The Lion, the Priest and the Parlourmaids: A 1930s Sex Scandal

狮子、祭司与客厅女仆:三十年代的一场性丑闻

The Rest Is History

2025-07-17

59 分钟
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Who was the Rector of Stiffkey, Harold Davidson - the "Prostitutes' Padre" - and why was he Britain’s most notorious curate? Was it his unnerving infatuation with girls that saw him put on trial and defrocked in 1932? What was the nature of the scandal surrounding the case? What did he do in later life that saw him displaying himself publicly in a barrel in Blackpool? And, why did he meet his gory end between the jaws of a lion….? Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the bizarre and slightly sinister story of one of history’s most eccentric men: the notorious Rector of Stiffkey.  The Rest Is History Club: Become a member for exclusive bonus content, early access to full series and live show tickets, ad-free listening, our exclusive newsletter, discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, and our members’ chatroom on Discord. Just head to therestishistory.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestishistory. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude  Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  • The Reverend Mr. Davidson's downfall was girls.

  • Not a girl, not five or six girls even,

  • not a hundred, but the entire tremulous universe of girlhood.

  • Shingled heads, clear cheeky eyes, nifty legs, warm blunt-fingered workaday hands,

  • small firm breasts, and most importantly, Good, strong, healthy teeth besotted him.

  • A single human life was all too short for him to savor such a universe,

  • and his awareness of this allowed him to encounter at least a thousand girls during the twenties alone.

  • Quite early on in his sacred career,

  • he hit upon an exciting solution to what otherwise might have been an insoluble problem.

  • He would make girls his special ministry.

  • And so he set about it with a single-mindedness which in any other circumstances should have brought him a denary.

  • So that is from Ronald Blythe's book, The Age of Illusion,

  • which is the history of Britain in the 1920s and 1930s.

  • Ronald Blythe did not talk like that,

  • but I think the quality of the material is kind of appropriate to,