Adultery, assassination and Agatha Christie: the dark side of the hotel
Summary
Professor Eloise Moss discusses her book *The Secret Life of the Hotel*, revealing how lodges served as sites for political protest, feminist struggles, and social exclusion. She examines historical events like the Brighton bombing, "hotel divorces" involving Wallis Simpson, and Agatha Christie’s disappearance. The episode also covers the exploitation of female staff and the genre of hotel crime fiction, arguing that hotels reflect broader societal inequalities and power dynamics.
Topics discussed
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Introduction: The complex historical role of hotels
Exclusion and discrimination in hotel history
The 1984 Brighton Hotel bombing and Margaret Thatcher
Hotels as feminist battlegrounds and staff treatment
Manufacturing Britishness and moral implications
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Chambermaids and the persistence of domestic service
Hotel divorces and the abdication crisis
Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance
Murders in hotels and the rise of crime fiction
Conclusion: Reconsidering the power of hotels
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