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HistoryExtra podcast - Terrible puns and filthy limericks: the Victorian sense of humour
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Terrible puns and filthy limericks: the Victorian sense of humour

HistoryExtra podcast

02/13/26

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44m

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Queen Victoria was – so legend has it – famously 'not amused'. But, as Dr Bob Nicholson reveals in this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, the long-lived queen did have a sense of humour – as did her subjects. Speaking with David Musgrove, Bob explores what made people laugh in the 19th century.

Please note: this episode contains some very strong language and adult humour.

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Want to delve further into the stranger side of Victorian life? Listen to our series on the life of 19th-century circus showman, animal wrangler, and long-distance wheelbarrow pedestrian Bob Carlisle in our podcast series, The Tiger Tamer who Went to Sea: https://bit.ly/4qBaCFH.

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Previous Episode

What do your hands reveal about you? Historian Alison Bashford joins Elinor Evans to explore the extraordinary history of how people have interpreted the human hand. From ancient divination to cutting-edge medical diagnostics, her book Decoding the Hand reveals how palm reading once sat at the centre, not the fringes, of science. In this episode, she explains how hands were used to predict character, diagnose disease, and even identify criminals – and why they still hold such symbolic power today.

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undefined - The Magna Carta myth
The Magna Carta myth

February 15

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43m

Magna Carta may be associated today with power, liberty and freedom – but those weren’t quite the concerns back in 1215. So what did the barons really demand of King John? And what can this document tell us about the lives of people in medieval England? In this second episode of HistoryExtra's Sunday Series on Magna Carta, Emily Briffett and historian Nicholas Vincent delve into the archive to uncover the real charter – and reveal why it’s not quite the liberty manifesto of legend.

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If you’re curious to learn more about Magna Carta and the world in which it originated, Emily Briffett has put together some essential reading, listening and viewing from the HistoryExtra archive to help deepen your understanding: https://bit.ly/3ZMTReR

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