Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets

By: Stephen Fry, John Woolf, Nick Baker
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

  • Summary

  • On the surface, the Victorian age is one of propriety, industry, prudishness and piety. But scratch the surface and you'll find scandal, sadism, sex, madness, malice and murder.

    Presented by Stephen Fry, this series delves deep into a period of time we think we know, to discover an altogether darker reality. The stories we're told offer a different perspective on an era which underwent massive social change. As education, trade, technology and culture blossomed, why was there an undercurrent of the 'forbidden' festering beneath Victorian society?

    Across 12 episodes, Stephen presents a series of true accounts of the dangerous low life and debauched high life of Victorian Britain.

    This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 12 episodes to your Library now.
    ©2018 Audible, Ltd. (P)2018 Audible, Ltd.
    Show more Show less
Great Britain Victorian History
Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Ep. 1: Family Secrets

    Ep. 1: Family Secrets
    Oct 18 2018

    Of course, all families, high born and low have secrets. Confidential conditions of mind or body. Black sheep. Skeletons in cupboards. Unmentionable uncles. Naughty nephews... aunties who aren't... conventional. More often than not it boils down to something - sexual.

    This episode is about the keeping and uncovering of family secrets. In a way it unlocks all the secrets in all our episodes.

    Many Victorians, especially the more successful ones, feared shame. In a way this fear was something quite new. A new and growing newspaper industry was keen to amplify that shame. And a new middle class, desperate to cling to its new-found monied status, felt threatened. And, new theories about heredity, coming later in the century, meant that (perish the thought!) shamefulness could be passed on – like red hair or big feet - from generation to generation.
    Show more Show less
    44 mins
    Try for $0.00
  • Ep. 2: The Buckingham Palace Freak Show

    Ep. 2: The Buckingham Palace Freak Show
    Oct 18 2018

    Step right up, step right up and don’t be shy - welcome to Victorian Secrets, and the secrets of... The Freak Show. The secrets of enormously fat men and bearded ladies, the secrets of exotic women with enticingly large buttocks, the secrets of Siamese Twins and dwarf families and, in particular, the secrets of our own, our very own Aztec Children, seen by half a million people on the European continent before they publicly revealed their own, personal, extraordinary secret.

    We’ll go backstage to hear the terrible secrets of the freaks themselves, we’ll lift the lace curtains of Buckingham Palace, where our own Queen, god bless her, took tea with the tiny, the towering and the terribly formed.
    Show more Show less
    37 mins
    Try for $0.00
  • Ep. 3: Pornography, Pleasure and the Press

    Ep. 3: Pornography, Pleasure and the Press
    Oct 18 2018

    This episode will penetrate some of the secrets of Victorian sexuality, public and private and will challenge some deeply held misconceptions.

    We tend to think of the Victorians as dyed in the wool prudes, and we have latched onto the idea that the Victorians felt their values of self-discipline, temperance and hard work were threatened by the temptations of the flesh. This episode will show in enjoyable detail that ordinary Victorians’ attitudes to sex was for the most part enthusiastic, unembarrassed and surprisingly well informed. Apart, that is, from one secret sexual practice that was loathed, feared and tragically misunderstood.
    Show more Show less
    34 mins
    Try for $0.00

Featured Article: The Best History Podcasts of All Time


If you’re a history buff looking for a new podcast to check out, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the array of options available. There are literally thousands of podcasts focusing on every corner of history. To help you know where to start, we’ve waded through nearly everything out there and selected just a few of the best of the best in history podcasts. And we've divided them by categories and interests. You’re sure to find your next favorite listen in our list.

Featured Article The Best History Podcasts of All Time

What listeners say about Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    435
  • 4 Stars
    55
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    442
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    405
  • 4 Stars
    55
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Noelle

So enjoyable

And informative. A must listen for Victorian Era history buffs!!
Start at the first episode and just let it play..

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for A. Watman

This is fascinating and fun!

I love this podcast! It’s really interesting, and something different from most of the history related podcasts. We have this view of the Victorians as being these stuffy, sexually repressed people, but the stories here make me wonder how that perspective came about.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Jenny

Fun, enlightening, and well narrated

I was excited to see Stephen Fry narrating something new because I’ve liked everything he has read aloud. The pacing of this series was engaging, making each episode seem to quickly go by. The added theatrics (music, additional voice actors, sound effects) were fun, and they were used in the right quantities to spice up the podcast without being annoying. The information was interesting and well delivered. I often shared the details I’d learned from the podcast with friends and family, and they were entertained and interested in the bits of new knowledge about the era. Overall, this was fun, entertaining, engaging, and quick.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Callandra

excellent, as to be expected from Fry

As per usual, Stephen Fry's offerings were entertaining and informative. Looking forward to listening to the follow-up Edwardian series.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Robert Creasy

Very Enjoyable

Very enjoyable and entertaining. Steven Fry is great as are all the other people involved.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for jc

Mesmerizing

Impeccably narrated. Fascinating, fast-paced, and enthralling. Recommended for any lover of Victorian lore. 5 stars.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

Only wish it was longer

Highly informative while also being entertaining. I would listen to Stephen Fry read selections from the phone book.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Patricia

Sensational

This narrative gives you an unbiased narrative to our past ... which gives you a better idea of social constructs that have our world today.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for D

Delightful

Fry is a superb narrator. He makes every sentence come alive. The stories are offbeat. I wanted more.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for P. Schroeder

Informative and Fun

This series was fun, insightful, and engrossing. I listened to all 12 episodes within 24hrs and wish there were more.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful