#Lucy Worsley

[queerasfact]

"Did Jane[Austen] ever have lesbian sex? Here the stakes would have been much lower. Yes, it was frowned on by society. But this was an age where women very often shared beds, and Jane herself frequently records sleeping with a female friend. People were much less worried about lesbian sex in general. It wasn’t pursued in the law courts, or policed against by the matrons of polite society. This was not least because many of them didn’t quite believe that it was even possible. So that door of possibility may remain ajar. But only by the very tiniest crack, and only in the absence of evidence either way."

-Lucy Worsley, Jane Austen at Home: A Biography (2017)

We really appreciated the way that Worsley leaves the door open, as she says, to the possibility of Jane Austen being queer, despite no specific evidence of her love for or relationships with women. A refreshing break from heteronormativity! Also a reminder that while "proving" queerness in history is often difficult, disproving it is just as hard!

Learn more about queerness and Jane

[finalproblem]

Doyle came to hate Holmes and killed him off in print only to be forced to revive him upon public demand. In documentary series “Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle” (3 x 60′), historian Lucy Worsley investigates the love-hate relationship in a parallel biography of Holmes and the man who created him.

To accompany the series, “Sherlock” creator Mark Gatiss, who has a tradition of adapting ghost stories for the BBC for Christmas, has adapted Doyle’s short story “Lot No. 249” (1 x 30’), starring Kit Harington and Freddie Fox. It revolves around a group of Oxford students, one of whom undertakes research into the secrets of ancient Egypt which become the talk of the college.

[antigonick]

I too have searched for my own Jane, and naturally I have found her to be simply a far, far better version of myself: clever, kind, funny, but also angry at the restrictions of her life, someone tirelessly searching for ways to be free and creative. I know who I want Jane to be, and I put my cards on the table. This is, unashamedly, the story of my Jane, every word of it written with love.

Lucy Worsley, Jane Austen at Home

[scifrey]

Videos to Watch if You Enjoyed "Cling Fast"

How Much Booze Did Medieval People Really Drink? - Dr. Eleanor Janega teaches us how to booze it up, White Horse-style.

Could You Make a Living in Medieval London? - Another great Eleanor Janega video about occupations, scandals, and the every day lives of every day folks in Medieval cities.

What Was Life Really Like For A Medieval Peasant? - the last of the Eleanor Janega videos about what kind of life Hob Gadling would have lived before he met his Stranger.

A Tudor Feast - domestic historians and archeologists Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands, Peter "Fonz" Ginn and Hugh Beamish - under the supervision of Marc Meltonville of Hampton Court Palace's Tudor kitchens - prepare and serve a tudor banquet at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

Who Do You Think You Are: Danny Dyer Learns Tudor Etiquette - A segment from the Ancestry.com series following actor Danny Dyer as he explores his royal roots.

Who Would Be King of England Today According to Henry VIII's Will? - chartmaker Matt Baker takes us through the royal family tree from Henry the Eighth to the present day, if his edict that the next monarch in the event that his three children (Mary, Edward, and Elizabeth) produced no heirs, then the crown should next fall to the children of his youngest sister. And not, as actually happened, go to James of Scotland.

Royal Myths: Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada - Dr. Lucy Worsley talks us through the propaganda and fibs that have sprung up around Good Queen Bess, and whether or not she really did declare that she had the stomach of a king.

Dancing Cheek to Cheek: The Devil's Work - Another great series by Dr. Lucy Worsley, chief curator of Royal Historic Palaces, but this time she's joined by Strictly Come Dancing's Len Goodman. They trace the history of dance in Britain, and this episode features some rowdy Medieval and Elizabethan numbers.

Turn Back Time: Tudor Monastery Farm - This series sees Ruth, Alex, and Peter return to the Elizabethan age, this time spending a year on a farm worked by peasants and serfs in service to the church.

The Tudors' Bizarre 12 Days Of Christmas Ritual - The Tudor Monastery Farm Christmas special.

Hardwick Hall: A window onto the Elizabethan world - Sheffield Hallam University gives a great look at Hardwick Hall (more glass than wall), the estate home of the wealthiest woman in Britain at the time, and the kind of place Hob would have aspired to build.

Tudor Food & Etiquette Explained in 14 Minutes - Quick and dirty explanation of where your napkin goes and who the 'chairman of the board' was.

Tudor Houses Explained in 10 Minutes - Not particularly engagingly presented, but a video chock full of visual examples of different kinds of Tudor houses and buildings.

Modern History: The Knight - Jason Kingsley introduces us to the concept behind Modern History and in particular their first series, “The Knight”. Jason has been fascinated by history his whole life, in particular the medieval period and the life of knights. (This is the first video of a playlist).

Royal Armouries - Elizabethan Swordsmanship - a demonstration by weaponsmasters at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. (I recommend turning on closed captioning for this one, as the sound was recorded live with no mics.)

Getting Dressed - Tudor Royal Household - a nice, even-paced and well produced video showing what it was like to get dressed in queen Katherine Parr's household.

Dressing Up a Tudor Man - my personal heroes at Prior Attire show us what the blokes were wearing at the time. Keep in mind that this is 40 years too early for Hob and Dream's disastrous Shakespeare-ruined feast. (I recommend turning on closed captioning for this one, as the sound was recorded live with no mics.)

And just for the fun of it:

Medieval Pickup Lines from the folks behind (I believe?) Whores of Yore, and Top Tudor Historian Rates Famous Movie Scenes, wherein Dr Nicola Tallis, British historian and author of three books on the Tudors, rates scenes from five blockbuster movies set in the Tudor period. (I love how scandalized she gets.)

If you want more, I really recommend anything at all featuring Doctors Lucy Worsley, Eleanor Janega, and Ruth Goodman (search their names on YouTube and you'll find a wealth of clips, full episodes, and even playlists.)

[likeslovesdesires]

Lucy Worsley, very pretty.

[khorazir]

Sounds interesting.

[historicalreusedcostumes]

This white gown with perls in front is worn on Szidi Tobias as Queen in Johanna's Secrets (2015) and later worn on Lucy Worsley in British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (2017)

[pea-green]

Lucy + her co-hosts in every episode of Lady Killers

[105nt]

Show me your Christmas books!

[jaynedolluk]

Watched Lucy Worsley's 3 part documentary on Arthur Conan Doyle, Killing Sherlock. I found it really interesting as there was a lot I didn't know about him + she didn't shy away from discussing some of his more controversial opinions. It also gave a fairly good history of the original Sherlock + how ACD was driven to kill him off but then brought him back. (And yes, even back then there was Sherlock fanfic)

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

[living400lbs]

Today I read Ghost Talkers, by Mary Robinette Kowal. It's a version of WWI where spiritualism is real and the British Army has volunteer mediums talking to recently dead soldiers to gain intelligence. The author notes include reading both nurse and ambulance driver accounts to understand women's experiences in WWI and with the dying.

A review of the book:

I'm reminded of the fictional WWI ambulance driver Phryne Fisher's line: "I haven't taken anything seriously since 1918." 1918, of course, was when the war ended.

Also reminded that Spiritualism was a major influence starting in the 1880s but had a huge surge in popularity after the Great War that killed so many. There are reasons that Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers used mediums and seances in their work, and that historical fiction uses Spiritualism to evoke the time.

Also remembering Lucy Worsley's accounts of Agatha Christie's nursing training in Worsley's biography of Christie.

[grandmaster-anne]

I am obsessed with Lucy Worsley's programmes 💗 I just love watching them! (Also, that dress is ✨WOWZAAA✨)

[antigonick]

There were, of course, compensatory advantages to growing older. ‘As I must leave off being young,’ Jane admitted, ‘I find many Douceurs… I am put on the Sofa near the Fire & can drink as much wine as I like.’

Lucy Worsley, Jane Austen at Home

[esta-elavaris]

You know what I really, really love about this? How much it still rings true today. There is such an unreal wealth of warmth and support and camaraderie to be found in writing circles, and seeing this has me stupidly emotional because it shows how far back it has stretched. I love it so, so much - and it's from a time period when novels were a fairly new-fangled thing! It's literally been there since the beginning!

I think it’s quite unfortunate that there’s a tendency in media to portray groups of creatives as being very catty and jealous towards one another, and yes it does exist, but it’s a tiny, tiny minority, and otherwise it’s this. Artists helping other artist, artists lifting other artists up, artists recognising that there’s not a finite amount of success and attention and positivity to go around. I love this. So much.

[likeslovesdesires]

Lucy Worsley, lovely.