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HistoryExtra podcast

Oscar Wilde on trial

HistoryExtra podcast

HistoryExtra

History

4.34.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At a time when male homosexuality was illegal in Britain, celebrated playwright Oscar Wilde became embroiled in a scandal that ultimately saw him put on trial for “gross indecency”. As Professor Joseph Bristow tells Lauren Good, it’s a story of danger and betrayal, which not only tells us about the writer’s life, but also about the prejudices of society at the time.    (Ad) Joseph Bristow is the author of Oscar Wilde on Trial: The Criminal Proceedings, from Arrest to Imprisonment (Yale University Press, 2023). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Foscar-wilde-on-trial%2Fjoseph-bristow%2F9780300222722 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Just Between Us, the podcast with all of the answers, some of the time.

0:05.0

A bit of a different thing going on this week.

0:07.3

You've been immature and you've lied.

0:10.3

And now you're trying to turn it on me and manipulate me and gaslight me.

0:13.9

I was trying to manipulate you.

0:15.7

Diana, you would be chucking their clothes out of the window.

0:18.1

I know, I'd be like, are you joking?

0:20.6

I don't know.

0:21.7

I guess you'd have to ask.

0:23.5

Someone that has sex.

0:24.2

Someone that has sex.

0:26.3

And remember, it's just between us.

0:32.3

Welcome to the History Extra podcast.

0:35.7

Fascinating historical conversations from BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed.

0:50.0

Late Victorian Society was charmed by the plays of Oscar Wilde and equally captivated by their quick-witted high-living author.

1:00.5

But in 1895, the celebrated playwright and celebrity became embroiled in a scandal that ultimately saw his homosexual lifestyle exposed at a time when male homosexuality was illegal in Britain.

1:15.6

Wilde found himself on trial facing charges of gross indecency.

1:20.5

It's a story of danger and betrayal, which not only tells us about Wilde's life, but the prejudices of society at the time.

1:29.2

Professor Joseph Bristow, author of a new book on the case, shares the story with Lauren Good.

1:35.3

He began by telling Lauren about Wilde's life and career up until the point of his trial in 1895.

1:42.0

He was born in Dublin in 1854 and and he grew up in this incredibly elite,

1:48.5

very distinguished, but also importantly, it was a Protestant family, but they were nationalists,

...

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