When the British Scandal podcast announced it would be doing the Kray Twins next, I was a little underwhelmed. Isn't this a story we've heard too many times already?
So it proved until the last episode, which was absolutely riveting.
It took the form of an interview with Nemone Lethbridge, a pioneering woman barrister in the 1950s, who became the Krays favourite brief.
She is fascinating on both the struggles she faced as a young woman barrister and on the Krays.
You can listen to the podcast on the British Scandal site, and there was also a recent interview with Lethbridge in Prospect:
Having graduated and passed the necessary bar exams by 1956, she sought work as a junior barrister and found to her dismay that this was a very male profession.
"What did disappoint me was the reaction of Gerald Gardiner, who went on to become lord chancellor in the Labour government. I went to see him and he said, 'I’m very proud of you. I think you’ve done a wonderful thing. But I don’t take women in my chambers'."
If you listen to the British Scandal interview, you will hear her say of the Krays:
They weren't like the Richardsons torturing people. And who now remembers the Richardsons? Nobody.
But note that she is careful not to say anything disparaging about Lord Bonkers' old friend, the gender-fluid gang boss Violent Bonham Carter. They still honour Violent's memory in the East End.
3 comments:
She made regular appearances on Any Questions in the 1960s and 1970s. Rather a novelty back then, as a high-flying professional woman. I can’t remember anything she said (I was quite young) but I do remember that she was very articulate.
Thanks. I remembered the name too and guessed it was from Any Questions.
(The Wikipedia articles on her and her husband make interesting reading.)
Post a Comment