Speaker 1: Pushkin. Evelyn Oatley often brings men friends back to her
Speaker 1: tiny Soho apartment. Some were stooped and gray, like middle
Speaker 1: aged Bertram, a bespectacled gentleman who limped thanks to an
Speaker 1: old war wound. Others were athletic and tall, like Jeff,
Speaker 1: the polite and shy aviator with what sounded like an
Speaker 1: American accent. These visitors were invariably well mannered and considerate.
Speaker 1: They were friends, or at least they behaved in a
Speaker 1: friendly manner. But the Canadian soldier raging in Evelyn's flat
Speaker 1: right now is certainly not a friend. The row pierces
Speaker 1: the thin partition walls and carries up the stairwell of
Speaker 1: one fifty three Warders Street. Sarah Middleton lives in a
Speaker 1: room one floor above. When Sarah enters Evelyn's room, Evelyn's
Speaker 1: standing her ground, refusing to give the furious young soldier
Speaker 1: a penny. She's a full foot shorter than the towering
Speaker 1: Canadian private, but she won't surrender to his threats. The
Speaker 1: man steps over to the door and closes it, blocking
Speaker 1: any escape with his hulking form, trapping Evelyn and Sarah.
Speaker 1: Five shillings isn't nothing but it's also not a sum
Speaker 1: of money worth dying over. The Canadian takes out a
Speaker 1: pistol and points it squarely at the women. This is
Speaker 1: the seldom told story of women in World War Two
Speaker 1: who were killed not by the enemy, but by husbands,
Speaker 1: lovers and strangers wearing the uniform of their own side.
Speaker 1: It's also the tale of a particular string of murder
Speaker 1: victims that history has swept from view. I'm Hallie Rubinhold
Speaker 1: and I'm Alice Fines, and you're listening to Bad Women.
Speaker 1: The Blackout Ripper. Last episode, we traced Evelyn Oakley's early
Speaker 1: life in England's Northwest, from her turbulent childhood and her
Speaker 1: father's desertion of the family, through to her work in
Speaker 1: a drab textile mill. We saw her growing fascination with
Speaker 1: the glamor of the stage and her attraction to the
Speaker 1: freedoms of London's West End counterculture. For some reason, in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, at the age of twenty eight, Evelyn
Speaker 1: decided to leave her life in Soho, return north and
Speaker 1: marry Harold Oatley, a poultry farmer she had met years earlier.
Speaker 1: They lived together for a year or so in the
Speaker 1: sleepy village of Thornton. But in the end the role
Speaker 1: of poultry farmer's wife was not for Evelyn. She appeared
Speaker 1: to tire of the life we were leading, saying it
Speaker 1: was too dull. Before they had married, Harold had promised
Speaker 1: to allow Evelyn the freedom to return to the West End,
Speaker 1: so when she grew restless, he kept his word and
Speaker 1: let her go. That the prospect didn't thrill him. I
Speaker 1: told her that I was very lonely, and that I
Speaker 1: did not think a lot of her for leaving me
Speaker 1: on my own. Back in Soho, Evelyn again assumed that
Speaker 1: starlet's alias Lita Ward and it wasn't long before she
Speaker 1: had taken a flat on Wardour Street, the business epicenter
Speaker 1: of the British film industry. Here produces, theatrical agents and
Speaker 1: distributors all had their offices. Movie stars and famous writers
Speaker 1: could be spotted dining in its numerous cafes and restaurants too,
Speaker 1: all the way from Trinidad Cyril midnight late further along
Speaker 1: Wardour Street, the Shimsham Club, a queer friendly venue, was
Speaker 1: celebrated as Harleman London, a progressive space of jazz music
Speaker 1: and so called interracial dancing. The Metropolitan Police recorded it
Speaker 1: as a den of vice and iniquity for the very
Speaker 1: same reasons. If they could prove it were selling alcohol
Speaker 1: without a permit, they could raid the premises and shut
Speaker 1: it down. Officers staked out the club to note the
Speaker 1: comings and goings. At two sixteen am, two women, both
Speaker 1: of the lesbian type, left. As they passed me, one
Speaker 1: said to the other that was a dear dance for
Speaker 1: ten shillings. At two nineteen am, a man of color entered.
Speaker 1: At two twenty three am, a man under the influence
Speaker 1: of drink left. He was wearing a fancy hat and
Speaker 1: blowing a squeaker. The steady flow of people in and
Speaker 1: out of the club continued, with the spying officer largely
Speaker 1: remarking on the sex, ethnicity, and level of intoxication of
Speaker 1: the partygoers, until at three twenty am, two prostitutes entered.
Speaker 1: The owners of the Shimsham Club will regularly hauled before
Speaker 1: the courts and find heavily for liquor offenses, but it
Speaker 1: was director John myers unorthodox approach to hr disputes that
Speaker 1: garnered the club national attention. Myers, a former dock worker
Speaker 1: and market porter, terminated an employment negotiation with the bandleader
Speaker 1: of the Kentucky Minstrels by grabbing the seated man and
Speaker 1: punching him until he bled, and a trumpet player who
Speaker 1: took a sacking to the Musicians Union lost two front
Speaker 1: teeth arguing with Myers, something that would forever ruin his
Speaker 1: trumpet plane. A court was told Evelyn may have basped
Speaker 1: in the reflected glow of Soho's notorious and freewheeling haunts,
Speaker 1: but her own digs were far from prestigious or glamorous.
Speaker 1: She rented a small room on one of the upper
Speaker 1: floors of an old and weathered building at one fifty
Speaker 1: three Warders Street, or rather, she rented a portion of
Speaker 1: a room that had been carved in two by a
Speaker 1: wooden partition wall. Flat farming was a common practice. After
Speaker 1: the police had begun cracking down on brothels, landlords started
Speaker 1: buying up housing, often derelict department buildings, and subdividing each
Speaker 1: room into smaller compartments, which means that they fall into
Speaker 1: a loophole of the law. They're not technically brothels because
Speaker 1: a brothel has to be a place where more than
Speaker 1: one woman practices prostitution. Professor Julia lat is a reader
Speaker 1: in modern history at Birkbeck University of London and an
Speaker 1: expert on the sex trade. In this era, flat farmers
Speaker 1: set up houses so that each little room is technically
Speaker 1: a separate flat. They do that by putting in like
Speaker 1: a hot plate and a gas meter, and that makes
Speaker 1: it a separate flat. Landlords could make a lot of
Speaker 1: money out of this system, says Julia, packing tenants in
Speaker 1: like sardines. It's very much power for the course by
Speaker 1: the nineteen forties. So this is kind of the way
Speaker 1: that the indoor side of commercial sax in London has conducted.
Speaker 1: The flat farmers have got the market cornered. Evelyn's flat
Speaker 1: had two windows in a fireplace, and she furnished it
Speaker 1: simply with a bed, sofa, dressing table and closet. She
Speaker 1: had china and cutlery for two to accommodate a continuous
Speaker 1: stream of visitors, friends, clients, and also occasionally her husband.
Speaker 1: On a little table sat her beloved wireless radio, and
Speaker 1: fixed to her door was a name card bearing the
Speaker 1: proud Monica l Ward. Evelyn wrote to Harold and told
Speaker 1: him that she had obtained work as a hostess in
Speaker 1: a nightclub. She was also open with him about having
Speaker 1: gentleman admirers. Though Harold said he still didn't suspect she
Speaker 1: sold sex for a living, he continued to believe that
Speaker 1: she was also a professional dancer. For her part, Evelyn
Speaker 1: might have still nurtured dreams of a proper career on
Speaker 1: the stage, though the older she grew, the less likely
Speaker 1: it was that these dreams would become reality, a fact
Speaker 1: surely not lost on her. Hostess work in bars and
Speaker 1: clubs would likely have suited Evelyn, who, by all accounts,
Speaker 1: enjoyed making merry. What's more, for the canny hostess, there
Speaker 1: were kickbacks to be made, quite literally. Their job was
Speaker 1: to seem sirtatious and available to men, get them to
Speaker 1: spend lots of money on drinks. And there is still
Speaker 1: a system that's alive and well in many places today
Speaker 1: where the woman would say, buy me a drink, the
Speaker 1: man would buy her a drink, but the bartender would
Speaker 1: pour her water colored water to make it look like
Speaker 1: it was a drink, and the bar would pocket that money,
Speaker 1: some of which would go to the hostess at the
Speaker 1: end of the night, and some of which would be
Speaker 1: kept by the bar owner. Evelyn also continued to sell sex.
Speaker 1: According to her friend Gladys Barton, she used to work
Speaker 1: Regent Street, a prestigious shopping thoroughfare. She'd roam several blocks
Speaker 1: from the Archway at Piccadilly Circus up to Lawley's of
Speaker 1: Regent Street. A specialist of class in China homework. This
Speaker 1: is London. You will now hear a statement by the
Speaker 1: Prime Minister. This morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed
Speaker 1: the German government a final note stating that unless we
Speaker 1: heard from them by eleven o'clock that they were prepared
Speaker 1: at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state
Speaker 1: of war would exist between us. I have to tell
Speaker 1: you now that no such undertaking has been received, and
Speaker 1: that consequently this country is at war with Germany. The
Speaker 1: impending war with Germany was predicted to be a terrifying ordeal,
Speaker 1: with devastating aerial bombing, poison gas and the vast mechanized
Speaker 1: slaughter of conscript armies. But it is evil things that
Speaker 1: we shall be fighting against, root force, bad faith, injustice,
Speaker 1: oppression and persecution. And against them I am certain if
Speaker 1: the right will prevail. The Declaration of hostilities. In nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty nine, Turbo charged the London sex trait. The city
Speaker 1: just gets flooded by young men with money in their
Speaker 1: pockets and fear in their hearts, and so they're really
Speaker 1: drawn to this area and they find plenty of places
Speaker 1: to imbibe. Soho and Piccadilly were immensely popular with the soldiers.
Speaker 1: Cocaine and emphetamines were available, and alongside the pubs and nightclubs,
Speaker 1: there was a thriving underground party scene that picked up
Speaker 1: where the regular licensing hours left off. You get a
Speaker 1: kind of hedonism, a kind of almost nihilism. We're here
Speaker 1: for a good time, we don't know if we're coming back,
Speaker 1: and it creates an atmosphere where people are just desperate
Speaker 1: for distraction, for entertainment, for sex, for alcohol and those
Speaker 1: sorts of things. Increased demand for sex was met in
Speaker 1: different ways. Alongside soldiers, London was also flooded with young
Speaker 1: women who came to look for work, but they're also
Speaker 1: coming to find a good time. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of the women were john to London because it
Speaker 1: was an exciting place to be Because there were handsome
Speaker 1: soldiers there. A lot of women who went there wouldn't
Speaker 1: have thought I'm going to sell sex, but they may
Speaker 1: have ended up trading sex for either money or for
Speaker 1: a night out on the town. These were the women
Speaker 1: who police referred to as amateur prostitutes or good time girls.
Speaker 1: The women that the police considered to be professional prostitutes
Speaker 1: responded to the rise in demand for their services by
Speaker 1: working longer hours over more days. There's also women who
Speaker 1: were selling sex as their main source of income prior
Speaker 1: to the Second World War, who are just seeing more clients,
Speaker 1: either to make more money or because they were increasingly
Speaker 1: under the control of third parties who were coercing them
Speaker 1: or forcing to see more clients than they would have
Speaker 1: ordinarily if they were working independently. Evelyn doesn't quite fit
Speaker 1: into either of these camps. Although Gladys Barton said she
Speaker 1: worked Regent Street, she didn't think Evan had a pimp,
Speaker 1: and nor to her, transactions seemed to have particularly increased
Speaker 1: in number after the war began. In fact, her friend
Speaker 1: and neighbor Sarah Middleton, described how she had three regular
Speaker 1: clients who would visit her. You have to be really
Speaker 1: careful because of course the police describe her as a prostitute,
Speaker 1: but Anyone who's listened to the first season of this
Speaker 1: podcast will implicitly understand why when the police say a
Speaker 1: woman is a prostitute, we must take that with a
Speaker 1: green of salt. The weight of the evidence points to
Speaker 1: the fact that she was selling sex on a semi
Speaker 1: regular basis. In that way, she's probably pretty typical of
Speaker 1: most women who would have been selling sex at the time.
Speaker 1: The majority were probably moving in and out of different
Speaker 1: kinds of work, selling sex on the side, sometimes meeting
Speaker 1: up with a man who would pay their way for
Speaker 1: a while, sometimes not. It's really difficult to say, though,
Speaker 1: how often she sold sex, whether she herself saw it
Speaker 1: as her main occupation, or if she interpreted what she
Speaker 1: was doing really differently. However, Evelyn saw herself others regarded
Speaker 1: her as an honest young woman who valued female friendship.
Speaker 1: She would give another girl anything, said Gladys Barton. A
Speaker 1: surviving photograph shows a fresh faced Evelyn with a warm smile,
Speaker 1: and though she holds a cigarette loosely at her side,
Speaker 1: her blonde hair immaculately curled and pinned back. There's something
Speaker 1: childlike about her. People who knew Evelyn described her as jolly,
Speaker 1: a neighbor said she would come back to her flats
Speaker 1: singing and whistling, and then immediately switched the wireless on
Speaker 1: to fill her home with music. Yet beneath this sheen
Speaker 1: of gaiety looked a certain darkness. Addis noted that Evelyn
Speaker 1: could be disconsolate and was a heavy drinker, preferring Scotch,
Speaker 1: but happy to take anything. She formed the impression that
Speaker 1: her friend was deeply lonely. Mona Hill, who also worked
Speaker 1: in the sex trade and was friends with Evelyn for
Speaker 1: seven years, agreed with that assessment. If she could, she
Speaker 1: would get a man to stay the night with her,
Speaker 1: as she was afraid of sleeping by herself. Julia Late
Speaker 1: has read many accounts of lives of women in the
Speaker 1: sex trade, and she's intrigued by the idea that Evelyn
Speaker 1: sought more than just money from the men she brought
Speaker 1: home to Wardour Street. I was really struck by that,
Speaker 1: because most women who are selling sax professionally, who would
Speaker 1: see themselves as making the majority of their money from
Speaker 1: selling sacks, would not be looking for men to stay over.
Speaker 1: In fact, it was rather the opposite. They would see
Speaker 1: men who were clients who got out quickly as their
Speaker 1: best clients, and so it does tell us something particular
Speaker 1: about the way Evelyn saw the work, or the sociability
Speaker 1: that she was engaging in. I think it also tells
Speaker 1: us something about her fascination for the West End. I
Speaker 1: really get this impression of a woman who's both fascinated
Speaker 1: and drawn to that excitement, but also sometimes finds it
Speaker 1: desperately lonely, somebody who always likes to be surrounded by
Speaker 1: people and noise and parties, and less comfortable potentially alone
Speaker 1: inside her own head. Evelyn seems to have met men
Speaker 1: who showed her affection, some even adored her, but she
Speaker 1: also encountered others who were less savory, to say the least.
Speaker 1: One even came to Ward Street bearing arms. But more
Speaker 1: on that. After this short break, the Canadian soldier's six
Speaker 1: foot frame was blocking the door, the only escape route
Speaker 1: from Evelyn's tiny first floor apartment. The pistol looked small
Speaker 1: in the man's big hand, but its muzzle was squarely
Speaker 1: aimed at Evelyn and her neighbor, Sarah Middleton. Sarah had
Speaker 1: dropped by, attracted by loud voices in dispute. I did
Speaker 1: not know him. He was arguing about money, and wanted
Speaker 1: her to give him back five shillings. Even after the
Speaker 1: soldier drew his gun, Evelyn still wouldn't give him any money,
Speaker 1: and so, undoubtedly fearing for her life, Sarah decided to
Speaker 1: pay the man herself. Finally he left. It certainly wouldn't
Speaker 1: be the last time Evelyn encountered peril. A new man
Speaker 1: would put a ring on her finger and promised to
Speaker 1: start a new life with her, before revealing himself to
Speaker 1: be jealous, violent and cruel. Although Evelyn loved and embrace Soho,
Speaker 1: she also felt the pull of her roots in the
Speaker 1: Northwest and her husband Herald. Over the years, she traveled
Speaker 1: back and forth to see him, and sometimes he would
Speaker 1: visit her in London too. Evelyn and Harold also gave
Speaker 1: each other money. According to Gladys Barton, it was Evelyn's
Speaker 1: wages that paid for an outfit in their Thornton bungalow.
Speaker 1: Though she couldn't quite get used to this conventional domestic
Speaker 1: realm or be truly happy in it, she also couldn't
Speaker 1: entirely break from it either. There were other clues that
Speaker 1: Evelyn felt attention within herself. As Leita Ward, she carried
Speaker 1: a white metal cigarette case, a prized possession embossed with
Speaker 1: the initials l W. Yet inside that cigarette case she
Speaker 1: kept a small snapshot of her mother, Rosina, a poignant
Speaker 1: piece of her past, topped within the trappings of her
Speaker 1: London identity. Andrew Jackson, a bachelor and his fifties, remembered
Speaker 1: meeting Evelyn on Regent Street, having dinner with her, and
Speaker 1: visiting her Soho flat. He later went to stay with
Speaker 1: her on Harold's poultry farm, and his description of the
Speaker 1: setup there is curious. I understood from Ward that this
Speaker 1: house belonged to her arm, but I never met her.
Speaker 1: Une I was introduced to a man whom I understood
Speaker 1: was Ward's cousin, Harold, who looked after the poultry. Jackson,
Speaker 1: under the impression that Evelyn was a spinster, would visit
Speaker 1: the poultry farm on Saturdays and stay the night. Presumably
Speaker 1: he shared a bed with Evelyn, for he described their
Speaker 1: relationship as intimate. The file's offer no clue as to
Speaker 1: what Harold made of Jackson's visits or the fact that
Speaker 1: Jackson knew Evelyn as leite a Ward, but he surely
Speaker 1: must have suspected that all was not as he'd been told,
Speaker 1: and perhaps he increasingly resented Evelyn's London life. You could
Speaker 1: assume that Harold would be targeted by members of his
Speaker 1: community for letting his wife go off to London, for
Speaker 1: having married such a kind of woman in the first place,
Speaker 1: But he clearly does anyway, and so it makes me
Speaker 1: think perhaps he's a little unconventional himself. There are other
Speaker 1: suggestions that Harold's ideas about what was acceptable and respectable
Speaker 1: went against the grain. Rather than enlisting to fight in
Speaker 1: the war, he registered as a conscientious subjector an unorthodox
Speaker 1: move conditional on his doing full time agricultural work. In
Speaker 1: earlier conflicts, men refusing to fight on religious or political
Speaker 1: grounds had faced public hostility and harsh treatment from the authorities.
Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty nine, the government pledged not to persecute
Speaker 1: these conchies. Those some politicians still argued that they should
Speaker 1: be sent to special work camps and have their wages
Speaker 1: cats that they earned less than soldiers. Harold's decision not
Speaker 1: to serve suggests he knew his own mind, and he
Speaker 1: was even prepared to suffer to pursue his chosen path.
Speaker 1: This character trait seems to have been apparent in his
Speaker 1: marital life too. It can be read in so many ways.
Speaker 1: It can be read as a man who has resigned
Speaker 1: himself to being treated in this way and just not
Speaker 1: having the love and care reciprocated from Evelyn. It could
Speaker 1: be a man who didn't live a conventional life himself.
Speaker 1: But I think love is an important thing to remember too.
Speaker 1: Historians don't tend to think much about it because we
Speaker 1: don't always have much documentation for it. But this really
Speaker 1: could have been a love story, a man who loved
Speaker 1: his wife so much and understood her so well that
Speaker 1: he was willing to let her go whatever they're understanding
Speaker 1: with each other. It seems that Evelyn's family wasn't in
Speaker 1: on the secret. Her brother Hermann, had gone up in
Speaker 1: the world. He managed the hosiery department of a store
Speaker 1: and was now supporting their mother, and he claimed that
Speaker 1: he didn't know Harold and Evelyn were living apart. They
Speaker 1: have visited us many times and they appeared to be
Speaker 1: very happy. Rosina apparently even believed that the pair planned
Speaker 1: to live together in London. Harold and Evelyn's arrangement may
Speaker 1: have worked for a time, but nineteen forty their routine
Speaker 1: was disturbed. Evelyn was thirty two, when she met Thomas Graham,
Speaker 1: a stocky, round faced gunner in the Royal Artillery. What
Speaker 1: can I get you, sir? What's the platue de jour?
Speaker 1: She sat at the same table as him in a
Speaker 1: restaurant and they started to chat. He took it in
Speaker 1: a theater and a relationship sprang from there. Evelyn even
Speaker 1: kept a photograph of them together on the dressing table
Speaker 1: in her room, and interestingly, in an apparently rare move,
Speaker 1: she gave Graham her real name and story. She told
Speaker 1: me that she was married, living apart from her husband,
Speaker 1: Harold Outley, who was residing and working in Blackpool. They
Speaker 1: saw each other over the next year or so. He
Speaker 1: later said that their relationship was purely platonic, but Evelyn's
Speaker 1: friends believed otherwise. Gladys Barton remembered enjoying a drink with
Speaker 1: Evelyn at the Leicester Lounge around Christmas nine forty one.
Speaker 1: She showed me a ring and told me that her
Speaker 1: boyfriend bought it for her. Mona Hill thought it was
Speaker 1: an engagement ring. I believe it was a half hoop
Speaker 1: ring set with diamonds, and Harold corroborated this story. He
Speaker 1: claimed that Evelyn was being kept by Graham, and that
Speaker 1: Graham had asked him to divorce her. Harold agreed and
Speaker 1: was beginning divorce proceedings when this arrangement fell through. Harold
Speaker 1: said Evelyn had never complained about facing threats or violence
Speaker 1: from Graham, but Water Street neighbor Sarah Middleton offered a
Speaker 1: snapshot of a tempestuous relationship. They used to quarrel with her,
Speaker 1: and on one occasion I heard them shouting and things
Speaker 1: being thrown across the room. Sarah even called out in
Speaker 1: the middle of one such argument to see if her
Speaker 1: friend was all right. Evelyn responded, we are only having
Speaker 1: a row. He is a jealous, bad tempered booger. Graham
Speaker 1: did not like Evelyn talking to other men. On another occasion,
Speaker 1: he had flown into a jealous rage in the street
Speaker 1: and torn at her clothing. Two passing soldiers finally intervened
Speaker 1: to stop him. You're going to get yourself like this.
Speaker 1: When the relationship ended, Evelyn might have been relieved to
Speaker 1: be free of Graham's menacing influence, or she might have
Speaker 1: been heartbroken, feeling once more alone and adrift. But as always,
Speaker 1: there were still Harold. At the end of January nineteen
Speaker 1: forty two, Evelyn's husband came to visit. He stayed for
Speaker 1: a round a week and briefly settled into a routine there,
Speaker 1: shaving at the washstand in her room in the mornings
Speaker 1: and going out with his wife until late in the evening.
Speaker 1: On February third, Evelyn bade him farewell at Euston railway
Speaker 1: station and he returned north. They would not meet again.
Speaker 1: Oh why so sad? Harold had been forced to sell
Speaker 1: his poultry farm and was living with an aunt. A
Speaker 1: war time shortage of chicken feed had made business unsustainable.
Speaker 1: Evelyn was also in financial difficulty, owing several weeks worth
Speaker 1: of rerent. The agent for Evelyn's flat claims she called
Speaker 1: in with her husband on February seventh to pay off
Speaker 1: some of this debt. But February seventh was four days
Speaker 1: after Harold had left town. Was the agent mistaken or
Speaker 1: was Evelyn by now involved with another man and telling
Speaker 1: people that he was her husband. On Sunday, February eighth,
Speaker 1: at around one pm, Evelyn went to the room next door,
Speaker 1: just beyond the thin partition wall, to see her neighbor,
Speaker 1: Ivy Pool, and cook a steak on Ivy's gas stove.
Speaker 1: The two women chatted as they ate lunch together, and
Speaker 1: then Evelyn washed up while Ivy got ready to go
Speaker 1: to her job as a fair ground ride attendant. No
Speaker 1: such carnivals were permitted to continue under blackout conditions. As
Speaker 1: part of a government Holidays at Home initiative, come and
Speaker 1: see the Galloping horses music was muted, rifle rangers were
Speaker 1: stripped of their ammunition, and coconut shies, a peculiarly British
Speaker 1: game of skill, became a rarity for a lack of coconuts,
Speaker 1: but there were still swings, carousels and Punch and Judy
Speaker 1: public shows. That evening, Evelyn stopped by the fair ground
Speaker 1: or nearby Leicester Square to look round. When Ivy went
Speaker 1: back home, Evelyn's door was ajar, so she went in
Speaker 1: to say hello, my you're home early tonight. Evelyn said
Speaker 1: she rarely went out on Sunday evenings and was planning
Speaker 1: to go to bed after washing her hair, a laborious
Speaker 1: process that would have involved fetching a picture of water
Speaker 1: from upstairs, calling it back down, filling the kettle and
Speaker 1: lighting a fire to heat the water. After a brief conversation,
Speaker 1: Ivy went to bed less than a mile from where
Speaker 1: she and Evelyn were sleeping. That night, A well spoken
Speaker 1: air had slipped away from his ra of comrades and
Speaker 1: begun to troll the West End alone, and soon he
Speaker 1: would cross paths with the pharmacist Evlen Hamilton. Bad Women
Speaker 1: The blackout Ripper will return shortly. On Monday, February ninth,
Speaker 1: Evelyn Oakley might have noticed a tiny stop press report
Speaker 1: in the newspaper recounting the discovery by two workmen of
Speaker 1: a strangled woman in an air raid shelter not far
Speaker 1: from Soho. It might not have had much of an
Speaker 1: impact on her. The papers were full of such cases.
Speaker 1: The report was barely a couple of lines long, and
Speaker 1: only made the later editions. That day, Sarah Middleton came
Speaker 1: to visit Evelyn. Ivy would have been able to hear
Speaker 1: their chatter through the partisan wall. Ivy hadn't lived there long,
Speaker 1: but the pair seem to have enjoyed each other's company.
Speaker 1: Ivy was soon invited to join the conversation. Oh do
Speaker 1: let my friends see your cat, Evelyn called out. Dutifully.
Speaker 1: Ivy scooped up her pet and took the creature next
Speaker 1: door so that the other women could coop over him.
Speaker 1: Sarah and Evelyn then left together, saying their goodbyes at
Speaker 1: the corner of the street. They agreed to meet the
Speaker 1: following day for lunch, an appointment that Evelyn would not keep.
Speaker 1: It was early afternoon, and carefully coordinated in a brown
Speaker 1: skirt with red stripes, a brick red cardigan and a
Speaker 1: dark brown belted coat, Evelyn headed off to post a
Speaker 1: parcel to her mother Rosina. She returned home to write
Speaker 1: some letters, and Ivy could hear her gentle murmur through
Speaker 1: the wall. Evelyn was talking to a man, she thought.
Speaker 1: Then at around four pm, there was a soft clunk
Speaker 1: as Evelyn shut her front door. That evening, Evelyn met
Speaker 1: a client in Piccadilly, still dressed in that brick red cardigan.
Speaker 1: They had a drink together at about eight pm and
Speaker 1: then went to her flat. A couple of hours later,
Speaker 1: they walked back in the direction of Piccadilly, though not
Speaker 1: before Evelyn had changed into a black dress coat and hat.
Speaker 1: He dropped her off at Monaco's restaurant around ten forty pm.
Speaker 1: This marble palace was noted for attracting the denizens of
Speaker 1: the West End demi monde, particularly women who sold sex
Speaker 1: and their pimps. It boasted nightly dancing and cabaret, and,
Speaker 1: along with the universal brasserie and the salted almond, was
Speaker 1: the sort of place city guides recommended to visiting servicemen.
Speaker 1: When the pubs closed, a small group of women and
Speaker 1: soldiers gathered outside Monaco's, gossiping and laughing together. It wasn't
Speaker 1: that somewhere and have another drink. Anne Carew, a cook
Speaker 1: in a local cafe who supplemented her income through the
Speaker 1: sex trade, spotted Evelyn in the midst of this lively throng.
Speaker 1: Hallo latah as things quiet came the sober reply. Evelyn
Speaker 1: bid Anne good night, and then went to talk to
Speaker 1: a man in an overcoat. Anne couldn't see his face,
Speaker 1: it was in shadow, and she couldn't say if Evelyn
Speaker 1: left with him. Back at Warder Street, Ivy had been
Speaker 1: laboriously washing and tinting her hair to pass the time.
Speaker 1: She listened to the radio news. When she heard the
Speaker 1: thud of the front door downstairs, she knew that Evelyn
Speaker 1: would be coming up, so she switched the wireless off
Speaker 1: and turned the hall light on. Sure enough, her neighbors
Speaker 1: soon appeared on the landing, and she wasn't alone. His
Speaker 1: complexion was fresh and he was clean shaven. His hair
Speaker 1: was of chestnut brown and had a hive or two
Speaker 1: in the front. Ivy carefully studied the man who stood
Speaker 1: behind Evelyn. He was in his mid to late twenties,
Speaker 1: perhaps five foot eight inches tall, and wearing civilian dress.
Speaker 1: His hands were thrust into his pockets, and the collar
Speaker 1: of his light blue overcoat was turned up against the
Speaker 1: february cold. Beneath that sweep of dark hair, his features
Speaker 1: were sharp, almost pointed. Ivy would later say that he
Speaker 1: unsettled her, that he made her feel afraid. Miss Ward
Speaker 1: said hello to me. She went into a flat, followed
Speaker 1: by this man. She closed the door. Almost immediately, music
Speaker 1: from Evelyn's wireless began to float through the wall that
Speaker 1: the women shared. As Ivy sat quietly in front of
Speaker 1: her fire, waiting for the tint to do its work
Speaker 1: on her hair, she could hear Evelyn and the man talking,
Speaker 1: though she could not make out their work. Then, quite suddenly,
Speaker 1: the wireless next door began to blare deafening music. Ivy
Speaker 1: was startled. This was not like her neighbor at all.
Speaker 1: Miss Ward had always been so considerate. It was just
Speaker 1: after midnight and the music was so loud that Ivy
Speaker 1: closed her door and slid beneath the covers of her bed.
Speaker 1: Somehow she managed to fall asleep. The following morning, Ivy
Speaker 1: woked around eight am. I followed my usual custom of
Speaker 1: making a cup of tea. I was having this tea
Speaker 1: when a bang came on the straight door. I went
Speaker 1: down and opened the door. It was two men who
Speaker 1: had come to clear the electric light maters. They emptied
Speaker 1: the shillings from Ivy's meter, and then she knocked at
Speaker 1: Evelyn's flat for them. As she wrapped on the door,
Speaker 1: it opened a little. It seemed that Evelyn hadn't closed
Speaker 1: it properly. Ivy ventured inside. The curtains hadn't yet been opened,
Speaker 1: and the small room was dark. It was cold too.
Speaker 1: Ivy reached for the light switch, but found it was
Speaker 1: already turned on. The power was out, meaning that Evelyn
Speaker 1: couldn't have fed the meter, or perhaps the light had
Speaker 1: been left on all night by accident. Don't look aside,
Speaker 1: there's anybody in. One of the workmen turned on his flashlight.
Speaker 1: The bright beam sliced through the gloom, and what Ivy
Speaker 1: saw in that shaft of light was horrifying. Her friend
Speaker 1: lay across the bed, almost naked, with vicious wounds about
Speaker 1: her throat. The killer had spent time with the dying woman,
Speaker 1: lingering in her room, tormenting her. He'd used any implement
Speaker 1: close at hand to mutilate defile her, and then he'd
Speaker 1: ransacked her handbagging cupboards, stealing money and trinkets, including that
Speaker 1: cigarette case containing her mother's portrait. The next day, the
Speaker 1: Blackpool police called at Harold's home, and he returned to
Speaker 1: London to identify the brutalized body of his wife. For
Speaker 1: all their ups and downs, Harold and Evelyn, apart but
Speaker 1: still tethered to one another, had shared an understanding and
Speaker 1: a lasting bond. Now Harold was quite alone. Within hours,
Speaker 1: reporters were connecting the murder of the pharmacist Evelyn Hamilton
Speaker 1: with that of aspiring starlet Evelyn Oakley in Soho, Scotland.
Speaker 1: Yard detectives are seeking new clues. Riddled with error's coverage
Speaker 1: of Evelyn Oatley distilled her. I've down into a few
Speaker 1: loaded descriptors. Blonde review actress Soho Girl. A number of
Speaker 1: reports also highlighted a statement given by a clearly distraught Harold,
Speaker 1: My wife was fascinated by West End life and would
Speaker 1: not leave it. The barbarism inflicted on Evelyn was cruel, perverse, senseless,
Speaker 1: and into that void of meaning rushed the kind of
Speaker 1: fallen woman tropes the press had relied on for decades.
Speaker 1: Detectives last night made a round of the Soho nighthaunts,
Speaker 1: whose tinsel glitter drew the girl from Keighley to London
Speaker 1: and her death. Several papers even published a risque pin
Speaker 1: up portrait of a younger, smiling Evelyn, perhaps from her
Speaker 1: theatrical portfolio Soho Girl Loved Nightlife. Evelyn's real life story
Speaker 1: was complex and hard to unpick, but even newspaper readers
Speaker 1: who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of London's West End
Speaker 1: or the realities of how single women chose to live there,
Speaker 1: could grasp this moralistic version of events. Actress Soho Girl,
Speaker 1: an absent wife, Evelin Oatley, lived on that knife edge
Speaker 1: between the respectable and unrespectable. She was a certain type
Speaker 1: of woman, and her lifestyle had unsurprisingly, even fittingly, led
Speaker 1: to her demise. Next time, we'll examine how even women
Speaker 1: serving their country and joining the fight against the Nazis
Speaker 1: were viewed with suspicion and accused of lapses in morality,
Speaker 1: lapses that explained and perhaps even excuse the violence they
Speaker 1: suffered at the hands of men from their own side
Speaker 1: bad women. The Blackout Ripper is hosted by me Hallie
Speaker 1: Rubinhole and me Alice Fines. It was written and produced
Speaker 1: by Alice Fines and Ryan Dilley, with additional support from
Speaker 1: Courtney Guerino and Offa Gomperts. Kate Heay of Oakwood Family
Speaker 1: Trees aided us with genealogical research. Pascal Wise Sound designed
Speaker 1: and mixed the show and composed all the original music.
Speaker 1: The show was recorded at Woodaw Studios by David Smith
Speaker 1: and Tom Berry. You also heard the voice talents of
Speaker 1: Ben Crow, David Glover, Melanie Gutridge, Stella Harford, Gemma Saunders
Speaker 1: and Rufus Wright. Much of the music you had was
Speaker 1: performed by Edgarchan, Ross Hughes, Christian Miller and Marcus Penrose.
Speaker 1: They were recorded by Nick Taylor a Porcupine Studios. Pushkin's
Speaker 1: Ben Tolliday mixed the tracks and you heard additional piano
Speaker 1: playing by the great Berry Wise Hi Berry. The show
Speaker 1: also wouldn't have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg,
Speaker 1: Heather Fane, Carlie Migliori, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Eric Sandler,
Speaker 1: and Daniella Lukhan. We'd also like to thank Michael Buchanan
Speaker 1: Dunne of the Murder Mile podcast, Lizzie McCarroll, Catherine Walker
Speaker 1: at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Earb Historical Society.
Speaker 1: Bad Women is a production of Pushkin Industries. Please rate
Speaker 1: and review the show and spread the word about what
Speaker 1: we do, and thanks for listening.