Julie Peakman

Historian Julie Peakman reveals the colourful story of the Georgian courtesan Peg Plunkett.

From a violent domestic background, Peg blitzed her way through balls and masquerades creating scandals and gossip wherever she went, leaving dukes, barristers and lieutenants stranded in her wake.

In her memoirs she exposed the shoddy behaviour of others in her account of her life. Julie brings Peg’s journey to glorious and bawdy life and talks to Katherine May about her relevance today as a pioneering female confessional author.

Julie Peakman is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Honorary Fellow at Birkbeck College London. She has appeared in documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4.