Great Lives

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Factual: Life Stories

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Matthew Parris

Eliza Carthy

Toby Field

Great Lives: Eliza Carthy on Caroline Norton

Eliza Carthy on Caroline Norton

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Eliza Carthy on Caroline Norton

Eliza Carthy chooses Caroline Norton who campaigned for women in the 19th-century.

Singer Eliza Carthy chooses 19th-century women’s rights campaigner, Caroline Norton. With Matthew Parris. From 2016.

Eliza Carthy chooses the life of 19th-century poet and campaigner Caroline Norton to discuss with Matthew Parris.  

Following separation from her controlling husband, Norton fought to gain access to her three children.  She campaigned for 30 years resulting in changes to English Law that gave women a separate legal identity for the first time.

Eliza first discovered Caroline Norton when she was researching broadside ballads and came across Norton's verse ' Love not! love not! ye hopeless sons of clay'.  It stood out, becoming the inspiration for her track 'Fade and Fall' and sparking an interest in Norton and her extraordinary life.  

The expert is Dr Diane Atkinson, author of 'The Criminal Conversation of Mrs Norton'.

Producer: Toby Field

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016.

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