Viscountess Gage of Firle Place

Journalist and author Eleanor Doughty has spent over a decade gaining rare access to Britain’s great estates. In her Sunday Telegraph column and her book Heirs and Graces, she explores inheritance not as privilege alone - but as duty, burden and identity. In this episode, Violet ...  Show more

Lady Anne Glenconner has lived more lives than most of us could imagine. Born at Holkham Hall, Maid of Honour at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation, and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret for over three decades, Lady Anne stood at the centre of royal history — and at the creation ...  Show more

Lenormand was a fortune-teller in France in the 19th century. She was hugely influential, because despite her work being illegal, very important and powerful people consulted her for cartomancy readings.

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Germaine Greer nominates sculptor Dame Elizabeth Frink

She was best known for striking sculptures ranging from horses and goats, to wild eagles and disembodied heads.

As a female sculptor working in a man's world, Elisabeth Frink found it hard to establish herself ...

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the influential painters at the heart of the French Impressionist movement: Berthe Morisot (1841-1895). The men in her circle could freely paint in busy bars and public spaces, while Morisot captured the domestic world and found new, daring ...  Show more

Hortense and Marie Mancini tried to make a place for themselves in 17th-century Europe, defying all kinds of conventions along the way. Their lives were full of adventure and daring, but they were also both stuck in abusive marriages.  

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