logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2022
41m 52s

S2 E1: Murders in a City Without Light

Pushkin Industries
About this episode

London's West End - once a glittering Mecca of nightlife - is pitch black. The lights are off to hide the city from waves of Nazi bombers - but in the darkness a merciless killer is hunting down the women of this district. 

Join hosts Hallie Rubenhold and Alice Fiennes as they walk those bomb-damaged streets to tell the stories of the women targeted by this "Blackout Ripper" over the course of just one week in 1942. 

You'll glimpse inside the theaters, jazz joints and dive bars of Piccadilly and Soho; witness deadly air raids; and criss cross the blacked out streets where a serial killer lurks. You'll learn too of the hardships that blighted the lives of many women in wartime, and the extent of the violence they faced at the hands of men from their own side in the conflict. 

Sources: 

Bone, James. London Echoing (London: Jonathan Cape, 1948)

Caddick-Adams, Peter. Sand and Steel: A New History of D-Day (London: Penguin Random House, 2019).

Cederwell, William. Reading London in Wartime: Blitz, the People and Propaganda in 1940s Literature (New York: Routledge, 2018). 

Farson, N. Bomber’s Moon (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1941).

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Jun 17
Warlords, Espionage, and Disinformation | Introducing Hot Money: Agent of Chaos
In 2020, the Financial Times exposed a 2 billion euro fraud at Wirecard, a high-flying German fintech. Many thought that was the end of the story. But for reporter Sam Jones, it was just the beginning. This season on Hot Money: Agent of Chaos, from Pushkin Industries and the Fina ... Show More
38m 58s
May 19
Listen Now — Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah
The new season of Deep Cover, a podcast about people who lead double lives, reveals a story of stolen valor and misplaced heroism. Sarah Cavanaugh was many things to the people who knew her: a decorated veteran, a Marine who saved her comrades, a young woman fighting cancer. Sara ... Show More
41m 43s
Dec 2022
Raising the Dead - Behind the Scenes of Bad Women
The rich and famous leave many traces in the historical records, but how can you reconstruct the lives of ordinary people who lived decades and decades ago? That was the challenge facing the team behind the Bad Women podcast. Hosts Hallie Rubenhold and Alice Fiennes sit down with ... Show More
44m 1s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2023
Episode 435: Harvey Glatman "The Glamour Girl Slayer" Part 1
From the summer of 1957 to the summer of ’58, the City of Los Angeles was terrorized by a truly heinous beast who was murdering women and dumping their bodies in the LA desert. The killer, thirty-year-old Harvey Glatman known as The Glamour Girl Slayer had a dark past and a serio ... Show More
1h 42m
Apr 2022
86 - The S-Bahn Murderer: The Serial Killer in Nazi Germany
"In the midst of WII, Berlin wasn't a safe place to be. But it wasn't just the bombs that threatened the lives of the women of Berlin. A new killer was haunting the city's blacked-out trains, luring them in with a smile and a kind word. It would take a dedicated detective to catc ... Show More
51m 4s
Feb 2024
John List : un tueur si tranquille • Episode 2 sur 4
 NOUVEAU - Abonnez-vous à Minuit+ pour profiter de Crimes - Histoires Vraies et de milliers d’histoires vraies sans publicité, d’épisodes en avant-première et en intégralité. Vous aurez accès sans publicité à des dizaines de programmes passionnants comme Espions - Histoires Vraie ... Show More
11m 18s
Mar 2022
Histoire Criminelle, les enquêtes de Scotland Yard - Episode 1 : L’assassinat de Lord Russel – 1840
Londres, 1840 Notre série débute dans l’un des quartiers les plus élégants de la capitale : Mayfair, à deux pas de Hyde Park. Dans une petite rue élégante qui s’appelle Norfolk Street. Une rue bordée de belles demeures, dans laquelle on se sent bien. Et pour cause : il y a des ro ... Show More
43m 10s
Nov 2022
Cautionary Conversation: The Blitz Spirit and the Blackout Ripper
In a crisis most people respond with decency and solidarity. The bombing of British cities in the Second World War did not cause society to crumble as was expected, but proved instead human resilience. That defiant "Blitz Spirit" is still a source of pride for Britons... but have ... Show More
32m 51s
Oct 2022
Bad Women: The Blackout Ripper
Here’s a preview of Bad Women: The Blackout Ripper. Over a single week in February 1942, a sadistic serial killer stalked London’s bomb-ravaged streets – hunting for victims in the bars and clubs of the city’s West End theater district. In his cruelty and depravity, he was immedi ... Show More
15m 16s
Mar 2022
Histoire Criminelle, les enquêtes de Scotland Yard - Episode 5 : L’étrange Mr Fred – 1891
Londres, quartier de Lambeth - 1891 Cet épisode nous ramène dans le cœur de la capitale, le long de la Tamise, juste en face de Westminster. C’est un quartier connu de beaucoup d’auditrices et d’auditeurs : il est bordé par l’un des symboles de la ville, le « London Eye »… la plu ... Show More
46m 34s
Feb 2024
John List : un tueur si tranquille • Episode 3 sur 4
 NOUVEAU - Abonnez-vous à Minuit+ pour profiter de Crimes - Histoires Vraies et de milliers d’histoires vraies sans publicité, d’épisodes en avant-première et en intégralité. Vous aurez accès sans publicité à des dizaines de programmes passionnants comme Espions - Histoires Vraie ... Show More
12m 23s