Extraordinary Women

In a remarkable life that touched three centuries, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek rose to become one of the most powerful women in the world. She positioned herself at the forefront of Chinese politics and held extraordinary influence in world affairs for a woman of her time. She was, for 5 decades, a source of invaluable support for her China’s ineffective Nationalist leader, her husband, General Chiang Kai-Shek.

She was an illegitimate child, born into a poorhouse and abandoned in an orphanage, but Coco Chanel rose from unimaginable poverty to create the most iconic fashion brand of the 20th century, The House of Chanel. Yet behind the success, lies a hidden story of wartime collaboration with the Nazis and a lifetime of disastrous affairs with unsuitable lovers.Always a mistress, never a wife, Coco’s longing for love nearly cost her everything.

Brandished a frivolous socialite, a gold digger and even a Nazi-sympathiser, Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, became embroiled in a deep constitutional crisis when she embarked upon one of the most talked-about marriages of the 20th century. To the horror of the British government and the Royal Family, on 10th December, 1936, King Edward VIII gave up the British throne to marry her.

With her smouldering femme fatale looks, Hedy Lamarr was known as the most beautiful woman in film. She was also one of the most controversial. Yet this programme explores the one aspect of her life which remained largely a secret, Hedy Lamarr, the inventor.