1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:15,890 Speaker 1: Pushkin. 2 00:00:18,290 --> 00:00:21,090 Speaker 2: If you don't feel like you're getting enough Cautionary Tales, 3 00:00:21,170 --> 00:00:24,130 Speaker 2: I have some very good news. We've just launched the 4 00:00:24,170 --> 00:00:28,290 Speaker 2: Cautionary Club over on Patreon. We'll be dropping an extra 5 00:00:28,410 --> 00:00:31,890 Speaker 2: Cautionary Tales episode each month, a bonus interview, and a 6 00:00:31,930 --> 00:00:35,690 Speaker 2: newsletter chock full of behind the scenes titbits and anything 7 00:00:35,730 --> 00:00:38,370 Speaker 2: else we dug up in our research. We would love 8 00:00:38,410 --> 00:00:41,530 Speaker 2: to see you there. Head to patreon dot com slash 9 00:00:41,570 --> 00:00:45,890 Speaker 2: Cautionary Club to find out more. That's patreon dot com 10 00:00:45,930 --> 00:00:47,570 Speaker 2: slash Cautionary Club. 11 00:00:48,810 --> 00:00:52,930 Speaker 1: A warning before we start. This cautionary Tale discusses death 12 00:00:53,010 --> 00:00:57,290 Speaker 1: by suicide. If you're suffering emotional distress or you're having 13 00:00:57,330 --> 00:01:01,730 Speaker 1: suicidal thoughts, support is available, for example, from the nine 14 00:01:01,890 --> 00:01:10,290 Speaker 1: eight eight Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. In the US, jockey 15 00:01:10,490 --> 00:01:14,130 Speaker 1: Herbert Jones canters his horse to the start of the 16 00:01:14,210 --> 00:01:18,930 Speaker 1: Epsom Derby. The year is nineteen thirteen. On Derby Day, 17 00:01:19,130 --> 00:01:23,410 Speaker 1: Epsom feels like the center of the world. Hundreds of 18 00:01:23,570 --> 00:01:27,170 Speaker 1: thousands of people have descended on this undulating stretch of 19 00:01:27,250 --> 00:01:31,690 Speaker 1: countryside fifteen miles from London. Some watch from the open 20 00:01:31,770 --> 00:01:35,890 Speaker 1: topped buses that brought them here. Others line the running 21 00:01:35,970 --> 00:01:41,370 Speaker 1: rails a dozen deep. The grandstands are packed. His Majesty, 22 00:01:41,410 --> 00:01:44,810 Speaker 1: the King looks on from under a black top hat. 23 00:01:46,130 --> 00:01:49,730 Speaker 1: The King owns the horse that Herbert Jones is riding. 24 00:01:50,370 --> 00:01:55,010 Speaker 1: He's wearing the distinctive royal silks purple and crimson, with 25 00:01:55,090 --> 00:01:58,530 Speaker 1: a gold braid. Jones knows what it's like to win 26 00:01:58,570 --> 00:02:01,930 Speaker 1: a derby for the King. He's won two. He also 27 00:02:02,010 --> 00:02:04,370 Speaker 1: knows that he's not likely to win a third today. 28 00:02:05,010 --> 00:02:10,090 Speaker 1: His horse, Anma, is an outsider fifty to one. Still, 29 00:02:10,890 --> 00:02:16,450 Speaker 1: the odds aren't always accurate. Outsiders winds sometimes you never know. 30 00:02:18,570 --> 00:02:22,530 Speaker 1: The fifteen horses line up behind the starting tape, each 31 00:02:23,010 --> 00:02:26,770 Speaker 1: half a ton of twitching muscle, not always easy for 32 00:02:26,810 --> 00:02:30,970 Speaker 1: their seven stone riders to control. The course is a 33 00:02:31,050 --> 00:02:33,890 Speaker 1: mile and a half. It'll take about two and a 34 00:02:33,930 --> 00:02:39,370 Speaker 1: half minutes, but roughly thirty five miles an hour. Newsreel 35 00:02:39,450 --> 00:02:43,690 Speaker 1: cameras are in position to capture the key moments, the start, 36 00:02:44,170 --> 00:02:48,850 Speaker 1: the finish, and the turn for home, the famous Tattenham corner, 37 00:02:49,010 --> 00:02:52,170 Speaker 1: where the runners will thunder down hill As they sweep 38 00:02:52,250 --> 00:02:57,090 Speaker 1: to the left. The starter pulls his lever, the tape 39 00:02:57,210 --> 00:02:57,810 Speaker 1: flies up. 40 00:02:58,130 --> 00:02:58,610 Speaker 3: They're off. 41 00:02:59,410 --> 00:03:03,290 Speaker 1: Jones urges amm On but it soon becomes clear that 42 00:03:03,530 --> 00:03:08,730 Speaker 1: this time the odds are accurate. A struggles to keep 43 00:03:08,810 --> 00:03:12,970 Speaker 1: up as the leaders tear down the hill towards Tattenham Corner. 44 00:03:13,370 --> 00:03:19,010 Speaker 1: Jones has dropped to third from last. Still never give up, 45 00:03:19,890 --> 00:03:24,130 Speaker 1: Jones keeps pushing hard. The horse in front of him 46 00:03:24,370 --> 00:03:28,690 Speaker 1: jinks to one side, and suddenly Jones sees why a 47 00:03:28,770 --> 00:03:32,050 Speaker 1: woman standing on the racetrack right in front of him? 48 00:03:32,490 --> 00:03:36,970 Speaker 1: What on earth is she doing? As we'll hear that 49 00:03:37,570 --> 00:03:43,050 Speaker 1: is still hotly debated today. But Jones has no time 50 00:03:43,090 --> 00:03:46,890 Speaker 1: to wander. His horse slams into the woman and clatters 51 00:03:46,890 --> 00:03:50,810 Speaker 1: to the ground. Jones goes flying headlong towards the turf, 52 00:03:51,850 --> 00:03:58,810 Speaker 1: then his world goes dark. I'm Tim Harford and you're 53 00:03:58,850 --> 00:04:28,250 Speaker 1: listening to cautionary tales. In twenty twenty two, hundreds of 54 00:04:28,410 --> 00:04:32,810 Speaker 1: thousands of Formula One fans have gathered at Silverstone to 55 00:04:32,890 --> 00:04:37,210 Speaker 1: watch the British Grand Prix. Tens of millions globally are 56 00:04:37,250 --> 00:04:44,090 Speaker 1: watching on TV. Unseen by the cameras, five spectators climb 57 00:04:44,250 --> 00:04:48,370 Speaker 1: a safety barrier. They can hear from the roar of 58 00:04:48,490 --> 00:04:53,410 Speaker 1: accelerating engines that the race has just started. They can't 59 00:04:53,530 --> 00:04:56,850 Speaker 1: yet see the cars there are a few corners distant, 60 00:04:57,090 --> 00:04:59,210 Speaker 1: but it shouldn't be long before they come into view. 61 00:04:59,730 --> 00:05:03,410 Speaker 1: Racing at well over one hundred miles an hour, the 62 00:05:03,490 --> 00:05:06,970 Speaker 1: five spectators drop down the other side of the barrier, 63 00:05:07,290 --> 00:05:10,810 Speaker 1: onto a grass verge and towards the tarmac of the 64 00:05:10,890 --> 00:05:17,010 Speaker 1: track itself. Is this not very dangerous? Not at all? 65 00:05:17,250 --> 00:05:18,730 Speaker 1: One will later tell a court. 66 00:05:19,370 --> 00:05:21,850 Speaker 4: I can see that it might have looked dangerous to 67 00:05:21,930 --> 00:05:23,930 Speaker 4: someone who doesn't know about this stuff. 68 00:05:24,730 --> 00:05:29,010 Speaker 1: You see, he says, they'd carefully studded previous Formula One 69 00:05:29,170 --> 00:05:31,050 Speaker 1: races at Silverstone. 70 00:05:31,210 --> 00:05:33,090 Speaker 4: The part of the track that we went on had 71 00:05:33,130 --> 00:05:36,050 Speaker 4: a much lower proportion of crashes than the other parts 72 00:05:36,050 --> 00:05:36,570 Speaker 4: of the track. 73 00:05:37,570 --> 00:05:41,090 Speaker 1: The drivers will see them in time to avoid them, 74 00:05:41,170 --> 00:05:44,770 Speaker 1: or so they expect. The officials will immediately call a 75 00:05:44,850 --> 00:05:48,690 Speaker 1: red flag, which tells the drivers there's a danger on 76 00:05:48,810 --> 00:05:52,690 Speaker 1: track that needs to be cleared. Stop racing, slow down, 77 00:05:53,370 --> 00:05:57,490 Speaker 1: and drive carefully back to the pits. The live TV 78 00:05:57,570 --> 00:06:01,650 Speaker 1: footage will show the protesters wearing their orange T shirts 79 00:06:01,690 --> 00:06:07,130 Speaker 1: with the slogan just stop oil. They'll have drawn attention 80 00:06:07,290 --> 00:06:11,250 Speaker 1: to their cause of fighting climb much change, at least 81 00:06:11,730 --> 00:06:17,170 Speaker 1: that's the plan. Still low, they're putting a lot of 82 00:06:17,170 --> 00:06:22,130 Speaker 1: faith in other people's reaction. Times Are they sure it's 83 00:06:22,170 --> 00:06:25,450 Speaker 1: not dangerous? The protester shrugs. 84 00:06:26,610 --> 00:06:30,130 Speaker 4: Those drivers are the best drivers in the world, but 85 00:06:30,250 --> 00:06:34,850 Speaker 4: even the best drivers crash sometimes. 86 00:06:36,170 --> 00:06:39,490 Speaker 1: Why would you run onto a racetrack in front of 87 00:06:39,650 --> 00:06:43,890 Speaker 1: fast moving cars? Perhaps because you think it will help 88 00:06:43,890 --> 00:06:48,930 Speaker 1: a cause you passionately believe in, and perhaps because some 89 00:06:49,050 --> 00:06:53,690 Speaker 1: other people whose stage disruptive protests are seen as heroes, 90 00:06:55,210 --> 00:06:59,890 Speaker 1: like the woman on Epsom Racecourse in nineteen thirteen. Here, 91 00:07:00,050 --> 00:07:03,650 Speaker 1: for example, is the blurb from a book for children 92 00:07:03,890 --> 00:07:04,530 Speaker 1: about her. 93 00:07:05,690 --> 00:07:09,650 Speaker 5: Emily was angry because women didn't have the right to vote. 94 00:07:10,170 --> 00:07:13,810 Speaker 5: She and her fellow suffragettes had patiently put their argument 95 00:07:13,850 --> 00:07:17,890 Speaker 5: to the government, but they were ignored. Now it was 96 00:07:18,010 --> 00:07:19,850 Speaker 5: time for direct action. 97 00:07:24,010 --> 00:07:29,450 Speaker 1: Emily Wilding Davison was born in eighteen seventy two. Her 98 00:07:29,450 --> 00:07:33,090 Speaker 1: father was a successful businessman, and Emily got a good 99 00:07:33,210 --> 00:07:38,130 Speaker 1: education a governess a preparatory school in London, a year 100 00:07:38,210 --> 00:07:42,570 Speaker 1: in Switzerland studying French. Then she won a place at 101 00:07:42,570 --> 00:07:46,930 Speaker 1: a new college for girls. But midway through her course, 102 00:07:47,690 --> 00:07:51,850 Speaker 1: her father died, and it turned out he hadn't been 103 00:07:51,970 --> 00:07:55,530 Speaker 1: quite as successful a businessman as he had appeared. He 104 00:07:55,610 --> 00:08:00,050 Speaker 1: left his family next to nothing. That was a shock. 105 00:08:01,090 --> 00:08:03,370 Speaker 1: As Emily explained to a friend. 106 00:08:04,090 --> 00:08:06,770 Speaker 3: Mamma has to pay twenty pounds a term for me. 107 00:08:08,250 --> 00:08:10,130 Speaker 3: I do not know whether I can stay on after 108 00:08:10,170 --> 00:08:13,730 Speaker 3: this term. Mamma is very anxious to keep me at 109 00:08:13,730 --> 00:08:16,010 Speaker 3: college for my exam if it is possible. 110 00:08:17,450 --> 00:08:21,290 Speaker 1: It was not possible. Emily had to drop out and 111 00:08:21,450 --> 00:08:28,530 Speaker 1: find work. Her tutors gave her glowing references. It is 112 00:08:28,570 --> 00:08:30,810 Speaker 1: a matter of great regret to me that she is 113 00:08:30,930 --> 00:08:33,770 Speaker 1: unable to finish her course. She is a most hard 114 00:08:33,810 --> 00:08:41,490 Speaker 1: working student. She has immense perseverance. Perseverance indeed, Emily got 115 00:08:41,530 --> 00:08:44,930 Speaker 1: a job as a governess, but studied in the evenings 116 00:08:44,970 --> 00:08:48,850 Speaker 1: with notes borrowed from her former classmates. She saved up 117 00:08:48,930 --> 00:08:52,330 Speaker 1: enough to take her exam in English Language and Literature 118 00:08:52,970 --> 00:08:59,170 Speaker 1: and hasted first class honors. Not that the university would 119 00:08:59,170 --> 00:09:02,690 Speaker 1: actually award her a degree, what with her being a girl. 120 00:09:04,050 --> 00:09:09,890 Speaker 1: Still impressive, but what could a woman do in the 121 00:09:09,930 --> 00:09:13,210 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties with evidence that she would have got a 122 00:09:13,250 --> 00:09:17,370 Speaker 1: first class degree if she were a man, Career options 123 00:09:17,570 --> 00:09:23,210 Speaker 1: were limited. She could continue to work as a governess. 124 00:09:24,010 --> 00:09:28,810 Speaker 1: Emily found it frustratingly isolating stuck in some big, old 125 00:09:28,890 --> 00:09:32,490 Speaker 1: house in the provinces, with only a wealthy famili's little 126 00:09:32,570 --> 00:09:36,530 Speaker 1: children to talk to. She missed the buzz of city life, 127 00:09:36,810 --> 00:09:39,650 Speaker 1: as she wrote in poems. 128 00:09:40,450 --> 00:09:44,570 Speaker 3: Oh London, how I feel thy magic spell? Now I 129 00:09:44,610 --> 00:09:48,170 Speaker 3: have left thee and amid the woods sit lonely. 130 00:09:51,250 --> 00:09:55,970 Speaker 1: There was one particular buzz that Emily craved to be 131 00:09:56,130 --> 00:10:00,610 Speaker 1: part of the movement for women's suffrage. The idea was 132 00:10:00,610 --> 00:10:04,130 Speaker 1: in the air. Women in New Zealand got the vote 133 00:10:04,130 --> 00:10:09,770 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety three, in Australia nineteen oh two, in 134 00:10:09,890 --> 00:10:15,850 Speaker 1: Finland nineteen o six. In Britain, suffragists had been making 135 00:10:15,890 --> 00:10:20,170 Speaker 1: the case for decades through petitions and meetings and speeches, 136 00:10:21,090 --> 00:10:25,850 Speaker 1: but opposition was fierce. Some of that opposition was predictable. 137 00:10:26,490 --> 00:10:31,050 Speaker 1: If everyone had the vote, female voters would outnumber males. 138 00:10:31,930 --> 00:10:37,490 Speaker 1: Men of England, said one poster, resent this attempted tyranny, 139 00:10:39,370 --> 00:10:42,490 Speaker 1: But a surprising number of opponents were women themselves. 140 00:10:43,730 --> 00:10:45,690 Speaker 5: Women of England, said. 141 00:10:45,530 --> 00:10:49,370 Speaker 1: The manifesto of the Women's National Anti Suffrage League. 142 00:10:49,730 --> 00:10:54,490 Speaker 5: We appeal to your common sense. Women are debarred by 143 00:10:54,610 --> 00:10:58,970 Speaker 5: nature and circumstances from the political knowledge of men. 144 00:10:59,570 --> 00:11:01,610 Speaker 1: Hundreds of women signed. 145 00:11:01,770 --> 00:11:07,650 Speaker 5: An appeal against female suffrage, which warned the whole nation 146 00:11:07,850 --> 00:11:09,170 Speaker 5: would suffer. 147 00:11:09,130 --> 00:11:11,650 Speaker 1: If women got the vote. Due to their. 148 00:11:12,330 --> 00:11:14,130 Speaker 5: Natural quickness of temper. 149 00:11:15,930 --> 00:11:19,530 Speaker 1: It was men's work to debate weighty matters of finance 150 00:11:19,650 --> 00:11:20,050 Speaker 1: or war. 151 00:11:21,010 --> 00:11:27,490 Speaker 5: Women had other opportunities for public usefulness, such as the 152 00:11:27,530 --> 00:11:32,170 Speaker 5: care of the sick and the education of children. That 153 00:11:32,690 --> 00:11:36,290 Speaker 5: was their true dignity and special mission. 154 00:11:38,050 --> 00:11:42,890 Speaker 1: It sounds ridiculous now, but the patient arguments of the 155 00:11:42,930 --> 00:11:48,730 Speaker 1: suffragists didn't seem to be working. The heavyweight politician David 156 00:11:48,770 --> 00:11:52,690 Speaker 1: Lloyd George, for example, said he favored votes for women, 157 00:11:53,330 --> 00:11:57,690 Speaker 1: but when he got into power, did nothing. Some women 158 00:11:57,810 --> 00:12:02,330 Speaker 1: decided it was time for direct action. They formed a 159 00:12:02,370 --> 00:12:08,330 Speaker 1: new organization, the WSPU, the Women's Social and Political Union, 160 00:12:09,210 --> 00:12:16,250 Speaker 1: slogan deeds not words. They disrupted meetings and chained themselves 161 00:12:16,330 --> 00:12:18,930 Speaker 1: to railings in Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lived. 162 00:12:19,490 --> 00:12:25,490 Speaker 1: Newspapers coined the term for these radical suffragists, the suffragettes. 163 00:12:26,570 --> 00:12:31,490 Speaker 1: It was meant as an insult, a dismissive, diminutive. They 164 00:12:31,890 --> 00:12:38,770 Speaker 1: adopted it with pride. Emily quit her job as a governess, 165 00:12:39,330 --> 00:12:43,010 Speaker 1: moved to London and got employed as an officer at 166 00:12:43,050 --> 00:12:47,770 Speaker 1: the WSPU. She disrupted a speech by David Lloyd George. 167 00:12:48,330 --> 00:12:51,490 Speaker 3: I was busy haranguing the crowd when the police came 168 00:12:51,570 --> 00:12:52,450 Speaker 3: up and arrested me. 169 00:12:53,370 --> 00:12:59,810 Speaker 1: Emily was put in prison a dark cell alone. She 170 00:12:59,890 --> 00:13:05,570 Speaker 1: sang hymns defiantly and scrawled on the wall her personal credo. 171 00:13:06,290 --> 00:13:09,810 Speaker 3: Rebellion against tyrants is obedient to God. 172 00:13:11,210 --> 00:13:16,010 Speaker 1: She also refused to eat, a tactic the Suffragettes had 173 00:13:16,090 --> 00:13:19,330 Speaker 1: discovered for getting out of jail early. They figured the 174 00:13:19,370 --> 00:13:22,570 Speaker 1: government would let them go rather than risk a death 175 00:13:22,610 --> 00:13:28,090 Speaker 1: from starvation. Emily described her prison experience in a letter. 176 00:13:29,690 --> 00:13:32,570 Speaker 3: I fasted one hundred and twenty four hours and was 177 00:13:32,610 --> 00:13:36,050 Speaker 3: then released. I lost one and a half stone and 178 00:13:36,130 --> 00:13:40,530 Speaker 3: much flesh. I felt very weak at first, but I'm 179 00:13:40,570 --> 00:13:45,610 Speaker 3: pulling up rapidly now, She signed off, your loving and 180 00:13:45,770 --> 00:13:47,850 Speaker 3: rebellious friend, Emily. 181 00:13:51,770 --> 00:13:54,650 Speaker 1: No sooner had she got her strength back than Emily 182 00:13:54,770 --> 00:13:58,690 Speaker 1: was rebelling again, throwing rocks at the windows of David 183 00:13:58,770 --> 00:14:03,730 Speaker 1: Lloyd George's car. This time in prison, she discovered the 184 00:14:03,770 --> 00:14:07,770 Speaker 1: government had a new approach to hunger strikes. A doctor 185 00:14:08,130 --> 00:14:11,250 Speaker 1: came into her cell well and said. 186 00:14:11,490 --> 00:14:12,890 Speaker 4: I'm going to feed you by force. 187 00:14:15,330 --> 00:14:31,290 Speaker 1: Cautionary tales will be back after the break at Silverstone, 188 00:14:31,650 --> 00:14:37,410 Speaker 1: spectators noticed the five Just Stop Oil protesters scaling the 189 00:14:37,490 --> 00:14:42,570 Speaker 1: safety barrier and running towards the track. Phone footage captures 190 00:14:42,610 --> 00:14:48,170 Speaker 1: how the crowd react. Wankers, he yells one voice, Dickheads 191 00:14:48,730 --> 00:14:54,090 Speaker 1: adds another run over. Perhaps it's not surprising that a 192 00:14:54,130 --> 00:14:58,690 Speaker 1: motorsport crowd is hostile to a message about stopping oil. 193 00:14:58,770 --> 00:15:03,050 Speaker 1: But Just Stop Oil protesters made themselves unpopular with other 194 00:15:03,090 --> 00:15:08,210 Speaker 1: people too. They blocked roads, tied themselves to goldposts during 195 00:15:08,210 --> 00:15:15,050 Speaker 1: a soccer match, and through soup over Vincent van Goff's sunflowers. 196 00:15:15,090 --> 00:15:20,010 Speaker 1: In opinion polls, eighty two percent of Brits say climate 197 00:15:20,130 --> 00:15:24,650 Speaker 1: change is an important issue, Yet fully sixty eight percent 198 00:15:25,090 --> 00:15:30,090 Speaker 1: said their opinion of Just Stop Oil was unfavorable, Which 199 00:15:30,330 --> 00:15:36,410 Speaker 1: makes you wander. Are disruptive protests helping the cause or hindering? 200 00:15:38,210 --> 00:15:43,010 Speaker 1: Academics have some jargon for this question. Are radical flank 201 00:15:43,170 --> 00:15:48,330 Speaker 1: effects positive or negative? In twenty twenty four, the Journal 202 00:15:48,370 --> 00:15:53,770 Speaker 1: of Global Environmental Psychology published an article the radical flank 203 00:15:54,210 --> 00:15:59,650 Speaker 1: Curse or Blessing of a social movement. Decades of literature 204 00:16:00,010 --> 00:16:05,730 Speaker 1: say the authors provide mixed results. In some cases, disruptive 205 00:16:05,770 --> 00:16:09,610 Speaker 1: protest seems to have helped to cause in others, it 206 00:16:09,650 --> 00:16:13,490 Speaker 1: seems to have backfired. The researchers weren't about to leave 207 00:16:13,530 --> 00:16:17,370 Speaker 1: it at that, so they began to dig deeper. 208 00:16:22,770 --> 00:16:25,490 Speaker 4: I'm going to feed you by force, the. 209 00:16:25,570 --> 00:16:30,210 Speaker 1: Doctor said to Emily Davison. Emily described what followed. 210 00:16:31,410 --> 00:16:35,090 Speaker 3: While they held me flat, The doctor, with a steel gag, 211 00:16:35,530 --> 00:16:39,570 Speaker 3: prized open my mouth to its widest extent. Then a 212 00:16:39,650 --> 00:16:43,330 Speaker 3: wardrous poured liquid down my throat. What it was I 213 00:16:43,410 --> 00:16:46,850 Speaker 3: cannot say, but it was foul to the last degree. 214 00:16:47,450 --> 00:16:49,650 Speaker 3: As I would not swallow the stuff and jerked it 215 00:16:49,690 --> 00:16:52,370 Speaker 3: out with my tongue. The doctor pinched my nose and 216 00:16:52,410 --> 00:16:56,890 Speaker 3: somehow gripped my tongue with the gag. The torture was barbaric. 217 00:16:59,010 --> 00:17:03,530 Speaker 1: It got worse. Rubbered tubes rammed down the throat or 218 00:17:03,530 --> 00:17:07,050 Speaker 1: even up the nostrils to pour the liquid in. Emily 219 00:17:07,170 --> 00:17:11,210 Speaker 1: smashed the windows in her cell to protest. They moved 220 00:17:11,210 --> 00:17:15,210 Speaker 1: her to another cell, which had two beds. The door 221 00:17:15,370 --> 00:17:17,650 Speaker 1: opened inwards, she observed. 222 00:17:18,450 --> 00:17:21,970 Speaker 3: As soon as it was closed, quick as thought, I 223 00:17:22,010 --> 00:17:25,290 Speaker 3: put the beds down quietly, lengthwise, one touching the other. 224 00:17:26,890 --> 00:17:29,330 Speaker 1: There was still a gap of a foot to the wall, 225 00:17:29,770 --> 00:17:31,730 Speaker 1: which she filled with an upturned stool. 226 00:17:32,770 --> 00:17:36,330 Speaker 3: The wedge was not absolutely firm, so I jammed in 227 00:17:36,450 --> 00:17:39,970 Speaker 3: my two slippers and a hair brush. 228 00:17:40,650 --> 00:17:43,810 Speaker 1: She sat on the spot where the two beds met 229 00:17:44,170 --> 00:17:45,090 Speaker 1: to weigh them down. 230 00:17:46,290 --> 00:17:48,890 Speaker 3: My blockade was complete. 231 00:17:49,050 --> 00:17:53,530 Speaker 1: The wardens discovered they couldn't open the door. They could 232 00:17:53,610 --> 00:17:56,930 Speaker 1: break the door down heavy iron frame at all, but 233 00:17:57,010 --> 00:18:01,650 Speaker 1: they'd rather not, as the prison governor later explained that 234 00:18:01,730 --> 00:18:04,250 Speaker 1: the breaking of a cell door is a serious and 235 00:18:04,410 --> 00:18:08,570 Speaker 1: expensive matter, so they tried another tactic. 236 00:18:10,010 --> 00:18:13,690 Speaker 3: A ladder appeared at the window. I looked round and 237 00:18:13,690 --> 00:18:16,690 Speaker 3: saw the nozzle of a hose pipe. They got the 238 00:18:16,730 --> 00:18:20,330 Speaker 3: water trained full on me. I had to hold on 239 00:18:20,570 --> 00:18:25,170 Speaker 3: like grim death. The power of the water seemed terrific, 240 00:18:25,810 --> 00:18:27,610 Speaker 3: and it was as cold as ice. 241 00:18:29,410 --> 00:18:32,530 Speaker 1: Still, Emily didn't budge. They'd have to break the door down. 242 00:18:32,570 --> 00:18:33,090 Speaker 1: After all. 243 00:18:33,890 --> 00:18:35,890 Speaker 3: It was clear to me that if the door fell, 244 00:18:36,010 --> 00:18:39,450 Speaker 3: it would kill me on the spot. Strange to say, 245 00:18:39,530 --> 00:18:43,250 Speaker 3: I had no fear. The door gave. I watched it 246 00:18:43,330 --> 00:18:48,210 Speaker 3: fascinated as it lurched. However, hands seized it. A mail 247 00:18:48,250 --> 00:18:51,330 Speaker 3: warder rushed in and seized me, saying you ought to 248 00:18:51,370 --> 00:18:52,730 Speaker 3: be horse whipped for this. 249 00:18:58,650 --> 00:19:01,370 Speaker 1: Emily got out of prison to find that the hose 250 00:19:01,450 --> 00:19:06,290 Speaker 1: pipe incident had been widely reported, even raised in Parliament. 251 00:19:07,130 --> 00:19:11,170 Speaker 1: She got sympathy. Whatever you thought of women's suffrage, this 252 00:19:11,410 --> 00:19:16,530 Speaker 1: wasn't on. She sued the prison and won, though the 253 00:19:16,610 --> 00:19:21,290 Speaker 1: judge awarded only nominal damages, saying that Emily had already 254 00:19:21,330 --> 00:19:24,730 Speaker 1: got something she wanted a good story to write about 255 00:19:24,770 --> 00:19:30,130 Speaker 1: in the WSPU's newspaper. Emily set about getting herself sent 256 00:19:30,330 --> 00:19:34,850 Speaker 1: back to prison with a new tactic, setting fire to 257 00:19:34,930 --> 00:19:35,730 Speaker 1: mail boxes. 258 00:19:36,890 --> 00:19:40,690 Speaker 3: I walked down Fleet Street. I calmly stopped at a big, 259 00:19:40,770 --> 00:19:44,970 Speaker 3: open mouthed receptacle for London letters. I took out of 260 00:19:45,010 --> 00:19:48,370 Speaker 3: my pocket a packet of greastproof paper tied with cotton. 261 00:19:49,490 --> 00:19:54,490 Speaker 3: Inside was some linen, well soaked in kerosene. To this 262 00:19:54,610 --> 00:19:57,970 Speaker 3: I calmly applied a match. I let the packet, now 263 00:19:58,010 --> 00:20:02,650 Speaker 3: well alight, go down the receptacle. I then walked on 264 00:20:02,890 --> 00:20:05,210 Speaker 3: and turned into the first cafe I came to to 265 00:20:05,250 --> 00:20:05,810 Speaker 3: get lunch. 266 00:20:11,490 --> 00:20:16,530 Speaker 1: Back in prison, another hunger strike and more force feeding. 267 00:20:17,850 --> 00:20:21,530 Speaker 3: As the tube passed down behind the throat, a feeling 268 00:20:21,570 --> 00:20:26,970 Speaker 3: of suffocation and sickness followed. I naturally commenced to cough, choke, 269 00:20:27,130 --> 00:20:30,890 Speaker 3: and wretch. I was glad to be sick, which often happened, 270 00:20:31,490 --> 00:20:34,250 Speaker 3: and the rejected fluid went into the doctor's hands to 271 00:20:34,330 --> 00:20:37,170 Speaker 3: his disgust, and my satisfaction. 272 00:20:39,610 --> 00:20:41,730 Speaker 1: Was all this really enough? 273 00:20:41,810 --> 00:20:42,050 Speaker 2: Though? 274 00:20:43,050 --> 00:20:46,890 Speaker 1: Getting sent to prison for throwing rocks, setting fire to 275 00:20:46,970 --> 00:20:51,970 Speaker 1: mail boxes, even planting bombs, as some militant suffragettes had 276 00:20:52,010 --> 00:20:56,650 Speaker 1: started to do, and then stoically enduring the barbarity of 277 00:20:56,730 --> 00:21:01,850 Speaker 1: tubes shoved down the throat, or would it take a 278 00:21:01,890 --> 00:21:06,850 Speaker 1: more grand and shocking gesture to get politicians to take 279 00:21:07,090 --> 00:21:14,410 Speaker 1: women seriously? Did the suffragette cause need a martyr? Emily 280 00:21:14,570 --> 00:21:15,610 Speaker 1: began to wander. 281 00:21:17,250 --> 00:21:21,690 Speaker 3: The idea in my mind was one big tragedy may 282 00:21:21,770 --> 00:21:24,170 Speaker 3: save many others. 283 00:21:24,810 --> 00:21:28,610 Speaker 1: It wouldn't be easy for Emily to martyr herself in prison. 284 00:21:29,330 --> 00:21:32,530 Speaker 1: There were nets to stop prisoners from jumping to their deaths. 285 00:21:33,770 --> 00:21:36,210 Speaker 3: I realized that my best means of carrying out my 286 00:21:36,330 --> 00:21:41,330 Speaker 3: purpose was the iron staircase. I walked up stairs and 287 00:21:41,530 --> 00:21:43,770 Speaker 3: threw myself from the top. 288 00:21:45,570 --> 00:21:48,170 Speaker 1: She had tried to miss the netting and land on 289 00:21:48,330 --> 00:21:49,130 Speaker 1: the staircase. 290 00:21:50,450 --> 00:21:53,370 Speaker 3: If I had been successful, I should undoubtedly have been killed, 291 00:21:53,930 --> 00:21:56,290 Speaker 3: as it was a clear drop of thirty to forty feet. 292 00:21:57,250 --> 00:21:59,130 Speaker 3: But I caught on the edge of the netting. 293 00:22:00,970 --> 00:22:04,130 Speaker 1: There was still a ten foot drop from the edge 294 00:22:04,130 --> 00:22:08,410 Speaker 1: of the netting to the iron staircase. It might be enough. 295 00:22:09,730 --> 00:22:13,170 Speaker 3: I realized that there was only one chance left to 296 00:22:13,330 --> 00:22:16,010 Speaker 3: hurl myself with the greatest force I could summon from 297 00:22:16,050 --> 00:22:20,250 Speaker 3: the netting onto the staircase. I threw myself forward on 298 00:22:20,330 --> 00:22:27,810 Speaker 3: my head. When I recovered consciousness, voices were buzzing around me. 299 00:22:28,810 --> 00:22:33,890 Speaker 3: Someone said, fetch the doctor. They lifted me as gently 300 00:22:33,890 --> 00:22:37,450 Speaker 3: as possible, but the agony was intense. 301 00:22:42,930 --> 00:22:45,970 Speaker 1: This was all getting too intense for the leaders of 302 00:22:46,010 --> 00:22:52,850 Speaker 1: the WSPU. Deeds not words they had said, but disrupting politicians' 303 00:22:52,930 --> 00:22:56,530 Speaker 1: speeches was one thing. Planting bombs and setting fire to 304 00:22:56,650 --> 00:23:01,210 Speaker 1: mail was quite another. They refused to publish Emily's account 305 00:23:01,290 --> 00:23:04,810 Speaker 1: of her martyrdom bed in their newspaper, and they ended 306 00:23:04,890 --> 00:23:11,250 Speaker 1: her employment as a WSPU officer. Was becoming an embarrassment. 307 00:23:14,850 --> 00:23:19,730 Speaker 1: At the railway station in Aberdeen, Scotland, in late nineteen twelve, 308 00:23:20,130 --> 00:23:23,490 Speaker 1: a Baptist minister that just waved off his wife on 309 00:23:23,570 --> 00:23:26,490 Speaker 1: a train when he was approached by a woman. 310 00:23:27,850 --> 00:23:30,370 Speaker 6: I thought she was an ordinary passenger, he. 311 00:23:30,370 --> 00:23:34,130 Speaker 1: Later recalled, giving testimony to a court, but. 312 00:23:34,730 --> 00:23:40,770 Speaker 6: Without any explanation. She cried, you traitor, you traitor. There 313 00:23:40,890 --> 00:23:42,930 Speaker 6: came quite a reel of blues. 314 00:23:42,890 --> 00:23:45,890 Speaker 1: And she attacked him with a dog whip. The police 315 00:23:45,930 --> 00:23:50,450 Speaker 1: detained the woman, but she wasn't finished yet. The minister recalled, to. 316 00:23:50,450 --> 00:23:53,290 Speaker 6: My astonishment, she landed me a very clever, quick blow 317 00:23:53,330 --> 00:23:57,250 Speaker 6: on the left jaw with her clenched fist. 318 00:23:57,810 --> 00:24:03,930 Speaker 1: The woman turned out to be Emily Davison. Why had 319 00:24:04,010 --> 00:24:07,490 Speaker 1: Emily attacked a Scottish Baptist minister with a dog whip? 320 00:24:08,450 --> 00:24:13,490 Speaker 1: The Aberdeen Daily Journal explained that the reverend Gentleman bears 321 00:24:13,530 --> 00:24:18,370 Speaker 1: a distinct, if not altogether a striking facial resemblance to 322 00:24:18,490 --> 00:24:23,410 Speaker 1: mister David Lloyd George. Lloyd George was still in government 323 00:24:23,610 --> 00:24:28,210 Speaker 1: and still disappointing the Suffragettes by failing to act on 324 00:24:28,330 --> 00:24:32,210 Speaker 1: their cause. He had been expected in Aberdeen that day. 325 00:24:32,850 --> 00:24:36,130 Speaker 1: His look alike had chosen a bad time to see off. 326 00:24:36,130 --> 00:24:42,850 Speaker 1: His wife. Emily was jailed again. She had just turned forty. 327 00:24:43,690 --> 00:24:46,650 Speaker 1: The stints in prison were starting to take their toll 328 00:24:47,370 --> 00:24:50,450 Speaker 1: along with the unemployment. After she had been sacked by 329 00:24:50,490 --> 00:24:51,490 Speaker 1: the WSPU. 330 00:24:53,250 --> 00:24:56,290 Speaker 3: This last four days hunger strike in Aberdeen found out 331 00:24:56,290 --> 00:25:00,850 Speaker 3: my weakness. I have had some rheumatism in my neck 332 00:25:00,890 --> 00:25:05,290 Speaker 3: and back where I fell on that iron staircase. At present, 333 00:25:05,370 --> 00:25:08,450 Speaker 3: I have no settled work. I wish I could hear 334 00:25:08,490 --> 00:25:08,730 Speaker 3: of some. 335 00:25:11,050 --> 00:25:15,490 Speaker 1: Emily applied for jobs and tried to get her writing published. 336 00:25:16,410 --> 00:25:21,930 Speaker 1: She wrote about sacrifice, comparing militant protesters to Jesus Christ. 337 00:25:24,130 --> 00:25:30,450 Speaker 3: The surrender of life itself is a supreme consummation of sacrifice. 338 00:25:30,650 --> 00:25:35,730 Speaker 3: To lay down life for friends that is glorious, selfless, 339 00:25:36,330 --> 00:25:43,090 Speaker 3: inspiring for generations yet unborn. That is the last consummate 340 00:25:43,250 --> 00:25:45,290 Speaker 3: sacrifice of the militant. 341 00:25:49,690 --> 00:25:54,650 Speaker 1: On the first Tuesday of June nineteen thirteen, Emily went 342 00:25:54,730 --> 00:25:58,730 Speaker 1: to the opening day of the w SPU's Summer Fate, 343 00:25:59,530 --> 00:26:04,610 Speaker 1: a social occasion with flower decorations and stalls serving strawberries 344 00:26:04,650 --> 00:26:08,730 Speaker 1: and cream. I'm going to the Derby tomorrow, she told 345 00:26:08,730 --> 00:26:13,050 Speaker 1: a friend, and the friend was surprised. Emily wasn't a 346 00:26:13,050 --> 00:26:18,330 Speaker 1: regular racegoer. Why are you going to the Derby, Ah 347 00:26:18,530 --> 00:26:23,610 Speaker 1: said Emily. Look in the evening papers and you will 348 00:26:23,650 --> 00:26:42,250 Speaker 1: see cautionary tales. Will be back in a moment. The 349 00:26:42,370 --> 00:26:47,610 Speaker 1: crowd at Tattenham Corner are wondering what just happened. Annmah 350 00:26:48,090 --> 00:26:51,810 Speaker 1: Skids along the turf, then gets shakily to his feet. 351 00:26:53,450 --> 00:26:58,050 Speaker 1: Herbert Jones is out cold. As the other fourteen runners 352 00:26:58,250 --> 00:27:03,570 Speaker 1: race onto the finish, Spectators rush forward to help. Someone 353 00:27:03,650 --> 00:27:07,930 Speaker 1: grabs hold of Anma's reins. An ambulance arrives and the 354 00:27:08,010 --> 00:27:12,330 Speaker 1: crew take Joan's off on a stretcher. Then there's the 355 00:27:12,370 --> 00:27:17,530 Speaker 1: woman and my hit, also unconscious on the grass. A 356 00:27:17,570 --> 00:27:22,250 Speaker 1: policeman calls out, does anyone know this woman? No one does, 357 00:27:23,250 --> 00:27:25,850 Speaker 1: but someone says I have a car, I can take 358 00:27:25,850 --> 00:27:29,610 Speaker 1: her to hospital. Another says I'm a nurse. I'll go 359 00:27:29,730 --> 00:27:39,490 Speaker 1: with you. Herbert Jones at length wakes up, confused about 360 00:27:39,490 --> 00:27:42,370 Speaker 1: why he's on a stretcher and what happened in the race. 361 00:27:43,730 --> 00:27:48,050 Speaker 1: Someone starts to explain a woman. Ah, yes, he says, 362 00:27:49,330 --> 00:27:53,610 Speaker 1: my horse hit her. I remember falling towards the ground. 363 00:27:54,090 --> 00:27:59,090 Speaker 1: I must have had a bang. At the hospital, Emily 364 00:27:59,210 --> 00:28:04,330 Speaker 1: remains unconscious. She's being identified now from a name tag 365 00:28:04,410 --> 00:28:09,010 Speaker 1: found in her jacket. Also in her jacket a suffragettel 366 00:28:09,170 --> 00:28:16,170 Speaker 1: lag neatly folded. The King and Queen are informed a 367 00:28:16,250 --> 00:28:21,570 Speaker 1: most regrettable and scandalous proceeding, the King writes in his diary. 368 00:28:22,330 --> 00:28:26,770 Speaker 1: Poor Jones writes the queen knocked about by that horrid woman, 369 00:28:30,490 --> 00:28:35,570 Speaker 1: as Emily anticipated. She's all over the newspapers. They call 370 00:28:35,650 --> 00:28:42,850 Speaker 1: her mad, wild, demented. A notorious militant, says the Daily Mail. 371 00:28:43,290 --> 00:28:47,410 Speaker 1: The hottest of all suffragette hot bloods deep in the 372 00:28:47,490 --> 00:28:51,490 Speaker 1: hearts of every onlooker, reports the Daily Telegraph. Was a 373 00:28:51,530 --> 00:28:57,770 Speaker 1: feeling of fierce resentment with the miserable woman. Letters addressed 374 00:28:57,810 --> 00:29:03,530 Speaker 1: to Emily start to arrive at Epsom Hospital. You should 375 00:29:03,570 --> 00:29:07,730 Speaker 1: thank your God, says one anonymous missive, that he has 376 00:29:07,810 --> 00:29:15,090 Speaker 1: spared you the sin of murder. Another says, simply you idiot. 377 00:29:18,570 --> 00:29:22,450 Speaker 1: In their article The Radical Flank, Curse or Blessing of 378 00:29:22,490 --> 00:29:27,850 Speaker 1: a Social Movement, researchers describe an experiment. They told their 379 00:29:27,890 --> 00:29:32,210 Speaker 1: subjects about a fictional protest on an environmental issue and 380 00:29:32,370 --> 00:29:36,130 Speaker 1: asked if they supported the protesters. Some subjects got a 381 00:29:36,170 --> 00:29:41,490 Speaker 1: description of protesters using only moderate tactics, such as organizing petitions. 382 00:29:42,290 --> 00:29:46,210 Speaker 1: Some got a description of only radical tactics, such as 383 00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:53,290 Speaker 1: vandalizing property. More people supported moderate than radical protest. Other 384 00:29:53,370 --> 00:29:58,530 Speaker 1: subjects got a description of two contrasting protest groups, a 385 00:29:58,570 --> 00:30:03,930 Speaker 1: main moderate group and a smaller radical one, the radical flank. 386 00:30:05,170 --> 00:30:09,090 Speaker 1: The contrast made people less likely to support the radial 387 00:30:09,130 --> 00:30:13,810 Speaker 1: called protesters, but more likely to support the moderates. So 388 00:30:13,890 --> 00:30:18,330 Speaker 1: the experiment has found two effects, one that reduced support 389 00:30:18,370 --> 00:30:23,650 Speaker 1: for the cause overall, another that increased it. No wonder 390 00:30:23,690 --> 00:30:28,610 Speaker 1: the literature is mixed on whether disruptive protests help or hinder. 391 00:30:29,490 --> 00:30:32,650 Speaker 1: It's hard to know when one effect outweighs the other, 392 00:30:34,130 --> 00:30:38,850 Speaker 1: but the experiment suggests something counterintuitive. When someone makes a 393 00:30:38,890 --> 00:30:42,450 Speaker 1: disruptive protest, it's because they think it will help a 394 00:30:42,610 --> 00:30:47,330 Speaker 1: cause they passionately believe in. And it might, but not 395 00:30:47,610 --> 00:30:50,930 Speaker 1: in the way they might hope. Instead of being seen 396 00:30:50,970 --> 00:30:56,170 Speaker 1: as heroes, they'll be hated. But they'll also make moderate 397 00:30:56,290 --> 00:31:01,330 Speaker 1: protest groups look more reasonable, groups that make the same arguments, 398 00:31:01,450 --> 00:31:08,290 Speaker 1: that use less annoying tactics, as the crowd at Silverston 399 00:31:08,410 --> 00:31:13,330 Speaker 1: shout that the just stop oil protesters. Elsewhere on the track, 400 00:31:13,930 --> 00:31:19,610 Speaker 1: the race begins. Even the best drivers crash sometimes, and 401 00:31:19,690 --> 00:31:23,250 Speaker 1: this time they crash before they even reach the first corner. 402 00:31:23,930 --> 00:31:26,970 Speaker 1: One car clips another and clatters into a third, which 403 00:31:27,090 --> 00:31:30,930 Speaker 1: flips upside down, skims off the track, and smashes into 404 00:31:30,970 --> 00:31:36,610 Speaker 1: a tire wall. A massive accident. Debris is everywhere. They'll 405 00:31:36,610 --> 00:31:40,410 Speaker 1: have to stop the race to clear the track. The 406 00:31:40,490 --> 00:31:45,530 Speaker 1: race officials call a red flag. By the time the 407 00:31:45,610 --> 00:31:49,130 Speaker 1: drivers get to the protesters part of the track, they've 408 00:31:49,290 --> 00:31:53,970 Speaker 1: already stopped racing, slowed right down. They don't need to 409 00:31:54,010 --> 00:31:58,970 Speaker 1: react quickly to avoid the protesters. They just steer around them. 410 00:31:59,330 --> 00:32:03,370 Speaker 1: The TV coverage isn't showing the cars driving slowly back 411 00:32:03,410 --> 00:32:08,170 Speaker 1: towards the pits. It's showing repeats of that spectacular first 412 00:32:08,170 --> 00:32:12,130 Speaker 1: corner crash. Nobody watching at home has any idea that 413 00:32:12,170 --> 00:32:18,490 Speaker 1: the protest has happened. This never was dangerous. The protesters 414 00:32:18,570 --> 00:32:21,770 Speaker 1: later insist to a court the drivers would have stopped 415 00:32:21,770 --> 00:32:25,290 Speaker 1: in time anyway. The judge is not impressed. 416 00:32:26,330 --> 00:32:30,610 Speaker 4: None of you were qualified enough or experienced enough properly 417 00:32:30,890 --> 00:32:34,610 Speaker 4: to assess the risk to you and others. You were, 418 00:32:34,650 --> 00:32:38,730 Speaker 4: in my view, kidding yourselves. 419 00:32:40,490 --> 00:32:47,170 Speaker 1: Another letter arrives at Emily Davison's bedside. I cannot believe 420 00:32:47,490 --> 00:32:51,010 Speaker 1: that you could have done such a dreadful act, it says, 421 00:32:52,170 --> 00:32:55,490 Speaker 1: I can only hope and pray that God will mercifully 422 00:32:55,530 --> 00:32:59,770 Speaker 1: restore you to life and health. With all my love 423 00:33:00,890 --> 00:33:06,330 Speaker 1: from your sorrowful mother, Emily never gets to read the letter. 424 00:33:07,490 --> 00:33:15,290 Speaker 1: After four days in a coma. She dies after Emily 425 00:33:15,370 --> 00:33:20,610 Speaker 1: had thrown herself onto the prison's iron staircase. The WSPU 426 00:33:21,290 --> 00:33:26,050 Speaker 1: refused to publish her account in their newspaper. They ostracized her, 427 00:33:26,490 --> 00:33:31,010 Speaker 1: embarrassed by how extreme she had become now that she 428 00:33:31,090 --> 00:33:36,130 Speaker 1: had actually died, Well, perhaps she'd been right that a 429 00:33:36,250 --> 00:33:41,810 Speaker 1: martyr might be useful. The same newspaper's front page depicted 430 00:33:41,890 --> 00:33:48,050 Speaker 1: Emily as an angel, under the words in honor and 431 00:33:48,170 --> 00:33:54,890 Speaker 1: in loving reverent memory of Emily Wilding Davison. She died 432 00:33:55,530 --> 00:34:07,410 Speaker 1: for women. They arranged for Emily's coffin to parade through 433 00:34:07,450 --> 00:34:11,730 Speaker 1: London and appeal for mourners to wear white and carry 434 00:34:11,770 --> 00:34:18,250 Speaker 1: lilies or black with a bunch of purple irises. Thousands 435 00:34:18,290 --> 00:34:23,410 Speaker 1: of women followed the coffin, singing hymns. Onward Christian soldiers, 436 00:34:24,490 --> 00:34:29,650 Speaker 1: fight the good fight with all your might, this marvelous 437 00:34:29,650 --> 00:34:34,530 Speaker 1: woman said. The funeral program offered up her life as 438 00:34:34,570 --> 00:34:40,730 Speaker 1: a petition to the king. A fellow suffragette explained, miss 439 00:34:40,850 --> 00:34:45,570 Speaker 1: Davison went out with the express purpose of stopping the 440 00:34:45,650 --> 00:34:50,570 Speaker 1: King's horse to challenge the very head of this country. 441 00:34:52,810 --> 00:34:56,530 Speaker 1: That's the story about Emily that's come down to this day. 442 00:34:57,130 --> 00:34:59,530 Speaker 1: As in the blurb of the book for children. 443 00:34:59,930 --> 00:35:03,730 Speaker 5: She and her fellow suffragettes had patiently put their argument 444 00:35:03,810 --> 00:35:08,290 Speaker 5: to the government, but they were ignored. At the Derby racecourse, 445 00:35:08,490 --> 00:35:12,450 Speaker 5: as the King Horse came pounding towards her, Emily was 446 00:35:12,530 --> 00:35:15,970 Speaker 5: prepared to make the biggest sacrifice of all. 447 00:35:18,490 --> 00:35:23,090 Speaker 1: But is the story right? We get some things right 448 00:35:23,130 --> 00:35:29,650 Speaker 1: about Emily Davison. She had incredible courage, repeatedly getting herself imprisoned, 449 00:35:30,450 --> 00:35:34,810 Speaker 1: knowing she'd face the horror of being force fed. And 450 00:35:34,850 --> 00:35:37,450 Speaker 1: she was right, of course about the cause of votes 451 00:35:37,490 --> 00:35:41,850 Speaker 1: for women. But are we right to assume that her 452 00:35:41,970 --> 00:35:46,810 Speaker 1: courage helped her cause. The mixed literature on radical flank 453 00:35:46,850 --> 00:35:51,770 Speaker 1: effects suggests that it's hard to be certain. Here's something 454 00:35:51,810 --> 00:35:56,130 Speaker 1: else we might get wrong about Emily. Did she really 455 00:35:56,330 --> 00:36:02,330 Speaker 1: intend to sacrifice herself? I mentioned that in Emily's jacket 456 00:36:02,570 --> 00:36:07,650 Speaker 1: police found a neatly folded Suffragette flag. They also found 457 00:36:07,690 --> 00:36:11,770 Speaker 1: a return train ticket to London and an entrance passed 458 00:36:11,770 --> 00:36:15,490 Speaker 1: for that evening. At the Summer Fate, Emily had promised 459 00:36:15,490 --> 00:36:18,490 Speaker 1: to visit her sister to help with her newborn niece. 460 00:36:19,450 --> 00:36:23,450 Speaker 1: None of this suggests she expected to die at epsom. 461 00:36:25,210 --> 00:36:30,330 Speaker 1: What was Emily trying to achieve. As her biographer Lucy 462 00:36:30,410 --> 00:36:36,570 Speaker 1: Fisher writes, that question still sparks markedly divisive debate today. 463 00:36:37,570 --> 00:36:42,570 Speaker 1: She hadn't explained her plans to anyone. The newsreel footage 464 00:36:42,970 --> 00:36:45,930 Speaker 1: shows that she ducks under the running rail and onto 465 00:36:45,970 --> 00:36:51,330 Speaker 1: the course when half the runners have already passed. Two 466 00:36:51,370 --> 00:36:57,850 Speaker 1: horses narrowly avoid her, then anma knocks her down. Eyewitnesses 467 00:36:57,930 --> 00:37:01,090 Speaker 1: thought that from her viewpoint on the inside of the bend, 468 00:37:01,810 --> 00:37:05,330 Speaker 1: she couldn't have seen well enough to target one specific horse. 469 00:37:06,530 --> 00:37:11,570 Speaker 1: Others who studied the newsreel footage disc agree. Just before 470 00:37:11,810 --> 00:37:16,410 Speaker 1: Anna hits her, she reaches up her hand. Was she 471 00:37:16,570 --> 00:37:20,770 Speaker 1: trying to grab his reins? If so, her risk assessment 472 00:37:20,930 --> 00:37:24,730 Speaker 1: was as questionable as that of just stop oil. She 473 00:37:24,770 --> 00:37:27,250 Speaker 1: should have known how hard it would be to stop 474 00:37:27,410 --> 00:37:30,370 Speaker 1: half a ton of horse at thirty five miles an hour. 475 00:37:31,650 --> 00:37:36,570 Speaker 1: Perhaps she, just like the Silverstone protesters, was kidding herself. 476 00:37:38,570 --> 00:37:43,690 Speaker 1: The horse racing author Michael Tanner posits another theory. Maybe 477 00:37:43,730 --> 00:37:47,530 Speaker 1: Emily intended to run onto the course before the runners 478 00:37:47,570 --> 00:37:53,570 Speaker 1: got there and unfurl her flag for the newsreel cameras. Maybe, 479 00:37:53,730 --> 00:37:58,170 Speaker 1: not being a regular race goer, she underestimated how quickly 480 00:37:58,290 --> 00:38:02,370 Speaker 1: the horses would arrive and flash past. She ducked under 481 00:38:02,370 --> 00:38:06,010 Speaker 1: the rails. The leaders had gone by already. What next, 482 00:38:06,730 --> 00:38:20,530 Speaker 1: she had only a moment to It took fifteen years 483 00:38:20,610 --> 00:38:24,210 Speaker 1: after Emily's death for all British women to get the 484 00:38:24,290 --> 00:38:29,570 Speaker 1: vote in the children's book version of Emily's sacrifice that 485 00:38:29,690 --> 00:38:36,010 Speaker 1: needed direct action after patient arguments were ignored. In truth, 486 00:38:36,130 --> 00:38:39,570 Speaker 1: we can't know if the militant suffragettes sped up the 487 00:38:39,610 --> 00:38:43,290 Speaker 1: advent of women's suffrage or delayed it, although we do 488 00:38:43,410 --> 00:38:46,210 Speaker 1: know that women in other countries got the vote at 489 00:38:46,290 --> 00:38:53,490 Speaker 1: roughly the same time through those patient arguments alone. Moderate 490 00:38:53,530 --> 00:38:59,050 Speaker 1: groups in Britain, too, persisted with their patient arguments. The 491 00:38:59,130 --> 00:39:03,770 Speaker 1: London Society for Women's Suffrage, for example, explained why they 492 00:39:04,130 --> 00:39:09,930 Speaker 1: weren't attending Emily's funeral. We deplore her actions. They harm 493 00:39:10,090 --> 00:39:13,530 Speaker 1: our cause by alienating many people who would consider it 494 00:39:13,650 --> 00:39:16,730 Speaker 1: right to give the vote to women, but wrong to 495 00:39:16,970 --> 00:39:22,290 Speaker 1: endanger the lives of others. In favor of votes for 496 00:39:22,370 --> 00:39:29,570 Speaker 1: women against bringing down race horses are balanced reasonable moderate position. 497 00:39:30,890 --> 00:39:46,130 Speaker 1: Sometimes radicals help by making moderates look good. This episode 498 00:39:46,130 --> 00:39:51,290 Speaker 1: relied on Lucy Fisher's biography Emily Wilding Davison, The Martyr 499 00:39:51,370 --> 00:39:57,490 Speaker 1: Suffragette and The Suffragette Derby by Michael Tanner. For a 500 00:39:57,530 --> 00:40:00,730 Speaker 1: fullness of our sources, see the show notes at Timharford 501 00:40:00,810 --> 00:40:06,730 Speaker 1: dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford 502 00:40:06,810 --> 00:40:10,850 Speaker 1: with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines and Dilly. It's produced by 503 00:40:10,890 --> 00:40:15,010 Speaker 1: Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original 504 00:40:15,090 --> 00:40:18,810 Speaker 1: music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound design 505 00:40:18,970 --> 00:40:22,810 Speaker 1: is by Carlos San Juan at Brain Audio Bend and 506 00:40:22,850 --> 00:40:27,410 Speaker 1: Dafhaffrey edited the scripts. The show features the voice talents 507 00:40:27,410 --> 00:40:33,010 Speaker 1: of Genevieve Gaunt, Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford, Oliver Hembrough, Sarah 508 00:40:33,170 --> 00:40:38,130 Speaker 1: jupp As, Saimonroe, Jamal Westman, and Rufus Wright. 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