An omnibus edition of episodes from the fourth week of a six-week series made in collaboration with the British Library Sound Archive.

Settlers arriving in America in the 17th century decreed the songs and sounds of native American Indians to be barbaric and wild - bloodcurdling hollering that might presage the most brutal of deaths. Professor David Hendy of the University of Sussex explores the colonial politics of sound.

He also squeezes among the crowded narrow alleys or 'wynds' of 18th Century tenement buildings in Edinburgh and explains how a similar cramped conditions in Paris led to a surreal and brutal massacre of cats.

David eavesdrops on the whispers, gossip and scandal of the eighteenth century house, and tells the salacious tale of John Burt, a navy captain from Canterbury, who took his young wife Harriet to court for impropriety - on the evidence of his cook.

This week also includes the soundscapes of slavery, and of civil conflict in 18th century Paris and 19th century America.

Signature tune composed by Joe Acheson.

Produced by Matt Thompson
A Rockethouse production for BBC Radio 4. Show less