Louise Peckett offers an easy, gentle and informative stroll through a central part of Brighton to unveil the women of all shapes and sizes who were notorious in many different ways and for many different reasons. I think anyone who hasn’t been on this tour couldn’t possibly imagine the going ons in Brighton between 1865 and 1984, the general timeframe covered.

Louise offers us a large window through which to peer through the lives of the rich, famous, poor, disillusioned, downtrodden, callous, ambitious, resourceful, sophisticated and adventurous women who were born, died or stepped through their lives in this seaside town. Utterly thrilling.

From the story of Constance in 1865 who confessed to her brothers death, to the star studded career of actress Dame Flora Robson. Martha Gunn truly captured my imagination, a famous dipper who helped numerous women take a dip at Brighton beach and who became a quite wealthy owner of property. And then there was Phoebe Hessell, who joined the army by disguising herself as a man. After 17 years in the military Phoebe married. But she lost 2 husbands and 10 children. Oh and she liked drinking beer. Her final victory came when she got 2 highwaymen hung for causing mayhem in Brighton.

[  ]As the tour continued we heard of conjoined twins who rose to independence following a rather sad circus type exploitative career and Christiana Edwards who poisoned dozens with chocolate of all things! I won’t give away any more but Notorious Women of Brighton is a real treat. Not the poisoned chocolate type.