My Life in the Past

1 week ago | lucyworsley.substack.com | Lucy Worsley

I could actually smell the ashes of poor old Notre Dame Cathedral in the air as I walked across Paris. Six years ago, I was on my way to the Palace of Versailles for Easter, and I wanted to change from the metro to the RER at St-Michel Notre Dame. Of course the station was closed, because of the fire the week before. I found my way above ground with the enthusiastic assistance of a gentleman who I’d taken to be a Metro employee, but who actually turned out to be a lawyer.

2 weeks ago | lucyworsley.substack.com | Lucy Worsley

Yes, I have a favourite murderess. No, I’m not proud of it. But our all-female detective agency, investigating the lives and crimes of women in the past for Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, the BBC Radio Four series and BBC Sounds podcast, has now examined more than forty different female criminals. It’s only human to have a preference, right?

2 weeks ago | lucyworsley.substack.com | Lucy Worsley |Annie Gray

Thank you everyone who tuned into my live video with ! We talked about the Tudor dish where a goose and a suckling pig get sewn together, why you might put sugar in wine, Queen Victoria’s appetite, Annie’s passion for Victorian food writer Mrs Acton, what food and teach us about class, her favourite weird kitchen utensil and much, much more! I’ll be watching it back myself for the recipe for chocolate and vanilla blancmange Easter eggs - Annie says an 11 year old can do it, so I’m in with at...

4 weeks ago | lucyworsley.substack.com | Lucy Worsley

As friends in North America are enjoying the new series of Wolf Hallat the moment, I thought I’d tell you about the time I went to Anne Boleyn’s coronation. Or at least, the time I visited the set when it was being filmed for Hilary Mantel’s drama. I was present the day they were doing the scene where a pregnant Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy, wearing a baby bump) walks up the aisle of Westminster Abbey, and prostrates herself on the floor before the high altar in advance of being crowned.

1 month ago | lucyworsley.substack.com | Lucy Worsley

Whenever we make a history documentary, there’s always one super-interesting part of the story that gets left out. Maybe there wasn’t room for it in the overall thrust of the argument, or perhaps we couldn’t access the artefacts that would illustrate it. In the case of our programme about BLOODY MARY (which is coming up this Sunday for North American viewers on PBS) the thing I most regret not including is what I consider to be one of the most intriguing pieces of wood in history.