Voices from the Old Bailey - Radio 4 - 2010 to 2014.TXT
voices from the old bailey - Radio 4 - 1997 to 2015
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BBC Radio 4 - Voices from the Old Bailey
Historians struggle to decipher letters and diaries - but what about those who left no record? The poor, those who couldn't write? There is one fantastic source, and it is now online: the Old Bailey Archives.
Through court cases, we can hear the voices of the 18th century. Thanks to the speedy court shorthand writers, everyone's speech is recorded, from the posh to the poor. It's the nearest thing we have to a tape recording of the past.
In this new series Professor Amanda Vickery presents dramatised extracts from gripping court cases and discusses with fellow historians what they reveal about 18th century society and culture. Amanda Vickery was the presenter of the highly successful "A History of Private Life" on BBC Radio 4 last year.
Produced by Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4
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Series 1
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Part 1 - 2010-07-15 - Highwaymen
Highwaymen were celebrities, with hordes of adoring women, their executions a great public show. Some of them are revealed as charismatic, while some can hardly stutter out a sentence.
Amanda listens to what they have to say as they face the gallows, with fellow historians Bob Shoemaker, Helen Berry and John Mullan
Throughout the series there are popular ballads - about crime, or written by criminals - recorded for the first time, on location in one of Dick Turpin's hide-outs.
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Part 2 - 2010-07-22 - Women
This time, Amanda listens to the voices of criminal women in the Old Bailey, with fellow historians Judith Hawley, Peter King and Jeremy Barlow, on location in a crowded 18th century lodging house.
The first is a shoplifter, who pilfers a pair of silk gloves. She faces the gallows - but the jury saves her life.
The second is a con-woman, and her case tells us a lot about the vulnerability of men in the 18th century.
The last is an abused wife who chooses the ultimate way out: murder. But once she has murdered her shopkeeper husband, she has great trouble disposing of the body...
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Part 3 - 2010-07-29 - Children
In this programme, the voices of children. Even children as young as seven appeared in court in the 18th century, as witnesses, victims - and as criminals. Amanda Vickery presents three cases which capture the voices of children, and open up the reality of their lives.
One reveals the network of relationships in the workhouse, and the cruelty and kindness which coexisted there.
The second exposes the vulnerability of teenagers working as apprentices.
A third features a little girl who is sentenced to death - but who then escapes the gallows and makes a long and prosperous life for herself.
With historians Tim Hitchcock, Ruth Richardson and Zoe Laidlaw.
Recorded on location in The Foundling Museum.
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Part 4 - 2010-08-05 - Conmen and a brawl in the streets
She discusses conmen, and asks what they reveal about appearance, identity and social mobility in the growing city of London, Europe's first metropolis.
The Old Bailey was a theatre in which high and low both played starring roles. This episode's cases mix the greatest writers and artists of the time - Dr Johnson, Joshua Reynolds - with ballad singers, beggars, prostitutes and fraudulent vicars. There is comedy as well as pathos in these cases.
With historians Hannah Grieg, Peter King and Judith Hawley.
Recorded on location in Joshua Reynolds' house in Soho.
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Series 2
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The music used in this programme was arranged by David Owen Norris, from original 18th century ballads.
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Part 1 - 2011-07-27 - Riots
In this first programme of the new series, she hears evidence from 3 bloody riots. Ordinary Londoners caught up in violence on the streets tell their story, and rioters argue their case in court, desperately attempting to avoid the noose.
The 3 riots span the 18th century and reveal huge political change: we move from a group of sailors destroying a brothel in a drunken rampage to the first modern political riot, the 'Wilkes and Liberty' riot. Finally we hear evidence from the anti-Catholic Gordon riots, the worst episode of civil unrest in British history. The whole of central London was garrisoned with mounted troops, who shot to kill. Professor Vickery reveals that left-wing historians of the 70s and 80s ignored the Gordon Riots because they didn't fit their ideological model of the noble rioter.
Three contributors discuss the court cases: Professor Peter King, Dr Katrina Navickas and Professor Tim Hitchcock, co-founder of the online archive, OldBailey Online. With a ballad about a food riot sung by Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie; recorded on location in the oldest pub in London, the Guinea in Mayfair, and with a visit to a Catholic chapel which was attacked in the Gordon Riots.
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Part 2 - 2011-08-03 - Sexual Subcultures
Amanda Vickery uses court cases to explore the lives of gay men and cross-dressers in the 18th century. Lesbians did not appear in court as lesbianism was not against the law - but we find and record an 18th century lesbian love song, as well as the hilarious 'Bumography'.
The 3 court cases in the programme range from the tragic to the hilarious.
First, the case of a milkman caught in a raid on a gay brothel - and sentenced to death. His father-in-law appears in court to plead for him - it turns out the milkman is a widower, with a daughter to raise. But to no avail: he hangs for the crime of sodomy.
The second case is blackmail, and reveals the vulnerability of all men at the time to accusations of sodomy. The third stars the hilarious 'Princess Seraphina', a cross-dresser with a bevy of female admirers who turn up in court. It gives a priceless insight into 18th century camp.
Three contributors discuss the cases: leading gay historian Rictor Norton, whose books and website have a cult following; Helen Berry, historian of sexuality, whose book on castrati is published later this year, and Professor Peter King, historian of crime. They open up a debate about how far there was a clearly-defined gay identity in the 18th century.
Recorded on location in Lincoln's Inn, where barristers have been beavering away for centuries. But outside their chambers, this was one of the naughtiest places in London - a notorious gay cruising ground, and site of the 'bog-house', the public toilets which were a place of assignation.
The music used in this programme was arranged by David Owen Norris, from original 18th century ballads.
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Part 3 - 2011-08-10 - Servants
Many thousands of cases in the Old Bailey feature servants, and the court transcripts give us something extraordinary: the voices and words of people who have otherwise left no record of their lives. In court, they not only reveal the detail of their working day, they throw a light on the complex psychological relationship between master and servant.
Three cases are featured in the programme.
The first is a servant who lives with a family so poor they have only one room and she shares their bed. The master takes her to court accusing her of theft but when she gives evidence, she tells a very different story, of his sexual abuse.
The second case is a juicy case of sexual scandal, and reveals what happens when the mistress falls in love with her footman.
In the final case, which created a huge stir at the time, the servant murders her elderly employer with a bayonet.
Three contributors discuss the cases: Dr Tim Meldrum, author of the leading book on the subject; Dr Hannah Greig, historian of the aristocracy; and Peter King, historian of crime.
The programme is recorded on location in Uppark House, Sussex, where the master of the servant married his dairy maid - and against all expectations, stayed married to her for 21 years until his death. The historians discuss how far love was possible across the master/servant divide, and reveal that servants were often the moral guardians of a household. Gwyneth Herbert sings a revealing ballad, a sad cautionary tale about what happens when a young girl falls in love with her father's stable groom.
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Part 4 - 2011-08-17 - Whose Law Is It Anyway?
In this final programme Amanda Vickery examines the law itself, and how far it gave everyone a fair trial.
The three court cases in the programme take us from the lowest in society to the highest, an Earl who is tried for murder in the most sensational trial of the century. We hear the voice of an 18th century private detective. And we hear the voice of a poor Irish laundress accused of murder, who becomes her own defence lawyer and takes five hours to cross-examine witnesses before producing an ingenious closing speech.
Three contributors discuss the cases: Professor David Sugarman, a barrister who is now a historian of law; Professor Peter King, historian of crime, and Professor Robert Shoemaker, co-founder of the online archive OldBailey online. They reveal a legal system which was surprisingly sophisticated in its treatment of offenders, with a clear hierarchy of penalties for different kinds of people. This was a period before lawyers took over, and so it allowed both victims and defendants their own voice in court, in a way which has been unequalled since.
The programme is recorded on location in the Middlesex Sessions House in Clerkenwell, once an 18th century court house but now the headquarters of the Masons. We discover an original 18th century cell in the basement. Our historians cram into it, and imagine what it must have been like to be held there, and then to emerge into the blinding light of the open-air court room. We give listeners links to read the cases in full.
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Series 3
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Part 1 - 2014-08-14 - Smuggling
This first programme is recorded on location in Rye, Sussex, and we hear the voices of smugglers - and the gallant customs officers who fought them in bloody battles.
Smuggling was a trade in the 18th century - sprawling from the brutal criminal underworld, to shops, to chic drawing rooms - brandy, tobacco, pepper, lace, French silks. But one commodity above all was worth killing for and facing the noose - tea.
In fact two thirds of the tea which was drunk in Britain was smuggled in along the Southern coastline of Britain. Every single inhabitant of coastal ports like Rye would have known what was going on, probably most were drawn into it - and many ended up in the Old Bailey in London.
Listening to the voices from the Old Bailey are historians Professor Peter King from Leicester University, a leading historian of crime; cultural historian Professor Judith Hawley from Royal Holloway, University of London; and Richard Platt who has written many books on smuggling and spent a lifetime collecting smuggling stories.
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Part 2 - 2014-08-21 - Murder
For all its elegance and politeness, one of the most striking features of Georgian society is its violence. Murder cases abounded at the Old Bailey. Some were cold premeditated crimes, a tiny minority were committed by women, but the vast majority were the outcome of drunken brawls.
Professor Amanda Vickery uses three Old Bailey murder cases to expose the honour code that governed male aggression - looking at duels, boxing matches and the defence of manly honour.
She begins with a poignant case in which two teenagers fight to the death over a mere piece of cake.
The second case involves two builders working on Marylebone Road, whose brawl gathers a huge crowd so that they're unable to stop until one of them dies.
The final case is a duel, in which the man who wins the fight is a blind clergyman.
Listening with Amanda to the Voices from the Old Bailey are Professor Peter King from Leicester University, a leading historian of crime; Karen Harvey, Reader in Cultural History at Reading University; and Robert Shoemaker, Professor of History at Sheffield University and the co-founder of the Old Bailey Online.
The programme is recorded on location in the Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, which has a world-beating collection of 18th century swords and guns, demonstrated by Curator Tobias Capwell.
It features readings by Charlotte Stockley, Ewan Bailey, Oliver Soden, David Holt, Damien Bouvier and Steven Webb; and specially arranged music, from singer Guy Hughes and pianist David Owen Norris.
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Part 3 - 2014-08-28 - Shoplifting
This programme explores consumer revolution and a brand-new crime it spawned - shoplifting. It's a crime that only entered the statute books in 1699 - and it could be punished by execution.
Shoplifting was a brand new offence, seen to be fuelled by a new kind of greed - because in the 18th century, shops were themselves new. They sprang up all across the fashionable districts of London, replacing markets and hawkers, then spread across the south and by the late 18th century every small town in the North - even villages - would have its own shop.
On location in an 18th century shop, Lock's Hat Shop in St James's, Professor Vickery listens to shop-lifting cases from the Old Bailey. Beginning with simple smash-and-grab theft, and ending with an elaborate fraud - the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of diamond jewellery.
Contributors include Professor Peter King of Leicester University, leading historian of crime; cultural historian Professor Helen Berry from Newcastle University; and historian of glamour and fashion, Dr Hannah Greig from the University of York.
With readings by Charlotte Stockley, Ewan Bailey, Oliver Soden, David Holt, Damien Bouvier and Steven Webb - and specially arranged music from singer Guy Hughes and pianist David Owen Norris.
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Part 4 - 2014-09-04 - Transportation
Half a million people were transported during the 18th century - to America, the West Indies, and Australia. Historians are just beginning to track their progress from the Old Bailey to their lives beyond. What they're discovering is as dramatic and colourful as any novel.
Amanda Vickery tells the stories of three criminals who were transported during the 18th and early 19th centuries, and of one group of desperate women who refused to go, throwing the entire penal system into chaos.
Recorded on location in the Prospect of Whitby pub in Wapping, on the River Thames, near where the prisoners were kept in hulks on the river and where many were hanged.
Contributors include Professor Peter King of Leicester University, leading historian of crime; Robert Shoemaker, Professor of History at Sheffield University and the co-founder of the Old Bailey Online; and historian of Empire, Zoe Laidlaw, from Royal Holloway, University of London, herself the descendent of a transported convict who was convicted in the Old Bailey.
With readings by Charlotte Stockley, Ewan Bailey, David Holt, and Steven Webb, and specially arranged music from singer Guy Hughes and pianist David Owen Norris.
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