GORGEOUS Lives

an in-depth interview with an interesting woman

TICKETS for The Working Girls of Soho Cabaret SHOW !

08 Mar 2023

KINGS HEAD THEATRE TICKETS:  FRIDAY  24 March 7pm – 8.30pm  https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/working-girls-of-soho PHOENIX THEATRE TICKETS Monday 15 May 7pm – 9pm   https://phoenixartsclub.com/events/the-working-girls-of-soho-saucy-tales-of-notorious-women/   Be taken on a wild journey through Soho’s shady past, meeting the female whores, club runners & thieves who have been Soho’s beating heart since the 18th Century. A night of song, storytelling,…

You’ll Never Walk Alone – Interview with author Rachel Kelly about the power of poetry

07 Dec 2022

You’ll Never Walk Alone – Poems for life’s up and downs Rachel Kelly is a former Times journalist who is now a mental health campaigner, public speaker, and writer.  In her early thirties, Rachel was diagnosed with serious depression and subsequently suffered two major depressive episodes. These two episodes have become the defining events of…

Josephine Pembroke on Museum of Soho show on Soho Radio

14 Nov 2022

The Working Girls of Soho – Saucy Tales of Notorious Women – Songs & Stories A fabulous cabaret celebrating Soho’s glorious past. Featuring the club runners, strippers, whores and thieves with song and stories. Josephine Pembroke of Pussies Galore talks about her sell out show featuring the female club runners, strippers, whores and thieves from…

True Story London founder Michelle Toth with Donna Freed

13 Nov 2022

Michelle Toth is a bit of a polymath, in part because she loves learning and in part because when other people ask why, Michelle tends to ask, why not? She has been an entrepreneur, consultant, executive, novelist and story teller and is now a highly accomplished executive coach. She is passionate about connecting people through…

London’s Lost Department Stores – A Vanished World of Dazzle and Dreams by Tessa Boase with Josephine Pembroke

06 Nov 2022

Last century central London and the suburbs were awash with ‘Halls of Temptation,’ giant emporiums where you could buy anything from exotic pets to opening your own bank account. Author Tessa Boase tells us about the golden days of shopping, when  visiting a store was a magnificent assault on the senses.  #RadioGorgeous #SocialHistory #MrSelfridge  https://www.tessaboase.com/books

THE INTERVIEW The Working Girls of Soho – Saucy Tales of Notorious Women by Josephine Pembroke with Donna Freed

04 Aug 2022

Josephine reveals all in this candid interview about the female wild bohemians, whores, thieves and nightclub queens of London Soho’s outrageous past. TICKETS FOR NEXT SHOW IN LONDON https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-working-girls-of-soho-saucy-tales-of-notorious-women-songsstories-tickets-461807046307 “Wit, charm and plenty of sauce, simply a fabulous show.” Sophie Parkin, Author of The Colony Room Club 1948-2008 “Josephine brings Soho in all its seedy,…

Ode to Joyce by Cheryl Knight, a one woman show about the hilarious comedienne

31 May 2022

Star of the St Trinian’s films and inspiration for Victoria Wood and Miranda Hart, Joyce Grenfell was one of Britain’s most loved female comedienne, writer, actor and singer. Cheryl Knight tells us about Joyce, and her hugely popular one woman show which is touring southern England. Press link for tour info and tickets.  http://www.apollotheatrecompany.com/ode-to-joyce.html #OdetoJoyce…

Jo Good BBC Radio London meets Josephine creator of The Working Girls of Soho

16 May 2022

Ex- Sohoite cabaret chanteuse Josephine Pembroke talks to Jo Good on BBC London about living in Soho in the 80’s, Pussies Galore and more.  #JosephinePembroke #Soho #Cabaret  TICKETS FOR NEXT SHOW IN LONDON https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-working-girls-of-soho-saucy-tales-of-notorious-women-songsstories-tickets-461807046307  

The Improbable Adventures of Emily Soldene, Actress, Writer and Rebel Victorian, by Helen Batten with Josephine Pembroke

10 Nov 2021

Emily Soldene was a true Victorian, born of the wrong side of the tracks, she was illegitimate and her mother was working class, a bonnet maker by trade. Emily reinvented herself at twenty-two, she took singing lessons and willed herself to stardom.  Hear her 3rd cousin once removed best selling author Helen Batten tell us…

One Night with Marilyn – a play, with Claire-Monique Martin and Charlotte Reidie with Donna Freed

In February 1961 Marilyn Monroe was sectioned by her psychiatrist. One Night with Marilyn is a theatrical exploration of this harrowing time mostly unknown by her millions of fans.   Claire-Monique Martin and Charlotte Reidie, who both play Marilyn in the play, talk to Donna Freed about their roles and the themes of mental illness…

Adorable Dora – a tribute to Dora Bryan by West End Star, Rosemary Ashe with Josephine Pembroke

06 Jul 2021

Singing sensations Rosemary Ashe has a wonderful habit of writing one woman shows to perform, always musical, her last successful show featured Ethel Merman. Today we talked about her spanking brand new show called ADORABLE DORA, a tribute to Dora Bryan. Dora was an actress and singer in the second half of the 20th century,…

Diamonds at the Lost & Found by Sarah Aspinall with Josephine Pembroke

What did we expect our mothers to be in the 20th Century? Apron wearing, docile, tactile and never critical. But one day we find out that our mothers are people and they have dreams and expectations. Today I am welcomed onto Radio Gorgeous a woman who is an award winning producer and documentary maker, Sarah…

Women on Nature, edited by Katherine Norbury author of The Fish Ladder with Josephine Pembroke

Acclaimed author Katharine Norbury tells us why it’s time to have a book about nature written solely by women. Naturalists in the past have painstakingly recorded nature naming plants, trees and animals and controlling the environment. It’s time for us to take a more spiritual approach as we face an ecological crisis, it’s time to…

Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne with Donna Freed

02 Jul 2021

Ariadne and her sister Phaedra were pivotal footnotes in the heroic stories of men with the exception of the letters Ovid wrote in their name. It was these passionate but powerless voices that sparked Jennifer Saint’s debut novel Ariadne. Ariadne is a vibrant retelling and imagining of their stories as well as a story of sisters, growing up…

My Journey to Judaism – OSHER by Tetiana Michaels with Josephine Pembroke

Tetiana thinks that her great grandmother was “secretly” Jewish, as being a Jew in Ukraine back then was dangerous. Tetiana tells us why she, an independent modern woman fell in love with an ancient faith and converted.  #RadioGorgeous #Judaism #Memoir 

The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls Mona Eltahawy, Radio Gorgeous meets the world’s number one feminist!

Mona has written a manifesto which starts and ends with abuse by men to women, she wants us all to stand up for ourselves and “Fuck the patriarchy” she tells us why and how to do it. Listen hard.  #Feminism #FuckThePatriarchy #RadioGorgeous 

Polly Samson, author of A Theatre for Dreamers with Donna Freed

24 Jun 2021

Charmian Clift left London in 1954 with her husband and children to live on the Greek island of Kalymnos. The following year, they moved to Hydra where they were the forerunners of a bohemian artist community. Leonard Cohen stayed with them when he first visited the island. Her vivid memoirs of this time have been…

PLEASE YOURSELF, How to Stop People-Pleasing and Transform the Way You Live by Emma Reed Turrell

Are you a people pleaser? You may not even know you are one because according to author and therapist Emma Reed Turrell there is more to people pleasing than the sweet, saint like image we all imagine. Cambridge University educated Emma is our guest today on Radio Gorgeous and we are delving into the people…

MEGHAN MISUNDERSTOOD by Sean Smith Man Week on Radio Gorgeous

09 Dec 2020

Today we talk about the most controversial now ex-Royal MEGHAN, activist, actor, mother and Prince Harry’s partner. Sean has written a wonderful sympathetic book about a sadly much maligned woman MEGHAN MISUNDERSTOOD, is published by Harper Collins #Royals #RadioGorgeous #Meghan 

Berkoff’s Women, with Linda Marlowe LIVE STREAMING directed by comedian Josie Lawrence

18 Nov 2020

Linda Marlowe trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Linda has a long with writer and director Steven Berkoff includes his plays Greek, Decadence, East, The Trial and Metamorphosis, Steven has described her as his muse.  Linda has been in many plays, films and TV you may remember her as as  he matriarch…