BBC Radio 4 Extra

Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life

Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life: Episode 25: Neat and Not too Showy

Documentaries

Factual: History

Factual: Homes & Gardens: Homes

Episode 25

Episode 25: Neat and Not too Showy

Neat and Not too Showy

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life, Neat and Not too Showy

How people lower down the social scale responded to the idea of taste.

Historian Amanda Vickery explores the homes of people lower down the social scale, and how they responded to the idea of taste.

Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series. 

These days we take it for granted that the home is a place of refuge in which we express our true self; that idea was an invention of the 18th century. Prof Vickery explores the invention of taste, and the role of interior decor in creating both social prestige and a successful marriage.

Moving into the 19th century, Prof Vickery explores the homes of people lower down the social scale and their ideas about how they wanted them to look. She draws on a series of funny and revealing letters which she discovered in the archive of a wallpaper company.

Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.

Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Historian Amanda Vickery reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years

Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years, drawing on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life

Episode 25: Neat and Not too Showy

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Radio 4 Extra

About BBC Radio 4 Extra