The Body in the Trunk

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Books

The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell (Penguin, 2001) £7.99
Commissioned by the Left Book Club in 1936, Orwell set out to report on working class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire with the high levels of unemployment and poverty. In this essay he refers to 'trunk murders' which were quite common during the 1920s and 30s.

A Woman's Place: An oral history of working class women 1890-1940 by Elizabeth Roberts (Blackwell, 1986) £15.99
Highly readable picture of the lives of working class women, looking at work, marriage, sexual relations and motherhood. Through them emerges a picture of a wider working class reality of that time.

The General Strike by Keith Laybourn (Sutton Publishing, 1999) £10.99
In 1926 the most important industrial dispute in British history took place. Almost two million people came out in support of about a million miners who had been locked out for rejecting reductions in pay and conditions. For nine days in May, Britain ground almost to a halt. This text examines the main debates about the causes, events and consequences of the strike.

Yesterdays: The way we were 1919-1939 by Eric Midwinter (Souvenir Press, 1998) £14.99
A collection of photographs dating from the 1920s and 30s, capturing everyday scenes of British life.

Unemployment in Britain Between the Wars by S Constantine (Longman, 1980) £9.99
Drawing on a range of contemporary evidence, the author studies the nature and causes of unemployment in Britain during the 1920s and 30s, and analyses the failure of successive interwar governments to make a constructive response.

Britain Between the Wars by Marion Yass (Hodder Wayland, 1988) £5.95
Illustrated description of British life between the First and Second World Wars. Post 1918 many people looked forward to peace and prosperity but by 1921 more than two million people were unemployed. The author attempts to reconstruct what it was like to be on the dole at that time and looks at how a person's social class largely determined his education, standard of housing, health and opportunities in general.

The Real Cracker by Stephen Cooke (Channel 4 Books, 2002) £6.99
Explores the work of real life offender profilers as they investigate five horrific recent crimes and attempt to find out if they match up to the public's image inspired by Fitz, TV's larger-than-life psychologist. Available from the Channel4 Shop at: www.channel4.com/shop/

The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How science solved 100 of the world's most baffling crimes by C Evans (John Wiley, 1998) £13.50
A beginners’ guide for anyone interested in the history of forensics. Features 100 of the most absorbing, ground-breaking cases in forensic history.

Websites

This website contains links to other websites which are not under the control of and are not maintained by Channel 4 Television. Channel 4 Television is not responsible for the content of these sites and does not necessarily endorse the material on them.

Murder UK
www.microwaredata.co.uk/murder-uk/bookhtml_r/robinson_j00.html
Gives an account of Minnie Bonati’s murder and profiles her murderer John Robinson.

The Body in the Trunk
www.thewriteplaceonline.co.uk/The Body in the Trunk.htm
Detailed article by a freelance writer on the police investigation held in 1927 and how it was reported in the national press.

Science in Society
www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/
Several Channel 4 articles on forensic science and the history of crime-solving.

Forensic Science Society
www.forensic-science-society.org.uk/
The website of the Forensic Science Society including careers in the UK and web links.

Public Record Office
www.pro.gov.uk
National archive of England, Wales and the UK. It brings together and preserves the records of central government and the courts of law, and makes them available to all who wish to consult them. The records span an unbroken period from the 11th century to the present day.

UK Family History Online
www.familyrecords.gov.uk/
Online information on how to access records on births, deaths, marriages, military history, adoption information, parish registers, migration and wills from 1 July 1837.

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