Yesterday's London Times

We're mere days away from the coronation of King Charles III, and it seems like a good time to explore the fact and legend of British coronations. We'll think about: * this unusual ritual that it is both a state occasion of the transfer of title and a religious rite, * what the ritual says about Britain and also about the incoming monarch, * some elements to watch for in the ceremony its...

The YLT time machine is cranked up and running and has once again dropped Jen and Mares in the 1960s, this time to examine two women deemed notorious by the media of the age: Margaret of Argyll and Shirley Pitts. One is remembered as an oversexed duchess and the other as a relentless thief, but upon deeper examination their lives are much more nuanced than those oversimplified descriptions would l...

This episode begins in the 1660s, when a puppeteer named Signor Bologna performs with marionettes in Covent Garden.  The star of the show is the Italian commedia dell’arte character, Pulcinella. British will audiences take to him and make him their own, as Pulcinella morphs into the iconic Punch. We’ll look at: The history of this character,  How his attributes adapted to an English audience,  The...

This episode takes us to the Spitalfields neighborhood of London. He will explore a most unusual house nearly 300 years old. Will think about… a young 18-year-old who shows up in London in the Swinging 60s and eccentric young man who dreamed big and made his dreams come true how a place marks person, and how people mark the places they  call home While in Spitalfields, will meet the Huguenots, and...

Kim Philby is often mentioned as the ringleader of the Cambridge Spy Ring, but an overwhelming amount of evidence points to the flamboyant and outlandish Guy Burgess as the most prolific and proficient of the group. What makes Burgess stand out, both personally and professionally?   In this episode, we'll:  Explore the what motivated Burgess to turn on the country that showered him with statu...

Can a city be a muse?  What about London inspires writers of detective mysteries? In this episode, we'll:  delve into the Golden Age of the Detective Novel in interwar London. meet some of the top authors of the era in a secretive, ritualistic organization they founded.  Enter the Detection Club. follow Agatha Christie's footsteps through London, where she spent some pivotal moments of h...

In our last episode we questioned how, in a few short years, London transformed itself from a battered, austere, post-war city to the vibrant, swinging “Capital of Cool.” So, here we are, in 1960s London, and we’ll meet scene-makers and movers and shakers, fashion designer Mary Quant and hair stylist Vidal Sassoon. Jump in your Mini, and join us as we explore: MARY QUANT > Her dive and subseque...

London. The 1960s. The “Capital of Cool”. London was indeed swinging. But how? Why? Join us, as we inquire and explore:        - how London emerged from war torn chaos,   soot,  deadly fog, and rations into a vibrant and vivacious style epicenter by the mid 1960s        - the trends that dominated the era        - how the baby boom and subsequent youth culture movement rocked British life at its c...

It’s one of our favorite days of the year - Boxing Day! Shake a cocktail, snuggle in, and join us as we look back as a community on 2022, and make some announcements about where we are headed as a podcast in 2023. In this episode, we will: - share some fantastically festive cocktail recipes - present our annual awards to the podcast friends we learned about throughout the year - make some unendors...

Seriously?  An episode about... fog? The fog has become synonymous with the city, much like one of its characters; and a provocateur at that. But we're not talking about silvery, wispy, Dumbledore-type fog. The fog that permeated winters between the Victorian era and the 1950s was sulfuric, gamboge colored, gritty, and reeking of rotten eggs. In this episode, we'll ... : look at fog from...

Our Victorian story arc is coming to a close, but not before we explore one of the most important topics of era: the lives of Black Victorians.    The Victorians prided themselves on what they considered to be very socially progressive views. After the abolition of the slave trade at the end of the Georgian Era, an overwhelming number of Victorians joined the abolitionist movement to end the pract...

As the leaves continue to crisp and the air becomes even brisker, our study of the Victorians takes another somewhat unsettling turn as we explore their obsession with spiritualism,  superstition, and the supernatural.    As industry, technology, and communication evolve exponentially, countless Victorians are searching for comfort and explanations; many believe they find answers through mesmerism...

Some stories just feel like OCTOBER stories. We know that Victorian Londoners enjoy a good craze. But what will they make of a social panic? Today our story begins in 1837, the first year of the Victorian era. In this episode, someone - or something - is assaulting Londoners; springing out at them.  Was it a ghost?  A devil? Maybe bear, bull, or baboon? Who would be next?  We’ll hear the facts beh...

Wow, what a year it’s been! It’s our first podcast anniversary, and we are so grateful for YOU, our YLT community! In this episode, we will take a moment to remember our past, reflect on our present and dream about the future. Specifically, we will:   * share our origin story, and talk about the fun and challenges we encountered along the way as we launched the podcast into being   *  take a quick...

Cheers! Did you know that cocktails as we know them today have their origins in the Victorian Era? It’s true! But the Victorian relationship with alcohol  is complicated - it’s a lot more than just booze; it is also an examination of class, equality, opportunity, and values.  In this episode, we will explore:  what motivated the middle class temperance movement, and the hypocrisy that surrounded i...

The Great Exhibition of 1851, the brainchild of Prince Albert and Henry Cole, had the loftiest of goals: the unity of humanity moving forward together via a merge of science, technology, and the arts. We’ll think about… Prince Albert’s unexpected progressive views How to design an event as massive as the Exhibition with no guidebook from which to work How powerful entities like the press and polit...

In this episode, we remain in Victorian London and will examine the events of the summer of 1858, the moment in time that serves as the bridge from medieval to modern London. We will explore: how The Big Stink served as an impetus for change in regards to water quality the contributions of Sir Joseph Bazalgette and his gift to public health: modern sanitation  the beginnings of a notable British p...

This is a companion episode to last week’s Exotica Mania. In that episode, we considered the Victorian plant frenzy, especially for exotic plants from faraway lands. But how did the plants come to Britain?  Enter the PLANT HUNTERS. The Indiana Joneses, and sometimes the Jack Sparrows, of their day. Plant hunters were sent off to explore in every direction in search of specimens that might have pot...

How can something as mundane a plant tell us about a culture? We may start talking about plants, but soon we will be in mired in a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, colonialism, imperialism, exoticism, Darwinism, social order and class, surreptitious societal coding, a rising middle class, the concept of leisure time, and a culture caught up in the allure of seeking and getting. Phew! We’ll l...

In this episode, we will explore the emerging concept of mega cities and Victorian London’s biggest epidemiological catastrophe: cholera.  We will learn: what it was like to suffer from cholera in Victorian London who was affected most by the pandemic and why about some of the heroes of the era and their contributions to science and humanity We will also dig more deeply and question: how misinform...

In this episode, we look behind the romanticized glow-up of the iconic Victorian child chimney sweep.  We'll wonder: what can we learn about a culture by examining a mundane occupation? what were the structures that put this practice in place? what would a typical day in the life of a young sweep be like? And most importantly: how can a bad practice become undone? and how can you persuade a p...

With this episode, we kick off a new story arc about Victorian London, an era as fascinating as it is repulsive.  And it's with that push-pull blend that we approach this episode. We'll take a bird's eye view; well, a pigeon's eye view as an introduction to the time and place.  Our friends, Zelli and Holly, help us by playing a game of Would You Rather.  Along the way, they wil...

In a departure from our regular show, we decide to test your knowledge of trivia on the life of the current monarch.  The Liz Quiz?  The Queen Quiz?  You decide. Then, we'll look at the officially sanctioned Jubilee celebration plans as well as some unofficial and downright off-the-wall ways to celebrate. Photos and links can be found at our show notes HERE. Our website  https://yltpodcast.bu...

Persistence: Takin’ It to the Streets (Protein Man) And Underground (Charles Pearson) This episode has two stories on the theme of persistence.  When is persistence helpful and when is it just annoying?  When is persistence visionary and when is it obsession? Meet Stanley Green, who most people know as Protein Man, spent 23 years walking up and down Oxford Street with a placard warning of the the...

In the previous episode in the series, Lilibet: a Queen's Beginnings, we met the young Princess Elizabeth and her early influencers. We left her on the edge of adolescence, which is where this story picks up. In 1939, Lilibet will turn thirteen and her country will enter World War II.  These circumstances provide Lilibet with an extraordinary opportunity to have a life with certain parallels...