In 2019, Worsley presented American History's Biggest Fibs, looking at the nation's founding story and American Revolution, the American Civil War, and the Cold War. Worsley also wrote the young-adult book Lady Mary, [27] a history-based book that details the life of Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; it follows her as a young Princess Mary during the time of the divorce of Mary's parents. Wadsworth, Jo (13 July 2015). "TV historian given honorary Sussex Uni degree". Brighton and Hove News . Retrieved 20 July 2015. Carpani, Jessica (25 March 2016). "Historian Lucy Worsley: My life in eight objects". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 22 October 2016.

In 2011, Worsley presented the four-part television series If Walls Could Talk, exploring the history of British homes, from peasants' cottages to palaces; and the three-part series Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency. In 2012 she co-presented the three-part television series Antiques Uncovered, with antiques and collectibles expert Mark Hill, [13] and (broadcast at the same time) Harlots, Housewives and Heroines, a three-part series on the lives of women after the Civil War and the Restoration of Charles II. [14] Later that year she presented a documentary on Dorothy Hartley's Food in England as part of the BBC Four "Food and Drink" strand. It also touches on the origins and evolution of the police and more specifically the emergence of the detective. Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls at BBC4.com". Bbc.co.uk. 28 May 2012 . Retrieved 1 April 2013. In July 2015, she was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Sussex (where she completed her doctorate). [35] This is the second of this author's works I have read. She has an easy to read style with a slight quirkiness, reminiscent of her presentation style on TV. I haven't seen the TV programme/series on which this book was based, but can envisage it from the structure of this book and the general style in which it comes across.I especially admired Worsley's elegant use of two essays - Thomas De Quincey's "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" (1827) and George Orwell's "Decline of the English Murder" (1946) - as the framing works between which her intellectual history unfolds. As a television presenter, she is known for having a rhotacism, a minor speech impairment [1] which affects her pronunciation of "r". When she made the move from BBC Four to BBC Two for the series Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History, she worked with a speech and language therapist to help with her pronunciation, but to no avail. [32] This was an interesting exploration into the fascination of the English with murder and real life crime and of the development of the mystery genre in English literature. Worsley reveals how real-life crimes led to a type of public, obsessive fascination and a form of national entertainment that were eventually the inspirations for novels, plays, and other artistic works. She credits the early English author, Thomas De Quincey, for postulating the idea of "murder as a performance that raised expectations in the public mind." Crime and murder were discovered to provide public entertainment that "would thrill, horrify, and delight" leading to the popularity of the mystery novel. Worsley describes the various mystery authors who arose in the 19th century, the depiction of policing (which early on was slipshod), the rise of the detective, newly discovered scientific means of investigating and solving a crime or murder and discusses how authors created stories that encapsulated the horror, the thrill and finally the revealing of the culprit. Worsley discusses the early "sensation" crime novels, the more cerebral "Golden Age" mystery with its formulaic pattern, and leads into the modern hardcore thriller that is criticized by George Orwell. While this book is a history of the English murder mystery, Worsley's style is not pedantic, but engaging with some humor along the way and informative of new knowledge and insights gained by this reader. The book is based on a BBC presentation which I would like to watch and I am interested in reading her book, Jane Austen at Home.

Lucy Worsley looks at murder through the eyes of writers in fiction and fact through the ages, beginning with comments on Thomas de Quincey's essay 'On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts' that was inspired by the so-called Ratcliffe Highway Murders of 1811. This multiple murder saw the beginning of the gruesome correlation between lurid reporting of a crime that sparked a massive increase in the sales of newspapers and thus engendered the interest of the public. Spencer, Charles (26 August 2007). "Cavalier: a tale of chivalry, passion and great houses, by Lucy Worsley". The Independent on Sunday . Retrieved 24 September 2013. Wade, Francesca (26 March 2016). "Tales of lecherous Tudors". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 22 October 2016– via lucyworsley.com. Worsley a, Lucy (2001). The Architectural Patronage of William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, 1593–1676 (D.Phil. thesis) . Retrieved 1 April 2013. I then worked for English Heritage and Glasgow Museums before becoming Chief Curator at the charity Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace, in 2003. Yes, this is a brilliant job, but no, you can’t have it. (Bribes have been offered, and refused.)Wintle, Angela (12 April 2013). "Lucy Worsley: My family values". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 November 2016. In 2016, Worsley presented the three-part documentary Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley in January and Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey in June. [17] In September 2016, she was filming an upcoming series A Very British History for BBC Four. [18] In December she presented and appeared in dramatised accounts of the three-part BBC series Six Wives with Lucy Worsley. In 2017, she presented a three-part series entitled British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley, debunking historical views of the Wars of the Roses, the Glorious Revolution and the British occupation of India. [19]

Law, Katie (27 April 2010). "It is time for Princess Diana to take her place in history". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 1 April 2013. Worsley describes the fact that hangings and murders provided entertainment to the public, even so much so that the people bought trinkets as souvenirs. Continuing on with the entertainment theme, Worsley introduces sensational journalism, the theatre, Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, a puppet show, and detective fiction. In addition, she talks about the founding of the organized police force, detective work, ‘Penny Bloods’ (the precursor to crime fiction), poisonings, and forensic science. This non-fiction book outlines the history of British Crime- both real and fictional and their obsession with crime and murder. It’s not just the British, though. I happen to love, love, love British crime fiction. Two of my all- time favorite book series are British Mysteries- one historical and one set in present day. Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life (U.S.ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250201423. In 2005, she was elected a senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; she was also appointed visiting professor at Kingston University in west London. [12] Television [ edit ]Lucy Worsley uncovers the true stories of Victorian women accused of murder in a new podcast and series". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre . Retrieved 13 March 2022. It turns out that what the lower middle and working classes most wanted to do, in their leisure time, was to come face-to-face with murderers. And if that wasn’t possible, they wanted to read about them.”

I've been dipping in and out of this one as I like to do with Non Fiction and as a reader interested in true crime and indeed crime fiction this was a great little read. Worsley has published a number of books, many guides to houses and the like. Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court (2011) is her most recent work on history. In 2014, BBC Books published her book, A Very British Murder, which was based on the series. [23] This book has been written to accompany a television series of the same name and does, as a consequence jump around a little in subject matter. The book begins and ends with discussion of an essay - the first being, "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" by Thomas De Quincey and finishes with an appraisal of "The Decline of the English Murder" by George Orwell. This is not really about crime, as such, although many crimes are discussed - it is about how, especially since the nineteenth century, the British began to "enjoy and consume the idea of a murder." a b c Woods, Judith (13 April 2011). "Dr Lucy Worsley: 'I'm just an historian who wandered into TV' ". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012 . Retrieved 1 April 2013.Sitting down after a hard day’s work, slippers on, guard lowered… for the last 200 years murder has been the topic to which readers turn for comfort and relaxation.” As she moves into the twentieth century, Worsley largely pulls away from true crime to concentrate on the fictional. She discusses the Golden Age authors in some depth, giving almost mini-biographies of some of them, particularly Dorothy L Sayers. She argues (as others have done) that the Golden Age puzzle with its fairly defined rules developed as a response to the horrors of WW1 and fed into a society that wanted something a bit cosier than the blood-curdling melodramas of the past. She discusses how class and gender were represented in these novels, but keeps the tone light – though it’s clearly well-researched, this book never reads like an academic study.