The first woman to take a seat in the British Parliament, Nancy Astor shows no interest in her admirers.

That is until the determined Waldorf Astor appears on the scene...

Far from being a hardened campaigner who had suffered for the cause of female suffrage, she was already near the centre of ruling society, having married one of the richest men in the world.

She was not even British, yet she became a trailblazer and beacon for the generations of women who would follow her into Parliament.

Adrian Fort's biography abridged by Alison Joseph.

Read by Anna Maxwell Martin.

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2012. Show less