Flinging off her heels under shellfire in Civil War Spain. Taking tea with Hitler after a Nuremberg rally. Gossipping with Churchill by his goldfish pond. The pioneering 1930s female war correspondent Virginia Cowles did all of these things.

In this special episode, we’re joined by not one, but two experts to discuss the life of the trailblazing Virginia Cowles. The first is the author Judith Mackrell, whose most recent book, Going with the Boys, follows six women journalists, including Virginia, who reported on the Second World War. The second is multi-award winning journalist and senior foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times, Christina Lamb, who has written the foreword to the re-issue of Virginia’s memoir.

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Cowles started her brief but extraordinary career in Spain, reporting on the Civil War despite the fact she had no previous experience as a foreign correspondent. By the end of the 1930s she was writing up her experiences reporting from the front-lines of Europe – from Czechoslovakia, to France and Finland – to produce her memoir, Looking for Trouble.

Virginia’s success lay in her remarkable ability to be in the right place at the right time, and always with the right people. Whether it was striking up a conversation with Unity Mitford in Nuremberg or finding herself next to Neville Chamberlain in the months after the Munich Agreement.

She was rarely seen without lipstick and a pair of heels and defied expectations wherever she went (Ernest Hemmingway initially dismissed her as nothing more than a socialite). Yet her perceptiveness and ability to get people to talk made her an invaluable reporter on the continent.

In one article she wrote on the situation in Spain she observed how the civil war had become a proxy for the ideological battle between fascism and communism. The piece was so well respected that it was quoted by the former prime minister Lloyd George during a speech he made in the House of Lords.

In one anecdote from her memoir Virginia describes how the old statesman invited her, the anonymous “author”, to lunch via a mutual friend. She writes how Lloyd George was taken by surprise, with an expression “bordering on resentment”, when a “green young woman” stepped out of the car. She won him over enough at least by the end of the day to be sent home with a jar of honey and a dozen apples from his farm.

This meeting with Lloyd George is just one of the many fascinating stories from Virginia’s life that we discuss in this episode, as we travel back to Europe on the brink of the second world war.

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Click here to order Virginia Cowles’ and Judith Mackrell’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.

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Show notes

Scene One: September, Nuremberg. Virginia attends a Nuremberg Rally and afterwards has a mind boggling conversation with Unity Mitford, a close friend of Hitler’s.

Scene Two: August, Prague. Virginia speaks to Czech citizens who fear imminent German aggression.

Scene Three: October, London. Virginia has a conversation with Neville Chamberlain in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement.

Memento: Christina chooses Virginia’s high heels, and Judith chooses one of the Nazi government’s traditional new year posters depicting an image of a helmeted German soldier with the caption “1939”.

People/Social

Presenter: Artemis Irvine

Guest: Christina Lamb and Judith Mackrell

Production: Maria Nolan

Podcast partner: Unseen Histories

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About Christina Lamb

Christina Lamb is one of Britain’s leading foreign correspondents and a bestselling author. She has reported from most of the world’s hotspots starting with Afghanistan after an unexpected wedding invitation led her to Karachi in 1987 when she was just 22. She moved to Peshawar to cover the mujaheddin fighting the Soviet Union and within two years she had been named Young Journalist of the Year. Since then she has won 15 major awards including five times being named Foreign Correspondent of the Year and Europe’s top war reporting prize, the Prix Bayeux. She was made an OBE by the Queen in 2013 and is an honorary fellow of University College, Oxford.

Currently Chief Foreign Correspondent for the Sunday Times of London, her postings have included South Africa, Pakistan, Brazil and Washington, and she is particularly known for her writing highlighting how war affects women.

She has written nine books including the bestselling The Africa House and I Am Malala, as well as Farewell Kabul and The Girl from Aleppo.

About Judith Mackrell

Judith Mackrell is a celebrated dance critic, writing first for the Independent and now for the Guardian. Her biography of the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, Bloomsbury Ballerina, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award. She has also appeared on television and radio, as well as writing on dance, co-authoring The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Her most recent book Going with the Boys has been described as “thoughtful and edge-of-your-seat thrilling” by the Mail on Sunday.