How Filthy Were the Victorians?
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 January 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
They say people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The Victorians might have done well to live by that rule.
For all of the dirt that the Victorians threw at other eras, suggesting that all those who came before them were filthy, they weren't that clean themselves.
Lee Jackson joins Kate for this final episode of our filthy series to talk toilets and more. Lee is the author of ‘Dirty Old London’, ‘Palaces of Pleasure’ and ‘Dickensland: The Curious History of Dickens's London’
This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
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Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, my lovely betwixters. It's me, Kate Lister. You're listening to Bertwit the Sheets, |
| 0:05.0 | the podcast that likes to roll its sleeves up and root around in the pants of history. But before we can do that, I do have to give you the fair do's warning. What is a fair do's warning? Well, it's like, fair do's. We did tell you, we did warn you, fair dinkum, fair do's and here it is. This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults about |
| 0:22.1 | adulty things in an adulty way covering And here it is. This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults, |
| 0:22.0 | about adulty things in an adulty way covering arranged adults subjects and you should be an adult too. |
| 0:25.7 | Let's crack on. |
| 0:32.6 | 1851 in Hyde Park, London. Every day for five months, over 40,000 visitors rolled in to attend the |
| 0:40.0 | great exhibition, taking in the massive glass and iron crystal palace before its relocation |
| 0:45.5 | to South London. The visitors, for just one shilling in many cases, were spoiled for choice. |
| 0:51.8 | They could see the world's largest diamond. They could witness steam engines, hydraulic presses and early fax machines. |
| 0:57.8 | They could lay their eyes from prodges from all around the world, like sugar cane from |
| 1:01.5 | the Caribbean and fun inventions like the gun umbrella and an ice cream freezer. |
| 1:06.5 | But one of the most exciting things that people were cramming in to see was the new public toilets. |
| 1:13.4 | Well, I guess it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? |
| 1:15.8 | But these were the first public flushing toilets. |
| 1:19.7 | Ooh, fancy. |
| 1:20.8 | And that seems like a huge step forward for cleanliness, right? |
| 1:23.7 | But just what the fuck were they doing before that? |
| 1:27.5 | Well, I am ready to find out if you are. |
| 1:56.8 | Music Hello and welcome back to Betwixt the Sheets, the history of sex scandal in society with me, Kate Lister. |
| 2:00.6 | In many ways, the Victorian shaped the world that we live in today. |
| 2:06.0 | This month, we've been digging through the filth of history, and we've found that a lot of people who we were told, mainly by the Victorians, were dirty, was simply not as filthy as they |
| 2:11.9 | have been made out to be. |
... |
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