May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get

10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the brain again.

Trains now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the Uber app. You're not going to do. Hello gentle listeners all. This week I have a special treat for you, a special treat with a purpose though I must admit.

We're going to talk today about the extraordinary life in times of Margaret Cavendish who started

off in a minor gentry family in 1623 when she was born and went on to become a poet, playwright,

natural philosopher and everything that flows from being the Duchess of Newcastle and something

of a fashion icon as well, before dying

rather unexpectedly in 1673 so she went through sometimes.

Meanwhile if you are intrigued by what you're about here, and it is an extraordinary story I have to tell you,

then by simply becoming a member of the history of England, you will be able to heal more about her and her achievements and the tumultuous time in which she lived.

So to talk about Margaret Cavendish, I am joined by an expert.

Hello Margaret, how are you?

Hello, David, thanks for having me on the podcast. It's absolutely lovely to have you here,

Margaret. I'm so grateful. So just so everybody knows, Margaret is a professor of English

at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, which she

tell me is one of the most rebellious colonies. She earned her PhD in English and humanities at

Stanford University and specializes now in early modern British

literature including Shakespeare, John Dunn, George Herbert and Margaret Cavendish.

So before we get on with the main event Margaret, how long have you been interested in your namesake?

Is this a recent thing or have you been interested in her for ages?

When I was a graduate student and I didn't realize this at the time. There was a huge uptick in

interest in Margaret Cavendish. This is the 80s and 90s. She had been castigated and

...