My Love Letter Time Machine - Victorian History

Season 2, episode 16. Content warning: Please be aware that Fred and Janie have discussions of a sexual nature in this episode, using mild terminology.  As well as quite a lot of pillow talk, we also get to take a look at a 'Fancey Fayre' at Sheffield's Albert Hall.  Support the show

Season 2, episode 15. Content warning: mild sexual discussion, and mentions of alcohol abuse.  Janie makes a significant purchase for her future home, Fred plays a very windy football match, we have a little look at Victorian lady explorer, Annie Bassey, and brother William tries to take Emma in hand for her drinking.  Support the show

Season 2, episode 14.  Janie and Fred have a fabulously detailed discussion about their future house layout, to the point of drawing floorpans, and we have a little look at the history of terraced housing. Support the show

Season 2, episode 13: Fred and Janie swap valentines after Fred’s visit, Janie is in full swing in buying things for their future home, and Kate, the servant at the Cross Keys, is suddenly taken ill, in fact, everyone seems to be in poor health Support the show

Season 2, episode 12: After last week’s rather intense exchange about Fred’s expectations of Janie as a wife, the letters this time are full of excitement as they plan for Fred’s upcoming visit to Sheffield after 5 long weeks apart. Be prepared though, for Emma to throw a spanner in the works... Support the show

Season 2, episode 11: Fred and Janie make plans for Janie to be confirmed and we talk about the mismatch of their deeply held beliefs and their complete lack of guilty about having sex before marriage.  Support the show

Season 2, episode 10. Janie confides in Fred about her continuing tribulations with Emma, and Fred has a rather racey discussion with Janie about the possible health benefits of a conjugal visit. Please be aware that there is discussion of sexual activity - mainly in the last letter in this episode. Support the show

Season 2, episode 9.  We catch up with  Fred Johnson’s teaching adventures, find out what’s behind Janie and her friends trying out the Victorian fad of ‘Human Magnetism’,  and learn that Emma stole Janie's keys! Support the show

Fred and Janie have both been shopping for their future home, and their letters are full of the latest gossip, including some alarming news from Emma's in-laws, the Herrods. Support the show

Season 2, episode 7: Fred has given Janie a bit of a hard time about going to that tea dance without him. Janie is very hurt, but they seem to make it up again. Support the show

Season 2, episode 6: A Christmas and New Year renunion for Janie and Fred, a visit to a school for the blind, and a look at a Victorian Christmas party, although Janie had to go without Fred. Support the show

Season 2, episode 5. Fred is missing Janie dreadfully and seems to be sinking into his ‘lemonkolly’, he seems to be rather in demand as a footballer, and there's good news from Sheffield about his mother Ann. Support the show

Season 2, episode 4. Fred and his friends all seem to be rather desperate to be married, and we look at how as a group of men, they all seem quite comfortable sharing their personal feelings. Support the show

Season 2, episode 3. Fred manages a dash back to Sheffield obstensibly to head hunt for the new works in Middlesbrough, but it's a great excuse to see Janie, even if it does result in a bit of worrying about Janie possibly being in 'the family way'.  We also get to hear about the Higgs and their embarking on a voyage to Australia. Support the show

Season 2 Episode 2. "She has not a particle of shame in her!"  (CW  mentions Victorian alcohol abuse).  We find out how Fred was settling into his new job, what he thinks of Redcar and Middlesbrough, and how back in Sheffield, Janie’s sister Emma, continues to drink and it looks as though she gets dumped. Support the show

Season 2 Episode 1.  (CW: mentions alchohol abuse) Last season we saw an anxious Fred leave home in Sheffield to take up his new job at the North Eastern Steel Company, Middlesbrough. This week we find out how Fred is getting on with finding lodgings and how Janie is coping without him back in Handsworth. Support the show

Ingrid answers questions from listeners about Janie, Fred and the letters. Including everyday enquiries about what they ate, to asking about gender attitudes of the day.  Season 2 starts next time. Support the show

Episode 12: Why Fred at just 22 years old, boarded a train from Sheffield to Middlesborough, and left behind everything he’d ever known. 1881 - a difficult year that brought great tragedy but also great hope. Support the show

Episode 11. Content Warning: descriptions of domestic violence in the second half of this episode. Discovering how the global depression effected Sheffield and if Fred still had a job, and finding out how Janie’s sister Emma had to go to the Houses of Parliament to get a divorce so she could be freed from her abusive husband. Support the show

Episode 10:  (Correction: Blackpool is in the North West of England, (not the North East, apols fellow Lancastrians) Fred goes on holiday in Blackpool and gives us an eyewitness account of the first generation of the Blackpool Illuminations, the world's first ever municipal electric street lights, and we get to enjoy Janie and Fred's back and forth correspondence during that fortnight. ...

Episode 9: Spring 1880, Fred and Janie make plans for the future, get caught up in the General Election, and Fred gets news fom Oxford. Taking closer look at some of the people and colour of the world that Janie and Fred lived in. Support the show

Episode 8: In which we get some of our preconceptions about Victorian courtship rewritten, and Fred gets some of his preconceptions about what women really want, rewritten too. Unlocking the 140 year old secrets concealed in Fred's diary, and finding about his football exploits in the Sheffield Challenge Cup of 1880, and the time he and his team beat Aston Villa.  Support the show

Season 1, episode 7: Autumn 1879, first we take  a deeper dive into impact the steel mills had on Sheffield, and then we’ll be finding out about how Fred and Jane swapped selfies, Victorian style, and what that might mean for a courting couple. Support the show

Season 1, episode 6: August 17th - 30th 1879. Content warning: the second part of this episode contains descriptions of domestic violence. Fred is still in Bridlington, and Jane makes a sudden decision. Then we discover how Emma, Jane’s older sister, woke one morning to find that her private affairs, or rather the affairs of the husband who had abandoned her,  were splashed across the newspapers. ...

Season 1, episode 5: Taking place during the Spring and Summer of 1879, we catch up with Fred's chums putting on their Amateur Dramatics. Fred reports back from Bridlington while on his Summer holiday and gamely takes on the role of fashion correspondent to entertain Janie in his letters. Support the show