Dr Fern Riddell is a cultural historian, and an expert in sex, suffrage and entertainment in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. She attended Barton Court Grammar School, Canterbury before completing her BA and MA degrees at Royal Holloway, University of London and her PhD at King’s College, London. Her books include Death in Ten Minutes: The Forgotten Life of Radical Suffragette Kitty Marion (Hodder & Stoughton, 2018) and Sex Lessons From History (Hodder & Headline Ome, 2020). She has appeared on, and acted as historical researcher for, numerous television and radio programmes including Ripper Street (BBC/Amazon) and A Victorian Scandal: The Rudest Book in Britain (BBC 4).
Tonight’s lecture is based on her highly acclaimed recentbookVictoria's Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen (Ebury Press 2025), a passionate and provocative re-evaluation of Queen Victoria's relationship with her servant John Brown.