4: LiWe Langtry
I resent Mrs Langtry , she has no right to be intelligent, daring and independent as well as lovely. It is a frightening combination of attributes. (BERNARD SHAW) Adored by Oscar Wilde , painted by Millais and the mistress of the Prince of Wales, she was one of the most famous women of her generation. In her attitudes to social conventions, clothes and sex she was a creator and setter of fashions. As her granddaughter Mary Malcolm says, 'She was a woman in advance of her time. Although she was no suffragette, in a male dominated society she stood for the right of women to lead an independent, unshackled life'. Presented by Hugh Sykes Researcher MIKE WOOLF Producer GAYNOR SHUTTE