Mostly Unsung
The weekly comedy history podcast that brings you bitesize biographies of the extraordinary, eccentric, outrageous and occasionally ordinary lives that until now have gone mostly unsung... mostly. Join your hosts Annie and Andrea as they bring you stories that your history teacher never taught you!
If you like stuffy lectures then you're not going to be a fan, sorry! But if you are looking to hang out with two old friends who love story telling, a good laugh and forgotten figures from history then welcome!
Covering everything from scientists to Grandmothers, survivors of wars to eccentric millionaires, all via ghost stories, anecdotes and terrible impressions of Hollywood legend Tim Curry. Come and hang out, have a giggle and join us every Friday.
Mostly Unsung
#38 A Genre Defying Sci-Fi Writer & A Forgotten Music Hall Star (Octavia Butler & Kitty Lord)
Welcome back to Mostly Unsung, the comedy history podcast uncovering the incredible true stories history forgot. Same two women of a certain age, same lesser-known historical biographies you’ve definitely never heard of… but with a brand-new release day! New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
This week, we’re sharing two inspiring, surprising stories about working-class women who rewrote their futures, even when the odds were stacked firmly against them.
First, Annie takes us across the pond to America, where a working-class African American family is just trying to get by. Urged to choose a “sensible” career, a lonely, bullied young girl instead finds her voice through imagination, writing about the world she knows, shaped by the science fiction stories she loves. It’s a powerful, eye-opening tale of creativity, resilience, and an amazing figure in literary history.
Then Andrea heads to London, where opportunities for working class girls are just as limited. Kate reinvents herself as Kitty, becoming a hugely popular stage performer known worldwide as an “eccentric Englishwoman.” Beloved by audiences and celebrated in her time, she quietly retires as film and television take over, her remarkable career fading from memory… until a chance museum visit by a friend brings her story back into the spotlight.
If you love funny history podcasts, mostly forgotten people in history, and stories of people who refused to stay in their lane, Mostly Unsung is the podcast for you.
Andrea used these sources:
https://intothelimelight.org/2015/04/04/154/
https://jvc.oup.com/2021/04/01/kitty-lords-padded-symmetricals/
Annie used these sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Octavia-E-Butler
https://dyslexia.yale.edu/story/octavia-butler/
https://www.huntington.org/exhibition/octavia-e-butler-telling-my-stories
Where you can find us:
https://www.instagram.com/mostlyunsung/
https://www.facebook.com/share/16J4vuMy1h/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mostlyunsung
mostlyunsungpodcast@gmail.com
See you next Friday!
