The Dark History of Bearded Ladies & the Victorian Freak Show

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What would it have really been like to visit a Victorian freak show? Were "freak performers" exploited, or empowered in a world that would likely have otherwise rejected them? And has the Victorian freak show ever really gone away?

Joining Kate today is John Woolf, author of The Wonders: Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age, to take us back to this world and explore its dark side.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy, the producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

Voting is open for the Listener's Choice Award at the British Podcast Awards, so if you enjoy what we're doing, we'd love it if you took a quick follow this link and click on Betwixt the Sheets: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXT

You can take part in our listener survey here.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello my lovely betwixters it's me Kate Lister back once again for another episode of betwixt the sheets but before we can get going I have to tell you this is an adult podcast book by adults to other adults about adult things in an adult
0:12.9	way covering a range of adult subjects and you should be an adult too.
0:16.7	And now you can't get mad at us if you listen and you get offended because ha ha
0:20.0	fair dues we did tell you. Come and take a seat with me betwixters. We are here in Victorian London for a unique evening of I'm not sure we can call
0:35.8	entertainment exploitation perhaps. There's a rather grand sense of occasion that that's for sure, as the crowd settles in for what is known at the time as a side show or a freak show.
0:49.7	We are promised an array of performance, from song and dance to Q&A sessions and to put it bluntly
0:56.3	Some beard stroking
0:58.4	Performing this evening is Julia Pastrana a fantastic showwoman by all accounts who hails from Mexico and just so happens to have
1:06.8	an abundance of body hair. What really went down at these performances? Well you will have to wait and see with the rest of us.
1:15.1	And perhaps more importantly, what became of Julia and other people like her?
1:20.8	Hang on. We're about to find out.
1:23.0	What do you look for the man?
1:29.0	What do you look for a man?
1:31.0	Oh, money, of course.
1:32.0	You're supposed to rise when an adult speaks to you.
1:35.0	I make perfect copies of whatever my boss needs.
1:38.0	I just turning a knob and push his butt.
1:41.0	You're right. Now!
1:44.0	Yes, social courtesy does make a difference.
1:50.0	Goodness, what beautiful times.
1:52.0	Goodness, I have nothing to do with it, during.
1:54.0	Hello and welcome back to betwixt the sheets, the history of sex scandal in society, with me, Kate Lister. There's a strong argument
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.