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After public executions a scandalous divorce
case was probably the most popular form of free entertainment in the capital.
Crowds would wait hours to be pleasantly shocked and 'outraged' by the
goings-on between the sheets in eighteenth and nineteenth century London.
The main witnesses were invariably servants and maids who would peep through
the keyhole and gaps in the wall or listen at the door.
The hours raced by in the British Museum as I sat engrossed in the proceedings some over two hundred years old. What really struck me during research is how little human behaviour has changed. Dating agencies, agony aunts, lonely hearts columns and pornographic works have filled a strong demand for hundreds of years. London through the keyhole illustrates life from the cradle to the grave; from abortion to suicide, activities mostly carried out behind locked doors. The stories and quotes have been obtained from a variety of sources including the centuries main libraries, nineteenth century magazines and many, many books long out of print, purchased in second-hand bookshops up and down the country. Let's take a peek... |