learn about her changing attitudes towards working women and the way in which all women in politics during her era were compared, favourably or unfavourably, to Thatcher herself. In this episode we’ll meet Sophie Mirman, Margaret Seymour, Martha Lane Fox, Penny Smith, Susan Faludi, and Lesley Knox, amongst many others.