Duce's Bonce By Robin Brooks

Afternoon Play: Duce's Bonce
Tue 30th May 2006, 14:15 on BBC Radio 4 FM

By 1956 the Hon Violet Gibson has been in an asylum for more than 20 years, and she seems finally to have lost touch with reality. Half the time she doesn't know who the prime minister is, and she has this mad idea that she shot Benito Mussolini.

Violet Gibson, daughter of the first Lord Ashbourne, of Co Meath, wounded Signor Mussolini with a revolver in Rome.

Violet died on May 2, 1956.

Based on a true story. By Robin Brooks.
Producer/Director Fiona McAlpine

Violet: Catherine McCormack
Maggie: Maureen Beattie
Dr Francis Shelton: Adrian Rawlins
William: Nicholas Woodeson
The Queen of Bohemia: Sarah Eedle

On 7 April 1926 an Irish woman stepped out from a crowd in Rome and fired a shot at one of the 20th century's most infamous dictators.
One bullet grazed the nose of Benito Mussolini, but the Italian leader survived the assassination attempt.
Among the many acts of individual bravery against fascism in Europe in the 20th century, Violet Gibson's has been largely lost to history.

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