#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.

[likeslovesdesires]

Lucy Worsley, lovely.

[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

[khorazir]

Sounds interesting.

[jojotier]

Man reading If Walls Could Talk and it's in the section about the history of bedrooms and it's even more insane to me how modern romantasy just sort of glosses over the maids and other servants. Like even if we go off of the period being vaguely Victorian era as opposed to Medieval the maid could have the following routine like in the book:

"Rise 6:30am / open windows, etc / Prepare early tea / Take hot water to the bedrooms / Prepare baths / Sweep and dust hall, clean doorstep / lay and light fires / After breakfast, make beds, empty slops and tidy bedrooms / Prepare rooms for sweeping, clean them thoroughly / Be dressed [in uniform] by 3pm / Take hot water to bedrooms before dinner / Light fires and gas, draw curtains / If needed assist with toilet of younger ladies or guests / Help with table if needed / Turn down beds and Prepare bedroom for the night"

And like maybe the personal maid gets screentime but otherwise it's almost like we're meant to gloss over "the help". Idk how to articulate this point further other than to say, damn man

[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)

[kellykadesperate]

if no one's got me i know lucy worsely is somewhere out there dressed as a tudor lady in waiting filming a new documentary about the tudor era

[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.

[likeslovesdesires]

Lucy Worsley, very pretty.

[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.