With more twists than a hit farce, a Georgian playwright could not have imagined a better plot for the real-life Mrs Sage balloon show of 1785.
Letitia Sage was a West End actress who succeeded in becoming the first Englishwomen to fly. Her steely determination and plunging neckline brought va-va-voom to the balloon as she traded the 18th-century stage for fame among the clouds.
Sharon tells the hilarious, heroic saga of PR disasters, floppy gasbags and rude cartoons that dogged Letitia’s history-making London lift off – and explodes the myth that she invented the Mile High Club (the truth is even saucier).
Views: 820 | Enquiries: 4I'm an author and journalist with a long career writing and editing for magazines, newspapers and websites such as The Guardian, Daily Express, BBC, Glamour, Red, The Lady and New York Post.
I'm also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller Mother of the Brontës, the first biography of the mother of genius, and The Lost History of the Lady Aeronauts. My first book was serialised in The Mail on Sunday and I appeared on BBC Woman's Hour.
My research into fascinating, forgotten women of history makes for lively and enjoyable talks. I've spoken everywhere from the British Library and LSE to local libraries and church halls; cathedrals and literary societies to U3As and local history groups.
If there’s a teapot and an audience, I’m there.
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