Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld

Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld

During the victory celebrations of World War One, a rising star is found dead in her bed after a suspected overdose.


22-year-old Billie Carlton’s death caused shockwaves across the nation, adding fuel to a growing moral panic about sex, scandal and drugs.


Anthony and Maddy are joined by Virginia Berridge, Professor of History and Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, to explore the path to drug criminalisation in postwar London following the death of Billie Carlton. Together, they uncover the extraordinary history of drugs in Soho - London’s most notorious neighbourhood in the 1920s.


Historic Soho has been brought to life in the new BBC show Dope Girls, which tells the story of Soho when female gangs ran the nightclubs after the First World War. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer now.


All music from Epidemic Sounds.


After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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Episoder(259)

England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches

England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches

Inside the heavy walls of Lancaster Castle, the darkest & deadliest of English witch trials played out in 1612 - the Pendle Witch Trials. By the end ten people would be executed and many more lives ru...

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St Patrick: Pirates, Snakes and Goatees

St Patrick: Pirates, Snakes and Goatees

He wasn't Irish. He didn't wear green. There were no snakes. So who was the real St Patrick? How did his myth grow? And how did he invent the goatee?Podcaster and comedian Alison Spittle joins Maddy a...

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Medieval Torture: The Dark History

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This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list paints a very dark picture. What was the reality of executio...

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'Black Widow': Serial Killer of Victorian England

'Black Widow': Serial Killer of Victorian England

Mary Ann Cotton is known as the first British female serial killer. A trail of bodies, many her own children, followed her through life. Bodies she happened to have insurance policies out on. Arsenic ...

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Pirate Queens: Mary Read & Anne Bonny

Pirate Queens: Mary Read & Anne Bonny

Mary Read and Anne Bonny are legendary female pirates from the golden age of piracy. Raised as boys, they sailed with captain Calico Jack and fought their enemies bare-breasted, if legends are to be b...

6 Mar 202442min

The First Alien Abduction

The First Alien Abduction

In 1961 Betty and Barney Hill became the first people ever to be abducted by aliens. Their story of being taken and examined by extraterrestrials on board a spaceship became the blueprint that others ...

3 Mar 202445min

The Paris Morgue's Dark Story

The Paris Morgue's Dark Story

Citizens of Paris in the 19th century could stroll down to the Morgue to try to identify the unknown dead or to gawp at celebrity murder victims. Though its most famous resident of all was perhaps not...

29 Feb 202440min

Do Mermaids Exist? Historical Sightings & Myths

Do Mermaids Exist? Historical Sightings & Myths

Did you know Benjamin Franklin began his career reporting mermaid sightings? Or that there's a mermaid on every cup of Starbucks coffee?Join us as we search the oceans for history's greatest mermaid s...

25 Feb 202441min

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