Ebook: A history of Britain in 21 women: a personal selection

Boadicea -- Queen Elizabeth I -- Aphra Behn -- Caroline Herschel -- Fanny Burney -- Mary Wollstonecraft -- Jane Austen -- Mary Somerville -- Mary Seacole -- Ada Lovelace -- Elizabeth Garrett Anderson -- Millicent Garrett Fawcett -- Emmeline Pankhurst -- Ethel Smyth -- Constance Markievicz -- Gwen John -- Nancy Astor -- Barbara Castle -- Margaret Thatcher -- Mary Quant -- Nicola Sturgeon;I was ten years old when I came across Boadicea, and she became the first woman to make me realise that the designated future of a girl born in 1950 to be sweet, domesticated, undemanding and super feminine was not necessarily the case. Boadicea battled the Romans. Nancy Astor fought in Parliament. Emmeline Pankhurst campaigned for female suffrage. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became a pioneering physician in a man's profession. Mary Quant revolutionised the fashion industry. Britain has traditionally been defined by its conflicts, its conquests, its men and its monarchs. It's high time that it was defined by its women. In this unique history, Jenni Murray tells the stories of twenty-one women who refused to succumb to the established laws of society, whose lives embodied hope and change. Famous queens, forgotten visionaries, great artists and trailblazing politicians all pushed back boundaries and revolutionised our world. In Murray's hands their stories are enthralling and beguiling; they have the power to inspire us once again