My Life in the Past

Articles

Why should we bother studying history?

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

This week, the LadyKillers team have been at the Hay Festival, recording a special show with a live audience that you’ll get to hear later in the year. We stayed in a holiday house with lots of other people working in the BBC tent. We happily ate up some yoghurt left for us by The Archers, presumably it was from their farm. But Front Row came in late and woke us up in the middle of the night!But now onto these three questions which seem to come up all the time: Question One: Should I study history?
Cold water swimming

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

I’ve been dashing up and down the country for the last few weeks, giving talks about my Jane Austen biography in her 250th birthday year!And I feel in need of recuperation – ideally in the form of some healthy sea bathing. Jane herself and her family loved a seaside holiday. They liked Lyme Regis in Dorset so much that after visiting it in 1803 they came back again in 1804.
Lucy Worsley and Helen Lewis on history and her book THE GENIUS MYTH

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

Thank you for tuning into my live video with the brilliant ! We talked about Jean Plaidy (again - she’s always coming up at MY LIFE IN THE PAST), Catherine de Medici, royal biographies, Tolstoy’s wife, and the problematic concept of the ‘genius’. Helen talked about the role of biopics in the making of a ‘genius’, the way we like our geniuses to be flawed individuals, and the myth-making that grows up around them.
What the heck's a 'Dollar Princess'?

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

Firstly, a reminder that on Sunday, 7pm, London time, I’ll be online with the brilliant Helen Lewis of The Bluestocking! Do you enjoy her weird and wonderful weekly round-up of strange stuff as much as I do? Or her funny Radio Four programme called Strong Message Here?
Lucy Worsley and Helen Castor talk history books and history heroines

3 weeks ago | lucyworsley.substack.com | Lucy Worsley |Helen Castor

Thank you, dear subscribers, for tuning into what I thought was a wonderful talk with! I’m inspired by the way she takes the writing of history so seriously, and I can’t wait for to her new biography of Elizabeth I. If you missed us and want to catch up, please enjoy the recording here!
Does 'true crime' make you feel dirrrty?

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

A quick reminder that paid subscribers to MY LIFE IN THE PAST can join me on Sunday at 7pm, London time, for a conversation with Top Historian Helen Castor, writer of The H Files, and author of brilliant books like SHE-WOLVES and THE EAGLE AND THE HART. See you on Sunday - and do send me any more questions you want me to ask her! Want to join us but not yet a subscriber?
Welcome to MY LIFE IN THE PAST!

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

Hello! Spring has definitely sprung here in London, I’m four months into MY LIFE IN THE PAST, and I’m thrilled to have had your company as I’ve ranged through the centuries in search of the sort of history that you and I both like. In case you don’t know me: I’m Lucy Worsley, a historian-at-large. I worked for 21 years as Chief Curator at the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces with an office at Hampton Court Palace. Let’s meet again next week?
Where to go for your Big Birthday

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

Listen, not every birthday. But maybe if there’s a zero on the end (or if someone else is paying!) then I’ve got just the place for you to celebrate in the very grandest Art Deco style.
Inside Notre Dame

1 month 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.
My Favourite Murderess

1 month 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?