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Woman's Hour: 26/04/2010

26/04/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, 26/04/2010

Jane Garvey discusses the history of fine dining.

Jane Garvey discusses the history of fine dining, Chloe Schama on her new book, the art of Maori female facial tattooing and choosing to go it alone as a mother.

For centuries, members of the aristocracy have entertained in lavish style, with elegant silver platters, and beautifully decorated fine china. Now an exhibition at the Harley Gallery on the Welbeck Estate, historically the home of the Dukes of Portland, explores different aspects of food and drink from the French menus of the family to the beer, bread and meat of the servants' hall. Philippa Glanville, Social historian, is the curator and Lisa Gee is the director of the Harley Gallery. They talk to Jane about the domestic history of a large country estate.

There are significant increases in the number of women who are making a 'lifestyle choice' to stay on their own when becoming a parent. So why is this a growing trend for women? And is it better to have a child on your own than not at all? Jane Garvey talks to Jennie Hunt senior fertility counsellor at Hammersmith Hospital in West London and Louiza Patikas who plays Helen in Radio 4's long-running drama serial, 'The Archers'; a character who is making the choice to 'go it alone'.

In 1852, 19-year-old Theresa Longworth met an Irish aristocrat William Charles Yelverton. After carrying on a clandestine relationship for years, the two of them were married - or so Theresa thought. When Yelverton later married another woman, Theresa accused him of committing bigamy and went to court to prove that she was his valid wife. The story became front page news for months, songwriters dedicated ballads to Theresa, and it allegedly inspired a Wilkie Collins's novel. Jane Garvey talks to Chloe Schama about her debut book, Wild Romance, which tells the story of Theresa Longworth's life and the scandal that gripped Victorian society. 

Ta Moko is the Maori art of Tattooing the face and body. Originally it was a mark of beauty and status. Men had their whole faces inscribed while women had only their chins and foreheads done. During the mid twentieth century these facial tattoos began to disappear. Recently however there's been a resurgence of women choosing to wear their Maori birthright on their faces. Candida Beveridge went to meet Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku who grew up in a traditional Maori community and is now a professor of Maori Cultural Studies at Waikato University.

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