The Hidden Herstory Podcast

In the first Episode of Season Two of the podcast, Chrissy chats to Melissa Jones from the Women's Museum of California, and discovers how the museum is expanding and evolving to include several online exhibitions, community work, educational spaces, and much more. 

Melissa also tells us the stories of three amazing American women - Mary Maschal, Alice Park, and Alice Hohlmeyer. Mary Maschal was the original founder of the Women's Museum of California and the story of how she worked tirelessly to preserve women's history is extraordinary. Alice Park was a lifelong suffragist and pacifist, whose papers and documents, Mary Maschal discovered and preserved & Alice Hohlmeyer played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946 to 1951. Hear all these fascinating stories and lots more interesting historical chat, on this podcast episode, which continues the #SistersAcrossTheAtlantic theme that we began last year.

Visit the Women's Museum of California 

We discover the life of 1950's singer songwriter Connie Converse, through listening to short 30 second snippets of her music. 

This podcast episode compliments the blog post we wrote:

Chrissy chats with Canadian Historian, Ballet Dancer and Blogger, Jessica Storoschuk from Winnipeg, Manitoba, in this extra special Christmas Episode. In the first part of the show, we talk about our own personal family Christmas traditions, and go on to discuss some of the fascinating Religious, Royal and pre-Christian history that has also become the foundation of the contemporary Christmas celebrations we know and love today - and we also discuss the book "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. 

In the second half of the show, Jessica tells us about two amazing women who both have connections with Christmas:

Queen Alexandra was Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law. This shy, deaf, highly dignified Queen, who was married to the notorious womanizer, King Edward, took up photography as a hobby and published a book of her photographs, featuring various members of the Royal families of Europe relaxing on holiday, in order to raise money for her chosen charities at Christmas. The book was a bestseller all over the world, and Queen Alexandra's story is a truly fascinating one, which we shall be exploring further on the blog at hiddenherstory.com. 

Jessica also tells us about the life and career of British Ballet Dancer, Margot Fonteyn, who was one of the most influential and highly respected ballet dancers of the 20th century. One of her most famous roles was in the traditional Christmas Ballet "The Nutcracker". Margot Fonteyn married a South American Politician in the 1950's and went on to act as a cultural ambassador for the UK. Despite suffering many personal difficulties in her private life, and spending a great deal of her time and money caring for her husband after he was paralyzed in a failed assassination attempt, she always remained 100% focused in her dancing career, working with such greats as Robert Helpmann, Frank Ashton, and Rudolf Nureyev. She was still dancing professionally, well inther 60's, in order to finance her husband's complex medical needs, but she sadly died penniless in Panama, South America and is buried in an unmarked grave. Find out more about the legendary, Margot Fonteyn as Historian, Jessica tells us her extraordinary story. 

Visit Jessica's blog & Follow her on Social Media 

In the first part of this mini bonus episode - which is only available on Spotify - we shine a spotlight on the lives and music of three pioneering women of the blues - Bertha Chippie Hill, Mildred Bailey and Sippie Wallace.

Our Guest on this episode is Singer Songwriter Kate Garner who specializes in Vintage style music. We discuss Kate's recent performance at the "Noel Coward Art & Style Exhibition" at the Guildhall Art Gallery and find out why Kate's London family and her famous musical dad, played such an important role in her musical upbringing and how she learned to stream live gigs from home during the recent Covid 19 lockdowns. We also talk about the various women from history which have inspired some of Kate's songs and her forthcoming musical based on the Mapp & Lucia books. 

We also get an in-show "Text Message" from Karen at the Hotsy Totsy Club! 

Chrissy tells Kate the story of her 2 X Great Aunt, Madeline Tisdall, who was a Music Hall Dancer in the early 1900's and Kate reveals her top three inspiring women from history - Music Hall Queen, Marie Lloyd, Queen of the Keyboards, Winifred Atwell, and THE actual Queen herself - Elizabeth II. 

You can hear two of Kate's songs in this podcast episode "Little Things" ( written during the pandemic) and "Why Not Me"  (written for her Dad's Album) 

In the 3rd episode of our "Inspiring Women" series of interviews, Chrissy talks to award winning time management coach, business entrepreneur, and author, Abigail Barnes.

Abigail started her company "Success by Design Training" and created the 888 Formula, after having a stroke in her 30's, whilst she was away on a business trip to America. This traumatic, but pivotal event in her life, made Abigail totally re-think her own relationship with time. As a result she is now on a mission to teach other people how to use their time more effectively and productively, both at work and at home, through her various training courses and live broadcasts. 

Listen to Abigail's personal story to learn how you can manage your time better. Discover why the Olympic Athlete, Sally Gunnell, Body Shop Founder, Anita Roddick and Entrepreneur, Carrie Green, are all contemporary women, who have made history in recent years, and by doing so have inspired other women.  

ABIGAIL'S LINKS

Chrissy chats to composer Ewen Moore about the his one-woman musical Battersea Bardot, which tells the story the British Actress Carol White, who became famous for her roles in groundbreaking 1960's TV Reality drama's "Cathy Come Home", "Poor Cow" and "Up the Junction", which were written by Nell Dunn and directed by Ken Loach. 

Show Notes

For the first guest interview for the Hidden Herstory Podcast, we speak to Historian and Author, Dr Cathy Hunt, who has just written a brand new biography of Scottish Trade Unionist and Suffragist, Mary MacArthur, who was known as the working women's champion. Dr Hunt tells how she researched the story of Mary and then we go on to discuss the life and work of this little-known trailblazing woman. 

Show Notes