20. Mabel Barltrop & the Panacea Society
The British town of Bedford may seem like an unlikely spot for the Garden of Eden, but members of the Panacea Society really believed it was.
This week, Amy is joined by Zara Matthews, Director of the Panacea Museum, to discuss the life of Mabel Barltrop aka Octavia. How did an Anglican vicar's widow go on to found a matriarchal religious sect based on the prophecies of Joanna Southcott? What was the truth of her "cure for all ills"? And what did she tell her followers if they ate their toast too loudly?
Kickass Women of History
Remember in school, all those lessons about the men of the past? How they ruled, fought and built? Well, on Kickass Women of History we'll be learning about what they didn't teach us in school. We'll be exploring the lives of strong and incredible women from around the globe and from throughout human history.
Our aim is to share diverse stories of women who made a difference - to their family, village, country or the whole world. That could be 5 years ago, or 5000. Each episode, we'll be joined by a different historian who'll be sharing the life of their history heroine.
- No. of episodes: 23
- Latest episode: 2025-05-20
- History
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