Stop Press: The best books on women's history that inspired me

Why am I passionate about these books? I am a feminist author, having written about women's history for nearly half a century. Living in Oldham, I began researching the history of the radical suffragists across industrial Lancashire. Later, moving across the Pennines to Halifax, I learnt of Anne Lister – and became gripped by her diaries. Read more

Anne Lister Audio Visual

  1. 2023 March. Anne Lister historian Jill Liddington discuss' her new book, As Good as a Marriage.  MUP Author Video for As Good as A Marriage: the Anne Lister diaries 1836-38. Recorded by Rachel Lappin in the Book Corner at Halifax Piece Hall. 5 minutes.
  2. 2023 March: Lancaster Literature Festival. Jill Liddington in conversation with Professor Catherine Spooner about Anne Lister and As Good As A Marriage. 60 minutes.
  3. 2022 February: ALBW Live - Anne Lister Birthday Week: a conversation between Pat Esgate (New York) and Jill Liddington (Calderdale). Talking about the new edition of Female Fortune (MUP, out on 15 March) 45 Mins + Q&A.
  4. 2021 April: A Walk in Anne Lister’s Footsteps. Episode 1: A Mock Marriage.  Video produced by ALister Films. Jill Liddington interviewed by Rachel Lappin. Walking in Anne Lister’s footsteps in 1835 - from the Piece Hall down to Halifax Minster. (10 mins 30 secs.)
  5. 2020 November: Anne Lister of Shibden Hall: Gender, Social Class & Sexuality - Talk given to Sorbonne students in Paris - on what made Anne Lister special, exploring her extraordinary achievements (plus the boundaries for women then). If you're working from home during the lockdown, why not take time to enjoy the company of dazzling Anne Lister! 50 mins including Q&A & book-signing.
  6. 2020 October Who was the Real Anne Lister? Talk given to the wonderful Portico Library in Manchester. 44 mins, Q&A and book-signing 12 mins.
  7. 2020 September. ‘A History of Researching Anne Lister’. A conversation with Livia Labate & Jill Liddington for the Anne Lister Research Summit. Conversation 33 mins, Q&A 13 min
  8. 2020 April 'When Jill met Sally'. Jill Liddington & Anne Lister Birthday Weekend conversation: How Jill first met Sally & how they began to work together. 7 mins.
  9. 2020 April Jill Liddington & Anne Lister Birthday Weekend conversation with Pat Esgate. Recording my link back via  Muriel Green to John Lister & his key to the Anne Lister coded mysteries. 9 mins.
  10. 2020 April Jill Liddington: The Inspiration of History - from the Anne Lister Birthday Weekend. A conversation between Pat Esgate (New York) & Jill Liddington (Halifax).
    45 mins + Q&A.
  11. 2019 Dec   Writing Anne Lister: an LGBT History.
    Smith College, Massachusetts, US.
    Video 8 mins 30 secs.
  12. 2019 July  Who was the real Anne Lister? Halifax Minster.
    Laura Johansen, Jill Liddington & Pat Esgate.
    Video: 4 mins 30 secs.
  13. 2019 July, Who was the real Anne Lister? Halifax Minster.
    Anne Lister Weekend - introduced by Laura Johansen, Jill Liddington talk, video (33 mins).
  14. 2019 July, Who was the real Anne Lister? Halifax Minster.
    Audio - Part One
    Audio - Part Two
    Audio - Part Three
    Recording of the event on 13 July 2019 at Halifax Minster about Anne Lister of Halifax or 'Gentleman Jack' organised by The Book Corner and chaired by Laura Johansen
  15. 2019 April, Unveiling Anne Lister blue plaque, Shibden Hall.
    Jill Liddington, video (26 mins).
    Jill Liddington, Helena Whitbread, Richard MacFarlane & the Mayor of Calderdale - Halifax Civic Trust & Calderdale Museums. Complete audio (76 mins).
  16. 2010 June, Revealing Anne Lister, BBC2.
    Jill Liddington interviewed by Sue Perkins on a wuthering hillside above Shibden by the Walker Pit. Video (4 mins)
  17. 2009 November - Women's Hour - Anne Lister discussed by Jill Liddington and Helena Whitbread (9 minutes)
  18. 2003 May, Queer as 18th Century Folk, Diverse Productions, C4.
    Jill Liddington, narrated by Anna Chancellor, on Anne Lister & Ann Walker living together at Shibden Hall. Video (3 mins 50 secs).
  19. 1993 Oct, Gentleman Jack from Halifax, BBC R4.
    Jill Liddington, audio (3 mins 40 secs). On the diaries.
  20. 1991 Sept, interview with Muriel Green, Highgate, London.
    Muriel recalls entering Shibden Hall on the death of John Lister in 1933, and about what she found there. Audio (3 mins 6 secs) was recorded on a cassette recorder, so poor sound quality).
    Complete interview. Audio (35 mins 42 secs).
    Note: Muriel Green provided the link back to John Lister (d. 1933). My oral history interview with Muriel reminds us how little was then known about the diaries’ melodramatic survival story. She talks about how John Lister cracked the code with an antiquarian (Arthur Burrell), but cannot recall any details; how the key to code was kept under lock & key, and then how Phyllis Ramsden worked on the coded passages. In 1992, Calderdale Archives re-classified the Burrell mss. So I was then able to write about John Lister & Burrell in History Workshop Journal (spring 1993), republished as Presenting the Past, Pennine Pens 1994.