"The gambler who lost touch with the dangers"
Although Letitia Landon – or “L.E.L.’s” – name is scarcely known outside specialist circles today, in the 1820s she was one of the brightest stars of the London literary scene. In the fast-evolving publishing world of literary monthlies and quarterlies, L.E.L. burst onto the scene as a true celebrity. She thrived due to the quality of her verse and the mystery of her persona. For several years the question tantalised. Just who was this writer that hid behind the laconic acronym? It turned out, when L.E.L.’s identity was revealed in 1824, that she was – in her mother’s words – “a girl addicted to writing poetry.”
In this episode of Travels Through Time, the literary historian and journalist Dr Lucasta Miller tells us about L.E.L.’s life and then takes us back to 1838 to witness her sad and contested end. It’s a story that ranges from the churches of London to the old slaving posts of west Africa, fusing together contrasting histories in the most unexpected of ways. As with the literary career that had gone before it, the manner of L.E.L’s death was left open to interpretation.
Scene One: 7 June 1838, L.E.L.’s wedding to George Maclean in London
Scene Two: Late August 1838, Cape Coast Castle, west Africa
Scene Three: The morning of 15 October 1838, L.E.L.’s death, Cape Coast Castle
L.E.L. The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated “Female Byron” https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/107/1070406/l-e-l/9780224079396.html
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Dr Lucasta Miller
Producer: Maria Nolan
Bernard Cornwell: The Battle of Waterloo (1815)
Stephen Greenblatt: The Death of Christopher Marlowe (1593)
Season Five Trailer!
Colin Jones: The Fall of Robespierre (1794)
Alex Renton: Blood Legacy (1839)
Ellen Alpsten: The Tsarinas and Peter the Great (1709)
Alasdair Cross: The Spitfire and the Schneider Trophy (1925)
Philip Hoare: Albert and the Whale (1520)
Richard Ovenden: The fall of Glastonbury Abbey (1539)
Nicholas Crane: Latitude (1739)
Edward Rutherfurd: China and Queen Victoria (1839)
Leo Hollis: The Lost History of Mary Davies (1701)
Frances Wilson: D.H. Lawrence, Burning Man (1915)
Edmund Richardson: The Quest for the Lost City (1833)
Jane Rogoyska: The Katyń Massacre (1940)
Llewelyn Morgan: Ovid and the Augustan Age (14 AD)
Lindsey Davis: A Comedy of Terrors (89 AD)
Helen Carr: The Red Prince (1381)
Roland Philipps: Mathilde Carré, ‘La Chatte’ (1940)
Ross King: The Bookseller of Florence (1434)
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Everything Everywhere Daily