The piece was so well respected that it was quoted by the former prime minister Lloyd George during a speech he made in the House of Lords. In one article she wrote on the situation in Spain she observed how the civil war had become a proxy for the ideological battle between fascism and communism. Yet her perceptiveness and ability to get people to talk made her an invaluable reporter on the continent. She was rarely seen without lipstick and a pair of heels and defied expectations wherever she went (Ernest Hemmingway initially dismissed her as nothing more than a socialite). Whether it was striking up a conversation with Unity Mitford in Nuremberg or finding herself next to Neville Chamberlain in the months after the Munich Agreement. Virginia’s success lay in her remarkable ability to be in the right place at the right time, and always with the right people. By the end of the 1930s she was writing up her experiences reporting from the front-lines of Europe – from Czechoslovakia, to France and Finland – to produce her memoir, Looking for Trouble. *** ***Ĭowles started her brief but extraordinary career in Spain, reporting on the Civil War despite the fact she had no previous experience as a foreign correspondent. The second is multi-award winning journalist and senior foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times, Christina Lamb, who has written the foreword to the re-issue of Virginia’s memoir. The first is the author Judith Mackrell, whose most recent book, Going with the Boys, follows six women journalists, including Virginia, who reported on the Second World War. In this special episode, we’re joined by not one, but two experts to discuss the life of the trailblazing Virginia Cowles. The pioneering 1930s female war correspondent Virginia Cowles did all of these things.

Gossipping with Churchill by his goldfish pond.

Taking tea with Hitler after a Nuremberg rally. Flinging off her heels under shellfire in Civil War Spain.

The Correspondents by Judith Mackrell