00:00Well, thank you so much for joining me, Liz.
00:02We're going to be talking about love stories, passions and heartbreaks from across Kent's history.
00:06And I'm aware you've picked up these stories from your quiz trail book.
00:10So tell us a bit about what quiz trail is and how that informed your book of love stories.
00:14Yeah, so I make quiz trails with my two daughters, Becky and Laura.
00:19And we started about six years ago in Rochester.
00:22I was living in Rochester and we wanted to make a little book about the history of Rochester.
00:26But there are lots of guidebooks and there are a lot of very thick history books around.
00:30But we wanted to make it so that you could have a lovely day out in Rochester and learn what's
00:35going on.
00:35So we added clues along the way, especially for children as well.
00:39So we've got adult and children clues so that everybody can go and have a lovely day.
00:43But while we were researching, we've now made about 40 quiz trails and really enjoy making them.
00:49Along the way, we were picking up all these fantastic stories of all these romances and the good ones and
00:56the bad ones and who misbehaved and breakups and crimes and all sorts of things.
01:02So we thought it would just make a lovely collection to put them together for Kent of what did go
01:08on, you know, in the real world sort of thing.
01:10So it's been really interesting to put them all together.
01:13Amazing. And I mean, sometimes you can have so much gossip, you don't really know what to say first.
01:18Was it a bit tricky picking which stories to put in the book?
01:21No, I think there are certain ones that jump out and we kind of have between us a campfire test.
01:26Where is it the sort of story you would tell your friend over a campfire or sitting around a campfire,
01:31not on it?
01:32And would it be interesting enough, you know, to pass that story on?
01:36So they've all passed our little campfire test.
01:38So I don't suppose you have any that sort of maybe warm the heartstrings.
01:42Oh, one of my favourites is Benjamin Disraeli, who was the MP in Maidstone for a time before he became
01:48prime minister.
01:49He was absolutely in debt, brassic, no money.
01:53And all his friends were saying, we know what you're looking for in a wife.
01:57You're looking for money.
01:58And there was another MP who had died and left a massive inheritance to his wife.
02:03So Mr Disraeli made his way in with this Mary Ann, married her and as the gossip all went, married
02:14for money.
02:15But they absolutely loved each other.
02:17They had the most wonderful marriage.
02:20They were in each other's pockets.
02:22Everything went really, really well.
02:23She died before him.
02:25She was 20 years older and he was absolutely devastated and never really got over it.
02:30So he'd found something far more important than money.
02:33He'd found love.
02:34I suppose I'm curious if you have any words of advice for anyone who maybe wants to get off the
02:38dating apps.
02:39Is writing a letter in 2026 a declaration of love?
02:43That's a bit slow nowadays.
02:44I think it must have been heartbreaking, mustn't it, to have posted a letter, waited for it to arrive somewhere,
02:51waited for that person to send you a letter back and give me texts any day and a phone call.
02:57Brilliant.
02:58Well, thank you so much for your time, Liz.
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