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It's April 1870 and gaslight flickers along London's West End.

The Strand Theatre doors swing open and the audience spills into the night.

Silk hems lifted from the damp pavement,

kid gloves buttoned tight, laughter drifting into the fog.

Among all these people walk two figures,

curls pinned beneath bonnets, skirts swaying.

They walked these streets before, but tonight, plain clothes officers are watching them. Within hours, both men will be in custody, and Victorian London will be gripped by one of the centuries most sensational

scandals.

In Victorian London, newspapers feasted on scandal like nothing else, and on a spring evening

in 1870, two young men attended the Strand

Theatre in full drag. By morning, London would be gripped by one of the century's most

sensational scandals. In an empire built on rigid masculinity, how dangerous was a man in a silk dress? From the heart of the West End,

this is After Dark.

Music Hello and welcome to After Dark, I'm Anthony, and today's episode takes place in London in 1870. I mean,

I'm saying I'm Anthony. Nobody is here to see me today, but I'm just going to try and ignore the splendor that's sitting beside me for a moment because we are going to talk about two young

people called Fannie and Stella.

Now, when we were talking about doing this episode, there was only one person that I could think

of to come in and take us through this history. And that, of course, is I shall no longer delay

...