Well it was really about murder in the second hour of today’s programme when MARGARET MILLS joined me for her book review which concerned a book which formed the basis of a recent TV series which examined a number of cases involving women convicted of murder in this country, and sought to re-examine whether their convictions would stand up to scrutiny given the forensic techniques available today coupled with other factors.

The book itself is called “Murder, Mystery and My Family:  A True Crime Casebook from the Hit TV Series”. The book is by Karen Farrington and is available in paperback, priced at £6.50, hardback at £10.00 and in Kindle at £7.99.

Basically two criminal barristers, Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein, re-examine real historical murder cases that sent men and women to the gallows at the time.

The book looks at the cases of 5 women from a case of ‘poison panic’ in the 19th century, to a post-war murder that gripped the nation, and asks whether justice was served for all, noting that all those found guilty had been tried in front of 12 landowning upper class males.

The cases were reviewed from various perspectives uncovering some disturbing features, including efforts to promote the integrity and credibility of police officers and noting that until 1898 the accused were prevented from giving evidence themselves, sometimes were not granted the services of a lawyer, and that female jurors, solicitors and barristers were non existent until the 1920’s.

The reviews I saw for the book ranged from:

“A very welcome Christmas gift; I’ve followed both series on TV with interest. This is a companion volume which details a number of cases examined and provides additional background to that covered by the TV show, working really well as a stand-alone; a testament to criminal investigation of the time and how things have changed, how juries were ( wrongly) influenced and the (sometimes limited) extent to which the judicial system has changed.

This is true crime at its best. An outstanding read.”

to:

“This book gives the facts, and expresses opinions, in relation to the conviction and hanging of four women. It is interesting, but nowhere near as good as the television series and it might have benefited from including men who were, or who may have been, wrongly hanged as well. Still, it is a good read.”

And again to:

“ not an easy read”.

Listen here to our chat and to learn what Margaret’s verdict was: –

In the first hour of the show today we looked at an issue regarding 5 badly behaved parrots which had been placed in isolation at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park. 

During this period of isolation, it seems that they had spent their time teaching each other a load of very rude words.

The park’s CEO Steve Nichols said that every now and then you may get an odd parrot that swears but when this happens staff are apt to laugh, but this response then results in the parrot responding accordingly and swearing again, but when you get 4 or 5 birds together, they then react to the laughter by egging each other on to even more swearing than might be found at an old working mens club. 

And so it was, when after just 20 minutes exposure to the public, and guests being regaled to a cacophony of swearing, that with parties of children due to visit the park, it was decided that the birds needed to be split up so they could no longer encourage each other to see who could turn the air bluest.

So time for me to ***** off and I’ll see you again tomorrow,
Scott