Episodes

  • #60 After 1918 the secrets are out - Ep 8 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #60 After 1918 the secrets are out - Ep 8 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Nov 4 2026
    The reason we all believe Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst achieved women’s votes in Britain is because that’s the narrative created in the 20s and 30s by former suffragettes. The reality of what Emmeline and Christabel got up to post 1918 is shocking. Suffice it to say it involves racial purity and telling working women they can buy silk underwear, shapely shoes and fur hats, not by improving their working conditions but by giving into the feminine desire for shopping. What?

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    45 mins
  • #43 The Suffragettes did not win the vote - Ep 7 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #43 The Suffragettes did not win the vote - Ep 7 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Oct 28 2026
    Suddenly, after 1913 votes for women looks inevitable. Not through the chaotic, dying campaign of the suffragettes. But through the political brilliance of Millicent Fawcett and the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Their 1913 alliance with the Labour Party changes the whole political balance. Now Liberal Prime Minister HH Asquith’s blockheaded intransigence over women’s votes is costing his party dearly and letting the Tories in. At the 1915 election all three parties will be vying to give women the vote. But then… war breaks out.

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    42 mins
  • #42 The violence backfired - Ep 6 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #42 The violence backfired - Ep 6 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Oct 21 2026
    From 1912 the WSPU – the Pankhurst Suffragettes – are out of control and dangerous. But that is not how they're remembered. Anyone who disagrees with the violence either leaves or is thrown out. Whatever they later claim about their ‘wonderful leadership’, it is their young, poor members who are inventing new and increasingly dangerous ways of intimidating the government. The WSPU leadership claims it never threatened life, only property, but this is manifestly not true. Axes are thrown, full theatres set on fire, bombs put on trains, acid poured into mail-boxes and the leaders do nothing to contain this ‘terrorism’ with deadly intent.

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    37 mins
  • #41 The Violence the Suffragettes wouldn't admit to - Ep 5 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #41 The Violence the Suffragettes wouldn't admit to - Ep 5 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Oct 14 2026
    From 1912 the WSPU – the Pankhurst Suffragettes – are out of control and dangerous. But that is not how they're remembered. Anyone who disagrees with the violence either leaves or is thrown out. Whatever they later claim about their ‘wonderful leadership’, it is their young, poor members who are inventing new and increasingly dangerous ways of intimidating the government. The WSPU leadership claims it never threatened life, only property, but this is manifestly not true. Axes are thrown, full theatres set on fire, bombs put on trains, acid poured into mail-boxes and the leaders do nothing to contain this ‘terrorism’ with deadly intent.

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    37 mins
  • #37 Hunger strikes and forced feeding - Ep 4 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #37 Hunger strikes and forced feeding - Ep 4 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Oct 7 2026
    The militant strategy of the WSPU – the Pankhurst Suffragettes - is delivering them headlines. It gets them nowhere with the government but it makes enormous sums of advertising revenue from fancy retailers, and funds Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst’s society lifestyle. Rich London ladies in silks and satins pour in the money, while working-class activists take all the risks. WSPU officer Theresa Billington drafts a constitution to give everyone a say but Emmeline Pankhurst tears it up and manoeuvres anyone with a socialist agenda out. Who exactly is this organisation for?

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    38 mins
  • #36 The Pankhursts didn't want the poor to get the vote - Ep 3 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #36 The Pankhursts didn't want the poor to get the vote - Ep 3 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Sep 30 2026
    The WSPU – the Pankhurst Suffragettes - begin in the Manchester Labour Party in the 1890s and learn their publicity-grabbing tactics from Labour. But these tactics turn out to have the worst possible effect – making women’s votes even less likely than before. They are so bad, in fact, it makes you wonder whether the Suffragette leadership had some other agenda.

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    31 mins
  • #36 Most women didn't want the vote - Ep 2 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #36 Most women didn't want the vote - Ep 2 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Sep 23 2026
    We go back to the great number of unsung women and men who made great strides towards women’s votes and female emancipation by 1900. Emmeline Pankhurst sets up her Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903 as a pressure group for votes for poor working-women in the cotton mills. By then a majority of MPs is already consistently in favour. But the public are uninterested and no government will therefore act. The question is whether the WSPU can find a formula for making ministers give votes to women.

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    27 mins
  • #34 Getting the vote in 1918: 'marvellous leadership' - Ep 1 The Secret History of the Suffragettes

    #34 Getting the vote in 1918: 'marvellous leadership' - Ep 1 The Secret History of the Suffragettes
    Sep 16 2026
    Mrs Pankhurst claims she won women the vote through ‘marvellous leadership.’ An all-male conference of MPs counters that it gifted women the vote. We reveal that neither is true.

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    35 mins