Albion Tonight

Welcome to an unconventional and experimental episode of Albion Tonight! Join me for an evening of storytelling where I read and react to the original penny dreadful version of Sweeney Todd. During which I share my insights on gender, food, and history related. See how literature and history are interconnected. Most of all, please sit back, relax, and enjoy this raw and riveting episode relating t...

This episode is the first request of the show! Due to an email request, I researched beef and burgers in Britain. Join us to learn a bit about why beef is historically and culturally embedded in British identity. See how hamburgers crossed the Atlantic.  Journey with us from beloved markets and butchershops to the homes of 1960s housewives and beyond, and find out how even beef made its impact on...

In this episode, discover how sparkling waters made it from spa towns to middle class homes. Discover the mysteries behind the soft drinks that pervade our lives, from the sparkling lemonades in British pubs to ginger beers, colas, and fruity sodas galore. Learn the ways in which women appear in the archive. Spoiler alert: they have a big role in the history of soda, pop up in soda trade journals,...

An Afternoon Tea is considered a quintessential British experience nowadays, but have you ever wondered what lies beneath this elegant tradition? In this episode, I discuss some of the history, origins, and fun facts about British tea and the culture surrounding it. Most importantly, we look at how tea affected women’s lives at work, at home, and on the dance floor! Pour yourself a cuppa, eat some...

*Some content in this episode may be suggestive and unsuitable for children. * In this special episode, some of my guests of podcast past, present, and future come together to guess what in the world some of my favorite Victorian (and Victorian-ish) ads are for, since these ads are notoriously obtuse and eccentrically euphemistic. Please feel free to play along at home and put your historical chop...

Oh, Beans on Toast. It is a multifaceted dish, which has developed many identities over time from that of the economical wonder meal to a quick breakfast and even that of a quintessential element of British identity (and of a full English breakfast). Both beloved by many and despised by many, there is no way to deny its importance to British history, culture, and identity. In this episode, I seek...

When fighting for their right to vote, women in the UK broke off into two main groups: militant suffragettes and pacifistic suffragists. The former were so determined to achieve their goals that they were willing to make huge sacrifices, including transforming their bodies into battlefields for political protest. In this episode, we will discuss the hunger strikes that suffragettes undertook in pr...