A Very British Murder

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Wintle, Angela (12 April 2013). "Lucy Worsley: My family values". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 November 2016. Worsley lives in Southwark [28] by the River Thames in south London with her husband, architect Mark Hines, [1] whom she married in November 2011. [29] With reference to having children, Worsley once said she has been "educated out of normal reproductive function", [30] but she later said her statement had been "misinterpreted and sounded darker than I'd intended." [31]

Spencer, Charles (26 August 2007). "Cavalier: a tale of chivalry, passion and great houses, by Lucy Worsley". The Independent on Sunday . Retrieved 24 September 2013. In her teens, Worsley represented Berkshire at cross country running and, as a pastime, is still a keen participant in the sport. [33] Awards and honours [ edit ] I've been dipping in and out of this one as I like to do with Non Fiction and as a reader interested in true crime and indeed crime fiction this was a great little read. Lucy Worsley OBE (born 18 December 1973) is a British historian, author, curator and television presenter. [1] She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television and Channel 5 series on historical topics.This was an interesting exploration into the fascination of the English with murder and real life crime and of the development of the mystery genre in English literature. Worsley reveals how real-life crimes led to a type of public, obsessive fascination and a form of national entertainment that were eventually the inspirations for novels, plays, and other artistic works. She credits the early English author, Thomas De Quincey, for postulating the idea of "murder as a performance that raised expectations in the public mind." Crime and murder were discovered to provide public entertainment that "would thrill, horrify, and delight" leading to the popularity of the mystery novel. Worsley describes the various mystery authors who arose in the 19th century, the depiction of policing (which early on was slipshod), the rise of the detective, newly discovered scientific means of investigating and solving a crime or murder and discusses how authors created stories that encapsulated the horror, the thrill and finally the revealing of the culprit. Worsley discusses the early "sensation" crime novels, the more cerebral "Golden Age" mystery with its formulaic pattern, and leads into the modern hardcore thriller that is criticized by George Orwell. While this book is a history of the English murder mystery, Worsley's style is not pedantic, but engaging with some humor along the way and informative of new knowledge and insights gained by this reader. The book is based on a BBC presentation which I would like to watch and I am interested in reading her book, Jane Austen at Home. Siobhan Palmer (25 February 2015). "Claudia Winkleman nominated for RTS award for her new role as Strictly presenter". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 17 March 2015. In 2005, she was elected a senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; she was also appointed visiting professor at Kingston University in west London. [12] Television [ edit ]

Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life (U.S.ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250201423.Milton Manor – Lucy Worsley". LucyWorsley.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014 . Retrieved 13 May 2014. Lucy Worsley looks at murder through the eyes of writers in fiction and fact through the ages, beginning with comments on Thomas de Quincey's essay 'On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts' that was inspired by the so-called Ratcliffe Highway Murders of 1811. This multiple murder saw the beginning of the gruesome correlation between lurid reporting of a crime that sparked a massive increase in the sales of newspapers and thus engendered the interest of the public. It also touches on the origins and evolution of the police and more specifically the emergence of the detective. Some of the history is more interesting than others, but this book was right up my alley. It reminded me of some great mysteries I’ve read over the years and had me thinking of re-reading a few of them, and also reminded me of authors I have yet to try. An interesting and enjoyable read, which I would suggest would be an ideal entry-level book for anyone looking to find out more about the history of crime fiction and its links with society.

This book has been written to accompany a television series of the same name and does, as a consequence jump around a little in subject matter. The book begins and ends with discussion of an essay - the first being, "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" by Thomas De Quincey and finishes with an appraisal of "The Decline of the English Murder" by George Orwell. This is not really about crime, as such, although many crimes are discussed - it is about how, especially since the nineteenth century, the British began to "enjoy and consume the idea of a murder." Wintle, Angela (14 October 2011). "World of Dr Lucy Worsley, curator and broadcaster". Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 1 April 2013. Owens, Mitchell (1 June 2012). "Kensington Palace's New Look". Architectural Digest . Retrieved 6 September 2020.

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I especially admired Worsley's elegant use of two essays - Thomas De Quincey's "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" (1827) and George Orwell's "Decline of the English Murder" (1946) - as the framing works between which her intellectual history unfolds. During February and March 2020 the first series of Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley was shown on BBC Four; the three-part series discovers how the history of The Reformation, The Spanish Armada and Queen Anne and the Union have been manipulated and mythologised. [20] I don’t read a lot of non-fiction but I was attracted to this because it came up as a book club choice just after I had enjoyed several Lucy Worsley documentaries. And there is the fact that the subject matter includes Agatha Christie. The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley is written to accompany a BBC television series on which she is a presenter. Her research brought about a written version which provides a plethora of information regarding the British interest in the idea of murder. The fact that the British enjoyed and couldn’t get enough of murder is outlined and discussed by Worsley but not meant to be an encompassing book on crime itself. Several high interest and notorious crimes are highlighted throughout and the murderers lives described. Worsley pinpoints how crime was handled and the limitations of the investigators trying to solve the crimes.