Poet and stand-up comedian Kate Fox shines light on the forgotten stories of women of the North

One of the areas she was exploring was how Northern women stand-ups, herself included, would use their regional identity as a tool to make people laugh, and the complex emotions associated with doing that.

“It is something we are always grappling with and that stayed with me,” she says. “My research also showed that it was harder to enter the creative industries if you are working class and Northern and that is increased if you are a woman or from any other minority group.”

She went on to develop those ideas into a stand-up show with the wonderful punning title Where There’s Muck There’s Bras. “It was the most successful show I had ever done, it was selling out everywhere,” she says. “Then towards the end of its second tour, the pandemic hit and I thought that was it.”

Serendipitiously, however, in the autumn of 2020 the publishers HarperNorth approached her and asked her if she would like to write a book based on the show. “The timing was perfect as I ended up writing the book through that second winter lockdown and while I was writing it, I learnt more about these amazing women.”

The book, also entitled Where There’s Muck There’s Bras, tells the stories of extraordinary women past and present – writers, performers, activists, politicians, sportswomen – who have been forgotten or whose achievements have remained hidden. It is not unusual for women to be written out of history but it appears to be particularly true of women from the North. “There does seem to be this double whammy,” says Fox. “Some of it is about a Northern accent somehow carrying less authority and then in addition to that women have social, economic and cultural barriers – still today, but especially in the past.” Born and raised in Bradford and now living in Whitley Bay, Fox is a proud Northern woman who has faced some of those barriers herself; she is well-placed to bring those erased or sidelined women the recognition they deserve.

Selecting who to feature in the book was, she says, a bit of a challenge. “It was quite painful and I know it is a subjective list. I had people saying to me ‘it’s OK you can’t include every northern woman who ever lived’, so I avoided women who were already well-remembered, instead I chose women who are sort of on the tip of our history tongue and also those who might be lost or forgotten about in the future.”

The book really does do all these women proud – from the Iron Age warrior queen Cartimandua, to Sheffield-born Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut, to Woodbine-smoking footballer Lily Parr, to 17th century writer Margaret Cavendish, author of one of the earliest sci-fi novels, and many more. “The cycle of forgetting has gone on for a long time,” says Fox. “Let’s remember these women and celebrate them.”

Where There’s Muck There’s Bras is out now. Kate Fox will be talking about her book at Berwins Salon North in Harrogate on April 21.

Lost Stories

Kate Fox writes in the opening chapter of Where There’s Muck There’s Bras that once she realised that as a Northern woman you were much less likely to feature in the history books or be noticed in the present, she ‘felt distinctly miffed’ and decided that she ‘wanted to make a fuss’.

It is this righteous anger that runs through the book even though it is written with Fox’s characteristic warmth and humour. Entertaining and informative it seeks to counterbalance those ommissions and celebrate the significant achievements of a range of Northern women across various historical periods and areas of activity. “I really wanted to show that there were and are Northern women in all roles and walks of life and they should all be celebrated,” says Fox. “And looking to the future too, there are fields in which women can innovate and really take the North forward.” She is also concerned with the way in which the accomplishments of some of the women she writes about are minimalised. She mentions two surprising examples – Hilda of Whitby and Victoria Wood. “Their achievements are downplayed. If you go to Whitby Abbey it is wall to wall Dracula – Hilda is mentioned in the museum but she is not celebrated as someone who was influential in shaping an idea of the North. I feel Victoria Wood is treated in a similar way. Despite her skill and popularity she is not much analysed by scholars of comedy or performance. And I’m aware that in 30 years’ time her role as an innovator may be lost.”