The Murder of William Weare

This 2021 episode covers Olympe de Gouges, known primarily for her 1791 pamphlet “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizen.” But her writing and political activity went far beyond that one pamphlet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Holly shares additional details of Percy Fawcett's life, including theories about his interest in spiritualism leading him to some odd conclusions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

In Victorian England, the press were never shy of calling a crime the “sensation of the century” or a murder, “the most astonishing the world had ever seen.” When the body of a young woman showed up on the beach of a popular seaside resort town, no-one would have imagined it woul ...  Show more

In a world before police, what happened when someone was murdered? How were murderers caught? How did the wheels of justice turn?We talk to Steven Veerapen, author of Of Blood Descended, about murder under the bloodiest King of all, Henry VIII.Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by F ...  Show more

The Burke and Hare case was a scandalous episode in 19th-century Edinburgh where William Burke and William Hare, two Irish immigrants, resorted to murder to supply fresh corpses to medical schools. Operating in the early 1820s, they targeted vulnerable individuals, including trav ...  Show more

What is it about this case that holds the imagination after all these years? When did that fascination with it begin? How early on did the myths of Jack the Ripper evolve?Anthony and Maddy look at how the newspapers and showmen were quick to pounce on this case, turning these tra ...  Show more