56. Elvira Barney - Accidental Killer

This time, Lucy is exploring the story of Elvira Barney, a rich socialite in 1930s London, living a life of fast cars, cocktail parties and nightclubs. When her boyfriend Michael dies of a gunshot wound during a drunken row with Elvira, she finds herself in the dock at the Old Bailey, accused of his murder. Can her barrister convince the court it was a tragic accident?

With Lucy to find out more about the case of Elvira Barney is the journalist and novelist Rachel Johnson. Together they explore Elvira’s drug and drink-fuelled lifestyle and discover how this case gave ordinary people struggling with the economic depression of the 1930s an insight into the lives of the richest and most
privileged in society.

Lucy is also joined by historian Professor Rosalind Crone as they visit the Knightsbridge Mews where Elvira lived with Michael to find out more about her racy party-going set known as ‘the Bright Young Things’.

It was the scene of the fateful shooting and epicentre of the police investigation.

Next they head to nearby Belgrave Square where Elvira’s extremely wealthy parents lived.

Lucy wants to know what Elvira’s story can tell us about the lives of women across the class divide in the mid 20th century. And how might Elvira’s story play out differently today?

For further reading see Thomas Grant: Court No. 1 The Old Bailey, Chapter 4.

Producer: Jane Greenwood
Readers: Clare Corbett, William Hope, Jonathan Keeble and Ruth Sillers
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4