Hidden Histories and Lost Lingo from the City Streets
Doors: 7pm.
London’s criminal past is often told in cliches —and its myths are usually about men. Join us as we meet some of the women who ran the streets and hear the language that kept criminals one step ahead.
Caitlin Davies, acclaimed author of Queens of the Underworld, introduces us to the world of female gangs in London—from Edwardian hoisters to the notorious Forty Elephants. These women weren’t sidekicks or accessories to crime; they were masterminds, entrepreneurs, and legends in their own right.
Max Décharné, musician, writer, and connoisseur of criminal lingo, will then walk and talk us through the secret language of London’s underworld—a rolling, rhyming, shape-shifting patois used to bamboozle, conceal, and connect. Drawing on his classic Vulgar Tongues, Max reveals how slang became a form of power—and a living record of the city’s shadowy history.
Caitlin Davies is a novelist, journalist and acclaimed historian whose non-fiction books include Bad Girls, Downstream, and Queens of the Underworld. Her work shines a light on marginalised voices—especially women—within the official stories of British history.
Max Décharné is an author, lyricist, and longtime frontman of The Flaming Stars. His books include Vulgar Tongues and Straight From the Fridge, Dad, Capital Crimes, and his writing appears in MOJO, The Guardian, and The Spectator.