logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2020
48m 23s

Mary Shelley

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Greg Jenner is joined by literary expert Dr Corin Throsby and comedian Lauren Pattison to explore the often turbulent life of literary icon Mary Shelley.

Join us as we all question our life achievements while discussing the groundbreaking work Mary produced by the age of just 20, how far she was prepared to walk for love, and arguably the most gothic first date in history.

A Muddy Knees Media production for BBC Radio 4

Up next
Aug 22
Kellogg Brothers: a family feud and the creation of a cereal empire
Greg Jenner is joined in nineteenth-century America by historian Dr Vanessa Heggie and comedian Ed Byrne to learn all about the feuding Kellogg Brothers. John and Will Kellogg were born into a large family in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the middle of the 1800s. Following a childho ... Show More
59m 9s
Aug 15
Alexandre Dumas: author of The Three Musketeers
Greg Jenner is joined in nineteenth-century France by historian Professor Olivette Otele and comedian Celya AB to learn about acclaimed novelist Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre was born to an innkeeper’s daughter and a legendary Black general who fought for Napoleon. After his father’ ... Show More
56m 7s
Aug 8
Empress Matilda: civil war in medieval England
Greg Jenner is joined in twelfth-century England by Dr Gabrielle Storey and comedian Cariad Lloyd to learn all about Empress Matilda and the medieval civil war known as the Anarchy. A granddaughter of William the Conqueror, Matilda was born into England’s new Norman royal family. ... Show More
57m 16s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2022
Colette
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding French writers of the twentieth century. The novels of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954) always had women at their centre, from youth to mid-life to old age, and they were phenomenally popular, at first for their freshn ... Show More
51m 27s
Jan 2022
Colette
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding French writers of the twentieth century. The novels of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954) always had women at their centre, from youth to mid-life to old age, and they were phenomenally popular, at first for their freshn ... Show More
51m 27s
Nov 2023
The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley - Mary Shelley Short Stories
Would you choose to live forever if you could? What would it be like to outlive all your friends and family, including your spouse? The Mortal Immortal written by Mary Shelley, that’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every epis ... Show More
45m 44s
Jun 2024
612 Finding Margaret Fuller (with Allison Pataki) | My Last Book with James Marcus
Fearless and fiercely intelligent, the nineteenth-century American feminist Margaret Fuller was "the radiant genius and fiery heart" of the Transcendentalists, the group of New Englanders who helped launch a fledgling nation onto the world's cultural and literary stage. In this e ... Show More
57m 16s
May 2017
Emily Dickinson
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Emily Dickinson, arguably the most startling and original poet in America in the C19th. According to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, her correspondent and mentor, writing 15 years after her death, "Few events in American literary ... Show More
48m 30s
Jan 2024
Robert Burns' Sex Life
How did an 18th century working class farm labourer climb the social ladder to become the most beloved poet Scotland has produced? By the time he died aged just 37, he had taken the country by storm with his romantic verse and was welcomed into the bosom of Edinburgh high society ... Show More
45m 37s
Mar 2023
494 Three Roads Back - How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives (with Megan Marshall)
In a final powerful book, acclaimed literary biographer Robert Richardson told the story of how Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and William James dealt with personal tragedies early in their careers. In this episode, Jacke talks to Pulitzer-prize winner Megan Marshall, ... Show More
49m 35s
Apr 2024
598 Forgotten Women of Literature 8 - Charmian Kittredge London (with Iris Jamahl Dunkle) | What's Great About Christopher Isherwood (with Mike Palindrome) | My Last Book with Duncan Yoon
Charmian Kittredge London (1871-1955) may be best known as the wife of the famous American writer Jack London, but she was herself a literary trailblazer - and the epitome of a modern woman. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle (Charmian Kittredge London: ... Show More
1h 2m
Sep 2022
The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe. She's got to be one of the most famous people of all time, hasn't she? But what happens when an investigative war reporter dedicates years of his life to finding out who real Marilyn was, interviewing hundreds of people who knew her, from her co-stars, to her psyc ... Show More
40m 19s