<description>&lt;p&gt;Lucy Worsley, historian Professor Rosalind Crone and author and journalist Helen Lewis, explore the lives of four notorious Lady Swindlers.
They’ll be discussing underworld boss Tilly Devine, fake heiress Violet Charlesworth, queen of shoplifting Alice Diamond and fake Princess Mary Baker a.k.a. “Princess Caraboo”.
These women - through cunning and bravado - carve out notorious reputations and leave unforgettable legacies that we’re still talking about today.
Lucy and her guests imagine what our Lady Swindlers lives would look like now. Would they have become internet famous and built personal brands? Or would their audacity led to them being cancelled?
They also discuss how our swindlers manipulate perceptions and navigate their world to live the lives they dreamed of, unapologetically. From Princess Caraboo's elaborate cosplay and Violet Charlesworth’s audacious lifestyle to Tilly Devine's criminal empire, the series paints a vivid picture of women who dared.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Riham Moussa
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Lucy Worsley, Helen Lewis and historian Rosalind Crone discuss audacious Lady Swindlers.

Lucy Worsley, historian Professor Rosalind Crone and author and journalist Helen Lewis, explore the lives of four notorious Lady Swindlers.
They’ll be discussing underworld boss Tilly Devine, fake heiress Violet Charlesworth, queen of shoplifting Alice Diamond and fake Princess Mary Baker a.k.a. “Princess Caraboo”.
These women - through cunning and bravado - carve out notorious reputations and leave unforgettable legacies that we’re still talking about today.
Lucy and her guests imagine what our Lady Swindlers lives would look like now. Would they have become internet famous and built personal brands? Or would their audacity led to them being cancelled?
They also discuss how our swindlers manipulate perceptions and navigate their world to live the lives they dreamed of, unapologetically. From Princess Caraboo's elaborate cosplay and Violet Charlesworth’s audacious lifestyle to Tilly Devine's criminal empire, the series paints a vivid picture of women who dared.Producer: Riham Moussa
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

35. Women Who Dare

<description>&lt;p&gt;In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley meets Violet Charlesworth, an heiress with a taste for the high life. From her family home in North Wales, Violet drives the length and breadth of the country in her expensive motorcars, accompanied by pedigree pooches and dripping with diamonds. Lucy asks: is there more to her than meets the eye?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is joined by iconic crime writer Denise Mina (‘Garnethill Trilogy’, ‘Three Fires’) and Lady Swindlers in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone to find out all about Violet’s prodigious spending habit and looming debts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The whole country is shocked when, late one night in January 1909, Violet loses control of her car on her way home from Bangor. It looks like she’s hit the wall that lines the coast road and shot through the windscreen and down the cliff face, but there is no sign of her body and her family are apparently unconcerned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lucy’s investigative trio look at the wall-to-wall media coverage of Violet’s disappearance. They hear from Welsh historian Elin Tomos at the crash site, which is still known as Violet’s Leap, and at the Charlesworths’ house, Bôd Erw in the village of Llanelwy/St Asaph. They consider the new freedoms women were exploring at the beginning of the early 20th century and the idea of the New Woman – independent, educated and openly feminist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Together, they ask: what motivated this audacious woman? Can we sympathise with her? Was she, truly, a woman ahead of her time?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Clare Corbett, Iwan Fôn and Jonathan Keeble
Location Historian: Elin Tomos
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Lucy Worsley and team track down Violet Charlesworth, Edwardian heiress turned fugitive.

In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley meets Violet Charlesworth, an heiress with a taste for the high life. From her family home in North Wales, Violet drives the length and breadth of the country in her expensive motorcars, accompanied by pedigree pooches and dripping with diamonds. Lucy asks: is there more to her than meets the eye?She is joined by iconic crime writer Denise Mina (‘Garnethill Trilogy’, ‘Three Fires’) and Lady Swindlers in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone to find out all about Violet’s prodigious spending habit and looming debts.The whole country is shocked when, late one night in January 1909, Violet loses control of her car on her way home from Bangor. It looks like she’s hit the wall that lines the coast road and shot through the windscreen and down the cliff face, but there is no sign of her body and her family are apparently unconcerned.Lucy’s investigative trio look at the wall-to-wall media coverage of Violet’s disappearance. They hear from Welsh historian Elin Tomos at the crash site, which is still known as Violet’s Leap, and at the Charlesworths’ house, Bôd Erw in the village of Llanelwy/St Asaph. They consider the new freedoms women were exploring at the beginning of the early 20th century and the idea of the New Woman – independent, educated and openly feminist.Together, they ask: what motivated this audacious woman? Can we sympathise with her? Was she, truly, a woman ahead of her time?Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Clare Corbett, Iwan Fôn and Jonathan Keeble
Location Historian: Elin Tomos
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

34. Violet Charlesworth - Fake Heiress

<description>&lt;p&gt;Lucy Worsley investigates the career of one of Sydney’s most notorious gangsters, Tilly Devine. Draped in furs and encrusted in jewels, she’s the madam of one of the most lucrative brothel networks the city’s ever seen. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What brings Tilly from south London to Sydney? How does she rise to the top of the city’s ruthless, gritty 1920s gangster crime scene? To track Tilly’s story, Lucy is joined by historian Leigh Straw and Guest Detective Christine Nixon, the first female chief commissioner in an Australian state police force.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Together the team trace Tilly’s crossing from London to Sydney as a ‘War Bride’ and her ruthless ambition to make it in a man’s world. Young Tilly joins a criminal underworld lit up by all night parties, soaked in illicit liquor, and menaced by dangerous brawls. Her ruthless rise to riches doesn’t go unchecked, hot on her heels is police officer Lillian Armfield, specially chosen to join New South Wales’s first female police force. Will the police and the long arm of the law prevail over the Queen of Vice? Will the vicious Razor Wars and Tilly’s bitter feud with her nemesis, female gangland crime boss Kate Leigh, be her undoing? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lucy and her team of all female detectives find out. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Emily Hughes
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Guy Dow-Sainter. 
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Lucy Worsley meets Tilly Devine, queen of Sydney’s 1920s criminal underworld.

Lucy Worsley investigates the career of one of Sydney’s most notorious gangsters, Tilly Devine. Draped in furs and encrusted in jewels, she’s the madam of one of the most lucrative brothel networks the city’s ever seen. What brings Tilly from south London to Sydney? How does she rise to the top of the city’s ruthless, gritty 1920s gangster crime scene? To track Tilly’s story, Lucy is joined by historian Leigh Straw and Guest Detective Christine Nixon, the first female chief commissioner in an Australian state police force.Together the team trace Tilly’s crossing from London to Sydney as a ‘War Bride’ and her ruthless ambition to make it in a man’s world. Young Tilly joins a criminal underworld lit up by all night parties, soaked in illicit liquor, and menaced by dangerous brawls. Her ruthless rise to riches doesn’t go unchecked, hot on her heels is police officer Lillian Armfield, specially chosen to join New South Wales’s first female police force. Will the police and the long arm of the law prevail over the Queen of Vice? Will the vicious Razor Wars and Tilly’s bitter feud with her nemesis, female gangland crime boss Kate Leigh, be her undoing? Lucy and her team of all female detectives find out. Producer: Emily Hughes
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Guy Dow-Sainter. 
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

33. Tilly Devine - Underworld Queen

<description>&lt;p&gt;Lucy Worsley and her all-female team of detectives travel back in time to meet con artists, hoaxers and crooks from across the world. Women living extraordinary lives in a world made for men.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy meets Princess Caraboo, a woman abducted from palace gardens in Indonesia, traded by pirates and carried away to South West England in 1817. Or so she says… &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lucy is joined in the studio by writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany, presenter of BBC Radio London’s Breakfast Show, to delve into this sensational story. Lucy then heads to the village where it all happened to meet Lady Swindlers in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Together, they follow Caraboo’s journey from wandering vagrant to star attraction. They ask how a woman with no money, no papers and not a word of English could walk into a rural community in Regency England and wind up living in a grand manor house as an honoured guest. 
They consider her very ‘unladylike’ behaviour: climbing trees, swimming naked in the lake, shooting arrows and gutting pigeons. They reflect on the influence of nearby Bristol, a cosmopolitan city rich on profits from the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The team discuss how we judge strangers, particularly women, and whether desperation can justify deceit. Would we judge Princess Caraboo any differently today?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K&lt;/p&gt;</description>

An Indonesian princess holding court in Regency England? Lucy Worsley is on the case.

Lucy Worsley and her all-female team of detectives travel back in time to meet con artists, hoaxers and crooks from across the world. Women living extraordinary lives in a world made for men.In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy meets Princess Caraboo, a woman abducted from palace gardens in Indonesia, traded by pirates and carried away to South West England in 1817. Or so she says… Lucy is joined in the studio by writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany, presenter of BBC Radio London’s Breakfast Show, to delve into this sensational story. Lucy then heads to the village where it all happened to meet Lady Swindlers in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone.Together, they follow Caraboo’s journey from wandering vagrant to star attraction. They ask how a woman with no money, no papers and not a word of English could walk into a rural community in Regency England and wind up living in a grand manor house as an honoured guest. 
They consider her very ‘unladylike’ behaviour: climbing trees, swimming naked in the lake, shooting arrows and gutting pigeons. They reflect on the influence of nearby Bristol, a cosmopolitan city rich on profits from the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.The team discuss how we judge strangers, particularly women, and whether desperation can justify deceit. Would we judge Princess Caraboo any differently today?Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

32. Princess Caraboo - Fake Princess

<description>&lt;p&gt;In this brand new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - conwomen, thieves and hustlers. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than 100 years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this first episode Lucy is investigating the career of Alice Diamond, the queen of the UK’s most famous all female crime syndicate in the early 20th century. By the age of 18 Alice is leading a gang of incredibly successful professional shoplifters from South East London, known as the Forty Thieves, whose audacious and carefully planned raids on London’s new department stores make them notorious. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With Lucy to explore Alice Diamond’s story is Professor Lorraine Gamman, the founder of the Design Against Crime Research Initiative at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, which works to reduce shoplifting. Lorraine also has a fascinating personal connection to Alice Diamond through Alice’s apprentice, Shirley Pitts, and she helped Shirley write her memoir ‘Gone Shopping’. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lucy is also joined by historian Rosalind Crone to visit Southwark in South East London where Alice spends her childhood moving from one set of dismal lodgings to another to avoid the rent man. And they visit another of Alice’s haunts: Marlborough Street Magistrates’ Court, where she faces dozens of charges of shoplifting. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lucy wants to know: is Alice Diamond a beacon of female liberation or is she just a serial criminal? How were opportunities for women changing in the early 20th century? What does Alice’s story tell us about the lives of women born into poverty then, and asks how much has changed for women today?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Jane Greenwood
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble 
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Lucy Worsley meets Alice Diamond, London’s queen of shoplifting in the 1920s.

In this brand new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - conwomen, thieves and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than 100 years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this first episode Lucy is investigating the career of Alice Diamond, the queen of the UK’s most famous all female crime syndicate in the early 20th century. By the age of 18 Alice is leading a gang of incredibly successful professional shoplifters from South East London, known as the Forty Thieves, whose audacious and carefully planned raids on London’s new department stores make them notorious. With Lucy to explore Alice Diamond’s story is Professor Lorraine Gamman, the founder of the Design Against Crime Research Initiative at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, which works to reduce shoplifting. Lorraine also has a fascinating personal connection to Alice Diamond through Alice’s apprentice, Shirley Pitts, and she helped Shirley write her memoir ‘Gone Shopping’. Lucy is also joined by historian Rosalind Crone to visit Southwark in South East London where Alice spends her childhood moving from one set of dismal lodgings to another to avoid the rent man. And they visit another of Alice’s haunts: Marlborough Street Magistrates’ Court, where she faces dozens of charges of shoplifting. Lucy wants to know: is Alice Diamond a beacon of female liberation or is she just a serial criminal? How were opportunities for women changing in the early 20th century? What does Alice’s story tell us about the lives of women born into poverty then, and asks how much has changed for women today?Producer: Jane Greenwood
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble 
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

31. Alice Diamond - Queen of 40 Thieves

Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

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