High-diving elks, the sporting munificence of Charles Dickens and the explosion in music hall entertainment all help bring to a close the merry little stroll John Sessions has been taking through the history of popular entertainment in the UK.

Having joined the restoration celebrations of 1660 and witnessed the rise of a new popular entertainment phenomenon, the sporting hero, John now ventures into the industrial heartlands of Victorian Britain to see how the masses were kept amused before the dawn of cinema and the emergence of a global entertainment industry worth billions of pounds.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2008. Show less