Regency Britain: Ian Mortimer (1825)
The Regency is one of the most-loved periods in British history.
It was a period of transition that reflected unprecedented social, economic, and political change. But it was also the age of Jane Austen and Lord Byron, the paintings of Constable and the sartorial elegance of Beau Brummell, a time of famous military victories and revolutionary fervour.
It’s fashions, interiors and architecture still have the power to captivate in a way that no other era quite matches. Many see it as a last age of true freedom, Merry England’s final dance before the Victorians arrived to turn off the music.
To explore this fascinating world, John Hillman met the Sunday Times bestselling author of the Time Travellers Guide series, Ian Mortimer, for a tour of its concert halls, stately homes and new industrial beginnings.
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Show Notes
Scene One: 21 December 1825, collapse of Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire.
Scene Two: 7 September 1825 (Stockton to Darlington Railway)
Scene Three: 21 March 1825, The Argyll Rooms, Regent Street, London (first British performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony)
People/Social
Presenter: Artemis Irvine
Interview: John Hillman
Guest: Ian Mortimer
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Colorgraph
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Image courtesy of the Wellcome Collection
View of the west and north fronts of Fonthill Abbey (Scene One) from John Rutter's Delineations of Fonthill (1823)
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