History's Greatest Scandals

Join us for series two of History’s Greatest Scandals, where Ellie Cawthorne and Professor Hannah Greig are uncovering the secrets of the Georgian era. They’ll be following on the trail of forgers, exposing illicit liaisons, meeting cross-dressing celebrity spies and getting invo ...  Show more

Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne follow on the trail of a trio of scammers who fooled Georgian high society using fake bonds In 1775, a respectable lady, a mild-mannered apothecary and his fast-living identical twin stood accused of pulling off a scam that had earnt the ...  Show more

Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne share the story of an illicit romance with royal connections that kicked off one of the messiest divorce cases of the Georgian age In a tavern in 1769, aristocrat Henrietta Grosvenor was discovered in a comprising position with a man who ...  Show more

Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne revisit the world’s first major financial crash: the South Sea Bubble of 1720 In 1720, would-be speculators were in a frenzy over an irresistible new investment opportunity. Everyone from bankers and barons to ordinary housewives rushed ...  Show more

Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne examine the story of the Zong massacre, in which more than 130 enslaved people were murdered – and their deaths claimed on insurance In the 1780s, an extraordinary insurance claim made its way through Britain’s courts – against the lives ...  Show more