- 7 hours ago
First broadcast 7th October 2013.
Lucy Worsley looks at the golden age of murder taking in both factual examples e.g. Wallace, Crippen, and fictional examples e.g. Christie, Hitchcock.
Lucy Worsley - Self - Presenter (as Dr Lucy Worsley)
Mathew Prichard - Self - Grandson of Agatha Christie
P.D. James - Self - Crime Writer
Simon Brett - Self - Crime Writer and Master of Ceremonies, Detection Club
Charlotte Higgins - Self - Critic and Dorothy L Sayers Expert
Alfred Hitchcock - Self - Horror Film Director (archive footage)
John Russell Taylor - Self - Biographer of Alfred Hitchcock
Graham Greene - Self - Crime Writer (archive sound)
Agatha Christie - Self (archive footage)
Hawley Harvey Crippen - Self (archive footage)
Walter Dew - Self (archive footage)
Sylvia Sidney - Self - Mrs. Verloc (archive footage)
Lucy Worsley looks at the golden age of murder taking in both factual examples e.g. Wallace, Crippen, and fictional examples e.g. Christie, Hitchcock.
Lucy Worsley - Self - Presenter (as Dr Lucy Worsley)
Mathew Prichard - Self - Grandson of Agatha Christie
P.D. James - Self - Crime Writer
Simon Brett - Self - Crime Writer and Master of Ceremonies, Detection Club
Charlotte Higgins - Self - Critic and Dorothy L Sayers Expert
Alfred Hitchcock - Self - Horror Film Director (archive footage)
John Russell Taylor - Self - Biographer of Alfred Hitchcock
Graham Greene - Self - Crime Writer (archive sound)
Agatha Christie - Self (archive footage)
Hawley Harvey Crippen - Self (archive footage)
Walter Dew - Self (archive footage)
Sylvia Sidney - Self - Mrs. Verloc (archive footage)
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:14Murder is the darkest and most despicable of crimes.
00:18And yet, we're attracted to it in real life and in fiction.
00:23And that's because every murder tells a good story.
00:27This was certainly true at the start of the 20th century,
00:31when Edwardian press barons were demanding a murder a day
00:34for the pleasure of their newspaper readers.
00:38And even more so in the two decades between the wars,
00:42when there was a great explosion of crime
00:44in the novels of the golden age of detective fiction,
00:48the very best of it written by women.
00:51These authors perfected the art of the whodunit
00:55with all the usual cast of suspects.
00:58They turned the murder mystery into something cerebral,
01:02something tidy and domesticated,
01:05rather like solving a crossword puzzle.
01:07And they made armchair detectives out of all of us.
01:28My investigation into the golden age begins with a real crime,
01:34the first notorious killing of the 20th century.
01:40In July 1910, Britain was gripped by the progress of a huge manhunt.
01:45It was on a scale that hadn't been seen since the search for Jack the Ripper.
01:49The fugitive was Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen,
01:53and he was wanted for the murder and the mutilation of his wife, Cora.
01:59Together with his mistress, Ethel Laniv, Dr. Crippen had fled from London.
02:05Handbills had been posted everywhere
02:07and distributed to the police throughout the world.
02:12Everyone was talking about this case.
02:15The Home Secretary himself, a certain Winston Churchill,
02:20had authorised a reward worth £20,000 in today's money for their capture.
02:26So where were Dr. Crippen and his lover, Ethel Laniv?
02:31In fact, they'd already left the country.
02:34They were temporarily holed up in a hotel in Belgium,
02:37but they planned to head for North America.
02:50Henry Kendall was the captain of a steamship heading across the Atlantic to Canada,
02:55and a couple of his passengers had aroused his suspicions.
03:00The SS Montrose had only been at sea for one day
03:04when Captain Kendall noticed a father and son behaving strangely on deck.
03:10He thought that it was very odd that they squeezed each other's hands immoderately, as he put it,
03:15and that they would sometimes disappear behind the lifeboats.
03:18The two of them were travelling as Mr. and Master Robinson.
03:22What happened next was just like a detective novel,
03:25with the captain playing the part of Sherlock Holmes.
03:33Captain Kendall decided to carry out an experiment
03:35to try to confirm his suspicions that he had Dr. Crippen on board.
03:39He took a newspaper photograph of Crippen,
03:42and using chalk, he whitened out the doctor's moustache.
03:47And then he blackened out the frames of his spectacles.
03:52And, yes, it was like a photo fit.
03:56Without his moustache and his spectacles,
03:58Dr. Crippen clearly was the mysterious passenger Mr. Robinson.
04:03Captain Kendall also had access to a piece of pioneering technology
04:07that would speed up the process of 20th century crime investigation.
04:11It was the Marconi wireless.
04:13But the transmitter only had a range of 150 miles.
04:18When the captain made his breakthrough,
04:20his ship was already 130 miles away from the nearest receiver.
04:25He had 20 miles left to get the message out.
04:29Rushing along the lower deck to the wireless room,
04:32Kendall handed the operator the message that would electrify the world.
04:38It read,
04:39Have strong suspicions that Crippen, London cellar murderer,
04:43and accomplice are amongst saloon passengers.
04:46Moustache taken off, growing beard,
04:49accomplice dressed as boy,
04:51voice, manners, and build undoubtedly a girl.
04:55But would the message get through in time?
05:04So what exactly were the events that had led up to this extraordinary situation?
05:12Dr. Crippen,
05:13an American who dabbled in cheap patent medicines and dentistry,
05:17had been living what seemed like a pretty conventional life in a North London villa.
05:24His wife, Cora,
05:26was a would-be music hall artiste.
05:29But the marriage was troubled,
05:32and Crippen had begun an affair with his young secretary,
05:35Ethel Laniv.
05:38On the 19th of January, 1910,
05:42Crippen visited the chemist
05:44to order five grains of hyocene hydrobromide,
05:48an enormous dosage of a deadly poison.
05:52He signed the poison register,
05:54as he was required to,
05:56with the words,
05:57for homeopathic purposes.
06:01On the 31st of January,
06:03the Crippens held a little party at home.
06:06Later,
06:07Crippen would claim that it had been followed
06:08by a terrible row between him and his wife.
06:11Cora had said that she was leaving him the very next day.
06:15Whatever really happened that night,
06:17the guests at that party were the last people
06:19to see Cora Crippen alive.
06:26To explain Cora's absence,
06:29Crippen claimed that she'd gone back to America.
06:32And then he said that she died out there.
06:35Growing suspicious,
06:37Cora's friends now paid a visit to New Scotland Yard.
06:41The case was taken up by Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew,
06:44a veteran of the Ripper murders.
06:47He was a member of the Yard's newly formed murder squad.
06:52Its members prided themselves on their prowess
06:54and their skill in disguises,
06:56however unconvincing.
06:57Chief Inspector Dew searched Crippen's house,
07:01but everything seemed fine.
07:03Yet Dew wasn't quite satisfied.
07:06He came back three days later for another look
07:08to discover that Crippen had disappeared.
07:12My quarry had gone, Dew said,
07:15and the manner of his going pointed at guilt.
07:20The house where this block of flats now stands
07:23held a strange attraction for Dew.
07:28That sinister cellar, he wrote,
07:30seemed to draw me to it.
07:32With his sergeant,
07:34Dew began to work away at the brick floor
07:36and then to remove the earth beneath.
07:39Suddenly there came the most nauseating stench,
07:41so bad that Dew and his men
07:43had to rush out to the garden for fresh air.
07:48Fortifying themselves with brandy,
07:50they returned to the cellar
07:51and soon made a grim discovery.
07:56There, in a shallow grave,
07:58lay a limbless, headless torso.
08:06What kind of a person could have done this?
08:09Surely not the slight
08:11and seemingly gentle Dr. Crippen.
08:18This story caused the frenzy of excitement,
08:22all stoked up by lurid headlines
08:24in the popular press.
08:30Inspector Dew was now under enormous pressure
08:33to catch the killer.
08:34And then that famous telegram arrived
08:37from the mid-Atlantic.
08:39Chief Inspector Dew now hatched an ingenious plan
08:43to catch a faster ship
08:45to overtake the Montrose
08:46before it reached Canada
08:47and to arrest Crippen on board.
08:51And the press were hard on his heels.
08:57Word had leaked out
08:59about what was happening on the SS Montrose.
09:04Newspaper readers could now follow Dew's pursuit
09:07as he closed in on his suspects
09:09at the rate of three and a half miles per hour.
09:15This story had it all, as well as gruesome murder.
09:18There was illicit romance
09:19and a chase across the Atlantic.
09:22And best of all,
09:23Crippen and Leneve didn't even know
09:25that the police were on to them,
09:26although every newspaper reader in Britain did.
09:29Without his knowledge,
09:30Dr. Crippen had become the most famous murderer
09:33in the world.
09:37Dugh attempted to evade the journalists
09:40by disguising himself as a harbour pilot
09:43in order to board the Montrose.
09:45But it was no good.
09:49Reporters were there
09:50to capture the moment
09:52when Dew finally greeted his suspect
09:55with the words,
09:56Good morning, Dr. Crippen.
10:06Press photographers called everything
10:09that happened next.
10:10The crowds waiting at Liverpool docks.
10:14Dew escorting Crippen off the boat.
10:17The anticipation outside
10:19Bow Street's magistrate's court
10:21for the committal of Crippen and Leneve.
10:25Some journalists found ingenious ways
10:28of taking prohibited photographs
10:30in the court.
10:43The press had made the couple
10:45into a highly marketable commodity.
10:48This was a very modern murder.
10:58Bizarre offers now began to come in.
11:02If they were acquitted,
11:04Crippen would get £1,000 a week
11:06for a 20-week tour.
11:08Leneve would receive £200 a week
11:11for a performance
11:12including a musical sketch
11:13entitled Caught by Wireless.
11:17On the 18th of October,
11:19the trial of Dr. Crippen began
11:20here at the Old Bailey.
11:22From the start,
11:23it was clear
11:23this was going to be
11:24a huge spectacle.
11:264,000 people applied for tickets.
11:28The court had to issue
11:29special half-day passes
11:31so that double the normal number
11:32could get in.
11:36In the words of the Daily Mail's reporter,
11:39the crowds begged,
11:41pleaded,
11:41wheedled and argued
11:43for seats in the public gallery.
11:45Inside there was even more chaos.
11:48There was a rowdy atmosphere
11:49like a music hall.
11:51People were shouting
11:51blue tickets that way,
11:53red tickets up here.
11:56The trial ended on Saturday
11:59the 22nd of October.
12:01The jury took only 27 minutes
12:03to find Crippen guilty
12:05of willful murder.
12:07He was sentenced to death.
12:12Laniv at a separate trial
12:14was acquitted
12:15and she lost no time
12:17in selling her side of the story.
12:21A publicity shot
12:23showed her infamous disguise
12:25as a boy.
12:31But Laniv's fame
12:33was short-lived.
12:34It was Crippen himself
12:36who would be immortalized.
12:37Even during his trial,
12:40sculptors at Madame Tussauds
12:42had been preparing
12:43a wax figure
12:44based on those
12:45snatched-caught photographs.
12:47Now, within days
12:48of the passing
12:49of Crippen's death sentence,
12:51Tussauds unveiled
12:53their new addition
12:54to the Chamber of Horrors.
13:03and over 100 years later,
13:06he's still on show.
13:11Tussauds unveiled
13:24the HANGMAN
13:24So here is Dr Crippen,
13:26on display to the public
13:27before he's even met
13:29the hangman.
13:30And in the 1912 catalogue
13:32to the Chamber of Horrors,
13:34he takes his place
13:35amongst the greats.
13:36He's on the same page
13:38as his fellow doctor,
13:39William Palmer the Poisoner,
13:42and opposite the 19th century's
13:44most famous murderess,
13:45Maria Manning.
13:47But he's also placed above them
13:49because all the rest
13:50have a description
13:50of their crimes,
13:51not Dr Crippen.
13:53Everyone knows
13:54exactly who he is.
13:56And a contemporary journalist
13:58described this place,
13:59the Chamber of Horrors,
14:01as being the holiest of holies.
14:04These are the people
14:05that everybody wanted to see.
14:07What does that say
14:08about the Edwardians?
14:22Six years after Crippen's death,
14:24a young woman was beginning
14:26her own lifelong fascination
14:27with poison.
14:30During the Great War,
14:31she was doing her bit
14:33by training
14:33as a hospital drug dispenser.
14:37At a chemist's shop
14:39in her native Torquay,
14:41she watched the head pharmacist
14:43skilfully mixing medicines.
14:45She was transfixed
14:47as he added the final ingredient,
14:49a substance that could be poisonous.
14:56The young woman's name
14:57was Agatha Christie.
15:02One day, the head pharmacist
15:04showed her something
15:05that he always carried
15:06in his pocket.
15:07It was a black lump
15:09of curare, poison.
15:11If that gets into
15:12your bloodstream,
15:13he said,
15:14it'll paralyse you
15:15and kill you.
15:16She asked him
15:18why he carried it around
15:19and he gave a very
15:20striking answer.
15:23Well, my dear,
15:24he said,
15:25it makes me feel powerful.
15:31With the pharmacist's
15:33rather sinister boast
15:34in her mind,
15:36Christie began
15:37to conceive
15:37of the idea
15:39of writing
15:39a detective story.
15:43Naturally,
15:44it would involve
15:44a death by poisoning,
15:46but she had to decide
15:47who would die
15:48and who would do it
15:50and where
15:52and why.
15:58Agatha's sister,
15:59Madge,
16:00had challenged her
16:01to compose
16:02a murder mystery
16:03in which the clever reader,
16:05armed with all the same clues
16:07as the detective,
16:08could spot the murderer.
16:11Christie spent four years
16:13polishing what would become
16:14her first novel,
16:15tweaking the plot
16:16and the characters.
16:17Finally,
16:18to finish it off,
16:19she came back
16:20to her home county
16:21of Devon
16:22and she spent two weeks
16:23all by herself
16:24staying at this
16:25remote country house hotel
16:26in Dartmoor.
16:27The result would be
16:29the mysterious affair
16:30at Stiles.
16:40In what was to become
16:42her lifelong habit,
16:44Christie took herself off
16:45on long and solitary walks
16:47to think up
16:49and the dialogue.
16:55The mysterious affair
16:57at Stiles
16:58wasn't exactly
16:58an overnight success.
17:00Numerous publishers
17:01turned it down.
17:02Imagine them kicking
17:03themselves later on.
17:04But it did sell
17:05respectively
17:06and it set the mould
17:08for the golden age
17:09to follow.
17:10It had everything,
17:10a country house setting,
17:12a closed circle
17:13of suspects.
17:14There were things
17:15like maps
17:16to help you.
17:17There was even
17:17a reproduced fragment
17:18of somebody's will
17:20and most importantly
17:22it introduced
17:23a new detective
17:24who is the antithesis
17:25of Sherlock Holmes.
17:27He was a fastidious
17:28little Belgian
17:29called Hercule Poirot.
17:30As a foreigner,
17:34Poirot stood outside
17:35the rigid British
17:36class structure
17:37which most of the
17:38golden age detectives
17:40belonged to.
17:41This made him
17:42a disinterested observer
17:44but also a trusted confidant.
17:48He'd go on to utilise
17:50his little grey cells
17:51in 33 novels,
17:54one play
17:54and over 50 short stories.
17:58And Christie would follow
18:00Poirot
18:00with another seemingly
18:02harmless amateur detective,
18:04the village busybody
18:06Miss Jane Marple.
18:10The puzzles that Christie invented
18:13for her two best-loved sleuths
18:15were fiendishly difficult
18:17to solve.
18:18To find out
18:19how she devised her plots
18:21I've come to meet
18:22her grandson
18:23Matthew Pritchard
18:24at Christie's rural retreat
18:26on the Dart estuary
18:28in Devon.
18:30First of all,
18:31there's a family heirloom
18:32to discover.
18:35Tell me about this
18:36ancient-looking machine
18:37you've got here.
18:39Some years, in fact,
18:40after she died
18:41we came across
18:42that machine
18:43in an old box.
18:44She used to dictate
18:47her work
18:48in the 1960s
18:50to a dictaphone
18:50and then send it away
18:51to be typed.
18:53So can we hear
18:54the actual voice
18:55of Agatha Christie?
18:56We'll do our best.
19:01cops come to one
19:03of such odd moments
19:04when you are walking
19:05along the street
19:06and examining a hat shop
19:08with particular interest
19:09suddenly a splendid idea
19:11comes into your head
19:12and you think
19:13that would be
19:15a very neat way
19:16of covering up
19:18the crime
19:19so that nobody
19:19would get it
19:20too soon.
19:21Of course,
19:22all the practical details
19:23are still to work out.
19:25The people have to
19:27seep slowly
19:27into your consciousness
19:29and at any rate
19:30you do jot it down
19:31in an exercise book.
19:33But what I invariably do
19:35is to lose
19:35the exercise book.
19:37I usually have
19:38about half a dozen
19:39on hand
19:40here and there
19:41and I used to make
19:43little notes in them
19:44for ideas
19:45that had struck me
19:46or sometimes
19:47some particular poison
19:49or drug
19:49or a clever little bit
19:51of swindling
19:52that one reads
19:53about in the paper.
19:55This one's a school story.
19:57Likely opening gambit
19:58first day of summer term.
20:00That's right.
20:00That's cat among the pigeons.
20:02Who's going to get it?
20:03The girl,
20:04the games mistress
20:04or the maid?
20:06I think the games mistress
20:07got it
20:07as far as I remember.
20:09Prussic acid.
20:11What does that say?
20:12Stabbed through eye
20:13with hat pin.
20:15Well, there you go.
20:16Here's a genuine doodle.
20:18That's right.
20:19Here, for instance,
20:20is probably
20:21the most concise
20:22and accurate description
20:24of what a detective story
20:26is like.
20:27Who, why, when,
20:27how, where, which?
20:29Yeah, can't get simpler
20:30than that, can you?
20:31Easy, anyone could do this.
20:35In 1926,
20:37Agatha Christie brought out
20:38what many regard
20:39as her most audacious
20:41detective novel,
20:42The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
20:45This is her description
20:47of how the body
20:48is discovered.
20:50Ackroyd was sitting
20:52as I'd left him
20:53in the armchair
20:53before the fire.
20:55His head
20:56had fallen sideways
20:57and clearly visible
20:59just below the collar
21:00of his coat
21:01was a shining piece
21:02of twisted metalwork.
21:05Parker and I advanced
21:06till we stood
21:07over the recumbent figure.
21:09I heard the butler
21:11draw in his breath
21:12with a sharp hiss.
21:15Stab from behind,
21:17he murmured.
21:18Horrible.
21:20He wiped his moist brow
21:22with his handkerchief
21:23then stretched out
21:24a gingerly hand
21:25towards the hilt of the dagger.
21:27You mustn't touch that,
21:28I said sharply.
21:29Go at once to the telephone
21:30and ring up the police station.
21:35Now there are a couple of reasons
21:37why this is absolute classic
21:39Agatha Christie.
21:41Firstly, there's the bloodlessness
21:43of it.
21:43We have a dead body,
21:45we have a murder weapon,
21:46but a man is just sitting
21:47in a chair
21:48and the dagger itself
21:49is described as just
21:51a shining piece
21:52of twisted metalwork.
21:55and secondly,
21:57it's utterly, utterly simple
21:59and straightforward
22:00but at the same time
22:02very, very clever indeed
22:03because really
22:05we have here
22:06an unreliable narrator
22:08and he goes on
22:09to tell us about
22:09a little something
22:10that he does.
22:11I did what little
22:12had to be done
22:13and only at the very end
22:15of the book
22:15do you discover
22:16that at that point
22:17he was hiding
22:18a dictaphone in his bag.
22:19He was getting rid
22:20of a vital clue
22:21a clue that would reveal
22:23that in this case
22:24the narrator
22:25is the murderer.
22:28The murder of Roger Ackroyd
22:30was a genuine
22:31tour de force
22:33as far as detectives
22:35stories were concerned.
22:36She was accused
22:37of cheating too
22:38but I think
22:40the important thing
22:41was that it was original
22:42and people loved
22:44talking about it
22:45and I think
22:46that was probably
22:47the moment
22:47when she stopped
22:49being an ordinary
22:50crime writer
22:50and became
22:52one that was
22:53universally recognised.
22:56Although she was
22:57an intensely private woman
22:59Christie knew
23:00her readers
23:01very well.
23:04This is an essay
23:05that Agatha Christie
23:06wrote in the 1930s
23:08answering the question
23:09what kind of people
23:10read detective stories
23:12and why
23:13and she says
23:14it's the busy people
23:16the workers of the world
23:17that's because
23:18a detective story
23:19gives them
23:20complete relaxation
23:22an escape
23:23from the realism
23:24of everyday life
23:26she says
23:27it has the tonic value
23:28of a puzzle
23:29it sharpens your wits
23:31it makes you
23:32mentally alert
23:33and the ethical background
23:35she says
23:36is usually sound
23:37rarely is the criminal
23:39the hero of the book
23:40society unites
23:41to hunt him down
23:42and the reader
23:43can have all the fun
23:44of the chase
23:45without moving
23:46from a comfortable
23:47armchair
23:52these busy people
23:53these workers of the world
23:55as Christie calls them
23:56were keen to devour
23:58detective stories
23:59in all sorts of formats
24:04railway stations
24:06with their branches
24:07of W.H. Smith's
24:08sold cheap mystery magazines
24:10as well as the latest
24:11whodunnits
24:16these novels
24:17were formulaic
24:18they were often
24:19very snobbish
24:20but they were
24:21a cracking good read
24:30by the late 1920s
24:32Christie and other writers
24:34of the golden age
24:35were meeting up
24:36for informal dinners
24:37they decided to form
24:39an exclusive society
24:41the detection club
24:44it had its own rules
24:46and regulations
24:46to join
24:48both then and now
24:49you had to undergo
24:51a curious initiation
24:52the current master
24:54of ceremonies
24:55is Simon Brett
25:01what mean these lights
25:03these reminders
25:05of our mortality
25:07Lucy Worsley
25:09is it your firm desire
25:11to become a member
25:12of the detection club
25:13that is my desire
25:15you seek a great honour
25:18but must also
25:19accept a great responsibility
25:21for I must charge you
25:23that in all your writings
25:24henceforward and forever
25:25your characters will well
25:28and truly try to resolve
25:29the many issues
25:30with which you may be pleased
25:32to confront them
25:33using only their native wits
25:37and not resorting
25:39to divine revelation
25:40excessive sanguinity
25:42lucky guesses
25:42mumbo-jumbo
25:43jiggery-pokery
25:45coincidence
25:46or act of God
25:48do you
25:49so promise
25:51I do
25:52will you honour
25:53the Queen's English
25:55I will
25:56Lucy Worsley
25:57will you place
25:59your hand
26:00upon Eric
26:01the Scowl
26:01oh yes please
26:02can I
26:03well
26:05Lucy Worsley
26:06do you solemnly swear
26:09to observe
26:10faithfully
26:10those promises
26:12which you have made
26:13for as long as you are
26:14a member of this club
26:16I do
26:17and I'm afraid
26:19that's as far as we can go
26:20because you're basically
26:21not a crime writer
26:22very fine writer
26:23I'm touching Eric
26:24I know you're touching Eric
26:26you've done some lovely
26:26historical stuff
26:27but it doesn't count
26:29that is very disappointing
26:30well there you go
26:31I shall switch Eric off
26:33in a fit of pique
26:34take that Eric
26:36I think there's always been
26:38an element of playfulness
26:39in crime writing
26:40and I mean certainly
26:41the you know
26:42the famous examples
26:43of the 1930s
26:44and 1920s indeed
26:45Agatha Christie
26:46and all those
26:47they were kind of
26:47playing a game
26:49with this you know
26:50murder mystery game
26:51really
26:52and in a sense
26:54the murder
26:55was the first thing
26:56that happened there
26:57but a murder
26:57in Agatha Christie land
26:59is not you know
27:00it's not like
27:01sort of brains
27:02and blood splattered
27:03all over the walls
27:04it's quite decorously done
27:06and so it does become
27:07almost a parlour game
27:08really to guess
27:09who was the murderer
27:10but I think there was
27:12something in the zeitgeist
27:13I mean I think
27:14it's no coincidence
27:15that that was also
27:16the period when
27:17the crossword developed
27:18you know
27:19that was just the period
27:20that people got interested
27:21in crosswords
27:21and a lot of
27:23crime novels
27:24of the golden age
27:25are quite like crosswords
27:28before I left
27:29Simon agreed to share
27:30one final secret
27:31about the club's
27:32most treasured
27:33artefact
27:34there is one secret
27:35about Eric
27:36which I will tell you
27:37that he has been
27:38examined by
27:40medical experts
27:42and there is a strong
27:43belief that actually
27:44it's Erica
27:45no way
27:46yes
27:47apparently it's a female
27:48skull
27:48but don't tell anyone
27:54the person who dreamt up
27:56Eric
27:56or Erica
27:57and one of the founding
27:58members of the detection
28:00club
28:00was Dorothy L Sayers
28:03of all the golden age
28:05novelists
28:06she is my absolute
28:07favourite
28:12in my opinion
28:13Dorothy L Sayers
28:15isn't just the best
28:16of the golden age
28:16detective story writers
28:18she's a great novelist
28:19full stop
28:20she had a very big brain
28:22she did well at
28:23Somerville College
28:24in Oxford
28:25then she moved to London
28:26and in the 1920s
28:28she was working
28:29as a copywriter
28:30at an advertising agency
28:31she came up with
28:33famous jingles
28:34like Guinness
28:35is good for you
28:36and later
28:37she recreated
28:38this competitive
28:39world of the office
28:40in one of her detective stories
28:42Murder Must Advertise
28:45hers was a very different life
28:47to Agatha Christie's
28:48she was a brilliant
28:50young Oxford scholar
28:51and then
28:52a struggling writer
28:53in Bohemian London
28:55she fell in love
28:57with a man
28:57who refused
28:58to marry her
28:59then
29:00by a different relationship
29:01she gave birth
29:02in secret
29:03to an illegitimate child
29:05she never felt able
29:06publicly
29:07to acknowledge her son
29:08and yet
29:09out of these troubled years
29:11would come
29:11great literary success
29:13in her debut novel
29:15Whose Body
29:16Sayers introduced
29:18Lord Peter Whimsey
29:19a dashing aristocratic detective
29:21and like Dorothy herself
29:23an Oxford graduate
29:28She gave Lord Peter
29:30all the money
29:32and assurance
29:32and easy success
29:34that she would have liked
29:35for herself
29:35It was Lord Peter though
29:37who would lead her
29:38out of her difficulties
29:39into financial security
29:42and a career
29:43as a full-time novelist
29:45At Somerville
29:47which is Sayers'
29:48old college in Oxford
29:49I met the critic
29:50and my fellow Sayers fan
29:52Charlotte Higgins
29:53to talk about Lord Peter
29:56Now then
29:57here we have
29:57here we have
29:58the first
29:59the first appearance
30:01in a short story magazine
30:02of a rather foolish looking gentleman
30:04called Lord Peter Whimsey
30:06I mean he looks like
30:07I mean he looks like
30:07you're sort of typical
30:08aristocratic
30:10goofy fool
30:11with a monocle
30:12upper class twit really
30:14but of course
30:15behind that
30:16it becomes very clear
30:18that Lord Peter Whimsey
30:19that's just
30:20the sort of surface
30:21of him
30:21he's actually
30:22a kind of
30:23much rather
30:23deeper character
30:24than that
30:25and you get
30:26strongly running
30:27through all the books
30:28this sense of
30:29damage
30:30that happened
30:31because of the war
30:32so in modern terms
30:34we would say
30:34that he had
30:35post-traumatic stress
30:36injury
30:37we have
30:38the glancing
30:39accounts of him
30:40having somehow
30:41had a nervous breakdown
30:42in the past
30:43of him still
30:44going through periods
30:44where he wakes
30:45in the night
30:46and screams
30:47he has these
30:48appalling nightmares
30:49and that's one
30:50of the reasons
30:50that he has
30:51this extremely
30:52close relationship
30:53with his
30:54his valet
30:55Bunter
30:56the Estimable Bunter
30:58who was his
30:59his batman
30:59from the Trenchers
31:00exactly so
31:01exactly so
31:02it makes him
31:02bearable doesn't it
31:03because a lot of
31:04people think
31:04oh Lord Peter Whimsey
31:05ridiculous snob
31:06we don't like this
31:07story
31:07but as it says
31:08here he is not
31:09nearly so foolish
31:10as he looks
31:11yeah
31:11that's what makes
31:13her different
31:13and in my opinion
31:14better than Agatha
31:15Christie
31:15because you don't
31:16see any of that
31:17in Agatha Christie
31:17there everything
31:18in the garden
31:19is lovely really
31:20isn't it
31:20this is good
31:21this is really
31:21good quality stuff
31:22this is proper prose
31:23a lot of the other
31:24writers of the golden age
31:25are quite
31:26quite sort of coy
31:27about describing
31:28actual scenes
31:30of violence and blood
31:31but Dorothy L. Sayers
31:32never holds back
31:33does she
31:33nope
31:33it's all done
31:34with chilling detail
31:36frankly
31:37she doesn't hold back
31:39and I think
31:40for me
31:40part of that
31:41is just this
31:42sort of intellectual
31:43honesty of it
31:43you know
31:44there is a sort of
31:45sense that
31:47you know
31:47if we take part
31:48in the detection
31:49as a reader
31:50you know
31:50we're going to play
31:50that game
31:51along with the characters
31:52and it's just as
31:53they have to look
31:53death in the face
31:54so do we
31:56Harriet's luck was in
31:57it was a corpse
32:00indubitably a corpse
32:01indeed if the head
32:02did not come off
32:03in Harriet's hands
32:04it was only because
32:05the spine was intact
32:06for the larynx
32:07and all the great
32:08vessels of the neck
32:09had been severed
32:10to the bone
32:11and a frightful stream
32:13bright red
32:14and glistening
32:15was running
32:16over the surface
32:17of the rock
32:18and dripping
32:18into a little
32:19hollow below
32:19Harriet put the head
32:22down again
32:22and felt
32:23suddenly sick
32:26the Harriet
32:27in this story
32:28is the bold
32:28and brilliant
32:29Harriet Vane
32:30she's almost
32:31the alter ego
32:32of her creator
32:33Dorothy L. Sayers
32:35both of them
32:35studied at Oxford
32:36both of them
32:37became detective novelists
32:39and I love
32:40Harriet Vane
32:40when I was growing up
32:42she made me want
32:42to be a girl detective
32:44solving crimes
32:45and righting wrongs
32:47and forging a very
32:48independent furrow
32:49through life
32:56Harriet first appears
32:57in the novel
32:58Strong Poison
32:59and she's in the dock
33:01she's been accused
33:02of murder
33:03and who's going to
33:04save her
33:05but Lord Peter Whimsey
33:07during the course
33:08of his investigation
33:09he falls in love
33:11with her
33:11and Sayers
33:12spends the next few novels
33:14building up
33:14and teasing us
33:15with their on-off
33:16will-they-won't-they
33:17relationship
33:18the whole thing
33:19culminates
33:20in her best book of all
33:21which is Gordy Knight
33:25I think it's her best
33:26because it's not just
33:27a detective story
33:28but also a remarkable
33:30manifesto for women's
33:31education
33:32and a commentary
33:33on the difficulties
33:34that women faced
33:35in the 1930s
33:37in this book
33:38Sayers said herself
33:39that she'd expressed
33:40the things
33:41that I had been wanting
33:43to say all my life
33:45the story begins
33:47with Harriet Vane
33:48attending the annual
33:49gaudy celebrations
33:50at her old Oxford College
33:52but the female scholars
33:54there are under persecution
33:55from a mystery misogynist
33:59and then we get
34:00400 pages
34:01of the mystery itself
34:02all set in this
34:03women's college
34:03but the book isn't
34:04really about the mystery
34:05it's about the women
34:06whether it's possible
34:08for them to combine
34:09independence and work
34:10with married life
34:12and husbands
34:12at the end of it all
34:14Harriet decides
34:15to take the chance
34:16to agree to marry
34:17Lord Peter Whimsey
34:18she realises
34:19that he's a good man
34:20who won't stifle her
34:21or cramp her style
34:23and on the very last page
34:25they have their first kiss
34:26here in New College Lane
34:28and we see them closely
34:30and passionately embracing
34:32as a reader
34:34if you've followed them
34:34through thousands of pages
34:36you want to go
34:36yes
34:37what took you so long
34:41with gaudy night
34:43Sayers thought
34:44that she'd exhausted
34:45the possibilities
34:46of the detective novel
34:47she now returned
34:49to more scholarly pursuits
34:50but even without
34:52Lord Peter and Harriet
34:54the golden age
34:55would still continue
34:56detective novels
34:58were now being published
35:00at the rate of
35:001,000 every year
35:03yet nothing could beat
35:05a real life
35:06who'd done it
35:08in 1931
35:10a new murder mystery
35:11got everybody talking
35:12wanting to know
35:13the solution
35:15there were alibis
35:16and clues
35:17and red herrings
35:18but this time
35:20it wasn't fiction
35:21it happened in real life
35:23here in Liverpool
35:25the central character
35:27in the story
35:28was tall
35:28and cerebral
35:29and habitually
35:31dressed in black
35:34he liked to recite
35:35Marcus Aurelius
35:37to conduct chemistry
35:38experiments
35:39in a back bedroom
35:39and to practice
35:41his violin
35:42at the window
35:46this may all sound
35:47rather familiar
35:48but we're not talking
35:49about Sherlock Holmes
35:50he was a 52 year old
35:52insurance agent
35:53named William Herbert Wallace
35:57it all began
35:59in a chess club
36:01on the evening
36:02of Monday
36:03the 19th of January
36:051931
36:06the mild-mannered Wallace
36:08had just arrived
36:09at the Liverpool's
36:10central club
36:10when he was handed
36:12what would be
36:12our first clue
36:16it was a telephone message
36:18from a call
36:19received 25 minutes earlier
36:21the voice on the phone
36:23identified himself
36:24as Mr. R. M. Qualtrough
36:28he wanted Wallace
36:29to visit him
36:30on insurance business
36:31at 7.30
36:32the following evening
36:33at his home
36:3425 Menlove Gardens East
36:38even though he seemed
36:39puzzled by the message
36:41Wallace took out
36:42his small prudential diary
36:44and made a note
36:45of Qualtrough's name
36:46and address
36:47he obviously decided
36:49to keep the appointment
36:53the next day
36:54which was the 20th of January
36:55Wallace had his tea
36:57he got together
36:58some papers
36:59for this business meeting
37:00with the unknown man
37:01and he said goodbye
37:02to his wife Julia
37:04right here at the back door
37:05of their house
37:06in Wolverton Street
37:07and then he set off
37:08to this unknown address
37:10Menlove Gardens East
37:17and so began
37:19Wallace's odd
37:20nocturnal journey
37:21hold tight please
37:28the tram conductor
37:30would later recall
37:31Wallace emphasizing
37:32the fact that he was
37:33a stranger
37:34and repeatedly
37:35asking for directions
37:41and when he finally reached
37:43the right neighbourhood
37:44Wallace said he was able
37:46to find Menlove Gardens
37:47north and south
37:49and west
37:50but east
37:51simply didn't exist
37:52Wallace stopped
37:54to ask several people
37:56and so drew attention
37:57to himself
37:58but nobody was able
37:59to help him
38:00find the address
38:01or the mysterious
38:03Mr. Qualtrough
38:04Wallace headed home
38:06and he was seen
38:07by an eyewitness
38:08speaking to a mystery man
38:10a few streets
38:11away from his house
38:12was this an accomplice
38:14or was it simply
38:15a red herring
38:19when Wallace got back
38:21from his pointless search
38:22he claimed
38:23that the door
38:23of his house
38:24had been locked
38:25he waited around
38:26until his neighbours
38:27were passing
38:28Mr. and Mrs. Johnston
38:29and then he tried again
38:31and this time
38:32it opened
38:32it's almost as if
38:34he'd wanted witnesses
38:35to his going back
38:36into his house
38:40Wallace went inside
38:44on lighting the gas lamp
38:46in the kitchen
38:47he noticed a small cabinet
38:49had been broken into
38:50and that a piece of its door
38:52was lying on the floor
38:54he went upstairs
38:55calling out his wife's name
38:57but there was no sign of her
38:59in the front bedroom
39:01the bedclothes
39:02had been pulled back
39:03he went back downstairs
39:05and now he noticed
39:06that the parlour door
39:08was ajar
39:09he struck a match
39:11held it aloft
39:13and went in
39:16the scene which greeted him
39:18was ghastly
39:19there lying across the rug
39:21in front of the fireplace
39:22was the body
39:23of his wife Julia
39:24her head in a pool
39:26of blood
39:27she'd been savagely attacked
39:31Wallace went to get his neighbours
39:33come and look
39:34she's been killed
39:35he said
39:35and he showed a surprising
39:37lack of emotion
39:38as he knelt down
39:39by his dead wife's body
39:41they finished her
39:43he said
39:43look at the brains
39:45the murder
39:46baffled everybody
39:48but when mr qualtrow's
39:50mysterious telephone call
39:52was traced to a kiosk
39:54just 400 yards away
39:55from Wallace's house
39:56people began to suspect
39:58that qualtrow
40:00and Wallace
40:01were one and the same person
40:02and that the business
40:04of the appointment
40:04had been nothing more
40:05than a very elaborate alibi
40:09the murder weapon
40:10wasn't found
40:11and there was no motive
40:12but then
40:14there were no other suspects
40:16so Wallace was arrested
40:20on the 22nd of April
40:21his trial opened
40:23here at St George's Hall
40:24in central Liverpool
40:26it drew massive attention
40:30as he sat through his trial
40:32Wallace's behaviour
40:33counted against him
40:35he was impassive
40:36cold
40:37he didn't visibly react
40:39when people mentioned
40:40his dead wife
40:41and he was heard to say
40:43that he felt that the jury
40:44members were rather stupid
40:46he also had the misfortune
40:48to fit most people's image
40:49of a murderer
40:50he tended to wear black
40:52and he had little round
40:53spectacles like Dr Crippen's
40:55on the other hand though
40:57Wallace's defence
40:58are pretty confident
40:59there was no killer piece
41:00of evidence against him
41:02that's why
41:03after four days of trial
41:05and an hour's deliberation
41:07there was a gasp
41:09in court
41:09when the jury revealed
41:11that they thought he was guilty
41:15the date was set
41:16for Wallace's hanging
41:18but then came the final twist
41:20that turned the case
41:21of William Herbert Wallace
41:22into a legal landmark
41:24in May 1931
41:26the court of criminal appeal
41:28overturned his conviction
41:31basically they said
41:32the evidence was insufficient
41:34the jury had got it wrong
41:38so Wallace lived
41:39to tell his tale
41:41and to sell it
41:42of course
41:42to a Sunday magazine
41:44under the bragging title
41:46of the man
41:47they did not hang
41:54the Wallace case
41:56is perhaps the ultimate
41:57whodunit
41:58because it remains
41:59unsolved to this day
42:02it provided wonderful fodder
42:05for speculation
42:06among the golden age writers
42:07like Dorothy L Sayers
42:13capitalising on this
42:14real life mystery
42:16they started to provide
42:17ingenious fictionalised
42:19solutions to the case
42:20transforming it
42:22from reality
42:22into myth
42:39it's no coincidence
42:41that the murder mystery
42:42reached a peak in popularity
42:44at the same time
42:46as a similar vogue
42:47for chess
42:48and for the crossword puzzle
42:52Britain now also saw
42:54an explosion
42:55of murder mystery games
42:57the forerunners
42:58of Cluedo
43:03this for example
43:04is the baffled book
43:06it's not a collection
43:07of stories
43:07it's a set of 30
43:09mysteries and detective
43:10problems
43:11to be solved
43:11from given data
43:13be your own detective
43:14it says inside
43:15and you're put into
43:16all sorts of
43:16everyday situations
43:18like this
43:18you're staying with
43:19the duchess
43:20the butler comes in
43:21with the tragic
43:22announcement that
43:22the master has been
43:23found slain in the
43:25billiard room
43:25an oriental dagger
43:27through his heart
43:28what are you going to do
43:29then there's the
43:30murder jigsaw
43:31in this it's only as
43:32you put in the very
43:33last piece that you
43:34realise that this man
43:35isn't holding a
43:36musical instrument
43:37he's using a gun
43:39disguised as a
43:40clarinet to shoot
43:41the victim over here
43:44and top of the tree
43:45we've got the murder
43:47dossier
43:47this is full of all
43:48kinds of evidence
43:50we've got a cable
43:51and a police memo
43:53and testimony
43:54and crime scene
43:55photographs
43:56even a clue
43:57here's a bit of
43:58blood-stained curtain
44:00and here's a sample
44:02of somebody's hair
44:03and what you're
44:04supposed to do
44:04is read through
44:05the whole thing
44:06come to your
44:07conclusion
44:07and only then
44:08do you open the
44:09envelope at the
44:10back containing
44:11the solution
44:11all these games
44:13and puzzles
44:14are jolly good fun
44:15but they do show
44:16how murder
44:17between the walls
44:17had become sanitised
44:19and with that
44:20trivialised
44:21in real life
44:23most murder
44:23was driven
44:24by poverty
44:24alcohol
44:25or abusive
44:26relationships
44:27no sign of that
44:28here
44:29nor the great depression
44:30or the rise of
44:31fascism
44:32and some people
44:33don't even like
44:34to use the name
44:35the golden age
44:36for this
44:37they think a more
44:38accurate name
44:39for this school
44:39of fiction
44:40would be
44:41snobbery
44:41with violence
44:47if the classic
44:48whodunit
44:49seemed tired
44:50and out of touch
44:51then in 1938
44:52the novelist
44:53Graham Greene
44:54would attempt
44:54a strikingly
44:55different way
44:56of writing
44:56about murder
44:57and the visceral
44:58emotions
44:59that it releases
45:01Greene had begun
45:02writing novels
45:03influenced by the
45:04new American
45:05crime writers
45:06like Dashiell Hammett
45:08and Raymond
45:09Chandler
45:10their thrillers
45:12were the darker
45:13grittier alternative
45:14to the cosy
45:15whodunit
45:16of the golden age
45:17now Greene
45:19set about creating
45:20his very own version
45:21a British crime noir
45:23in which he would
45:25take murder
45:25and the murderer
45:27out of their
45:28genteel setting
45:29and place them
45:30in a shabby
45:31seaside resort
45:36writing rock
45:38I really intended
45:39when I began
45:40writing it
45:40to be a detective
45:41story
45:41then the character
45:43Pinky
45:44took hold
45:45and I realised
45:47that I was not
45:48going to write
45:49a detective story
45:50at all
45:51all that remains
45:53of a detective
45:54story
45:54is the original
45:55murder
45:56I wanted to make
45:58people believe
45:59that he was
46:00a sufficiently
46:01evil person
46:02almost to justify
46:04the notion of hell
46:07Greene was a
46:08catholic
46:08hence his
46:10preoccupation
46:11with evil
46:12and sin
46:13and guilt
46:15and redemption
46:19even the cover blurb
46:21of Brighton Rock
46:21tells us
46:22that this is
46:22a new kind
46:23of novel
46:24as it says here
46:25in this book
46:26murder is no
46:27parlour game
46:28likely to be solved
46:29on the last page
46:30but an act
46:31of terrible
46:32and terrifying
46:33significance
46:34the emphasis
46:36is now
46:36off the detective
46:37and onto
46:38the murderer
46:38himself
46:39the hero
46:40or the anti-hero
46:41of Brighton Rock
46:42is a teenage gangster
46:43called Pinky
46:44he's rather clever
46:46and very violent
46:47he seems to be in charge
46:48of half of the criminals
46:49of Brighton
46:50Graham Greene
46:52says that he's like
46:53a child with haemophilia
46:54everyone who touches him
46:56draws blood
46:57he grinned again
46:59passing through
47:00the charge room
47:01but a bright spot
47:02of colour stood out
47:03on each cheekbone
47:04there was poison
47:06in his veins
47:07though he grinned
47:08and bore it
47:09he'd been insulted
47:10he was going to show
47:11the world
47:12they thought
47:13because he was
47:13only 17
47:15he jerks
47:16his narrow shoulders
47:16back at the memory
47:17that he'd killed
47:18his man
47:19and these bogeys
47:20who thought
47:20they were clever
47:21weren't clever enough
47:22to discover that
47:23he trailed the clouds
47:25of his own glory
47:26hell lay about him
47:28in his infancy
47:29he was ready
47:30for more death
47:33and we're in a very
47:35different environment
47:36now too
47:37the story of Brighton
47:38Rock takes place
47:39in tea rooms
47:40and pubs
47:41and amusement arcades
47:43the murder happens
47:44in a public toilet
47:45it's a long way away
47:47from the rarefied
47:48country houses
47:49of the classic
47:50golden age
47:51detective novels
47:52Graham Greene
47:53loves taking us
47:54into the sleazy
47:55underbelly
47:57behind the shiny shops
47:58and the hotels
47:59of the Brighton seafront
48:05Brighton Rock
48:06points to the future
48:07to the American
48:08style thriller
48:10and the brutal
48:11psychological type
48:12of crime fiction
48:14that we read today
48:15but it's still
48:16recognisable
48:17as a very
48:18British murder
48:19after all
48:20what could be more
48:21British
48:21than a seaside pier
48:23Greene's novel
48:25also taps into
48:26a deeper past
48:28and the dark obsessions
48:30we've encountered
48:31Pinky's evil character
48:33is rooted in our
48:35fear of murder
48:36but also our fascination
48:37with the murderer
48:38just like earlier
48:40entertainments
48:41like ballads
48:42and broadsides
48:43and melodramas
48:45may this crime
48:47forever be accursed
48:48the same fears
48:51fed the imagination
48:52of Victorian writers
48:53like Charles Dickens
48:54and Wilkie Collins
48:56they turned
48:57the sensational crimes
48:59of their own day
49:00into great literature
49:03it's all added up
49:05to a significant
49:06strand
49:07of our national psyche
49:11and the very British
49:12relish for murder
49:14hasn't gone away
49:15far from it
49:16just look at your
49:17television schedule
49:18it'll be packed
49:19with all kinds of
49:20gory stuff
49:21that you can hardly
49:22bear to watch
49:22and yet you do
49:24it seems that we
49:25still can't resist
49:26this guilty pleasure
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