Free with 30-day trial
A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets cover art

Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets

By: Stephen Fry, John Woolf, Nick Baker
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

  • Summary

  • "

    On the surface, the Victorian age is one of propriety, industry, prudishness and piety. But scratch the surface and you'll find scandal, sadism, sex, madness, malice and murder.

    Presented by Stephen Fry, this series delves deep into a period of time we think we know, to discover an altogether darker reality. The stories we're told offer a different perspective on an era which underwent massive social change. As education, trade, technology and culture blossomed, why was there an undercurrent of the ""Àúforbidden' festering beneath Victorian society?

    Across 12 episodes, Stephen presents a series of true accounts of the dangerous low life and debauched high life of Victorian Britain.

    This is an Audible Original Podcast. You can download all 12 episodes to your Library now.

    "
    ©2018 Audible, Ltd. (P)2018 Audible, Ltd.
    Show More Show Less
Episodes
  • Ep. 1: Family Secrets

    Ep. 1: Family Secrets
    Oct 18 2018

    Of course, all families, high born and low have secrets. Confidential conditions of mind or body. Black sheep. Skeletons in cupboards. Unmentionable uncles. Naughty nephews... aunties who aren't... conventional. More often than not it boils down to something - sexual.

    This episode is about the keeping and uncovering of family secrets. In a way it unlocks all the secrets in all our episodes.

    Many Victorians, especially the more successful ones, feared shame. In a way this fear was something quite new. A new and growing newspaper industry was keen to amplify that shame. And a new middle class, desperate to cling to its new-found monied status, felt threatened. And, new theories about heredity, coming later in the century, meant that (perish the thought!) shamefulness could be passed on – like red hair or big feet - from generation to generation.
    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep. 2: The Buckingham Palace Freak Show

    Ep. 2: The Buckingham Palace Freak Show
    Oct 18 2018

    Step right up, step right up and don’t be shy - welcome to Victorian Secrets, and the secrets of... The Freak Show. The secrets of enormously fat men and bearded ladies, the secrets of exotic women with enticingly large buttocks, the secrets of Siamese Twins and dwarf families and, in particular, the secrets of our own, our very own Aztec Children, seen by half a million people on the European continent before they publicly revealed their own, personal, extraordinary secret.

    We’ll go backstage to hear the terrible secrets of the freaks themselves, we’ll lift the lace curtains of Buckingham Palace, where our own Queen, god bless her, took tea with the tiny, the towering and the terribly formed.
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ep. 3: Pornography, Pleasure and the Press

    Ep. 3: Pornography, Pleasure and the Press
    Oct 18 2018

    This episode will penetrate some of the secrets of Victorian sexuality, public and private and will challenge some deeply held misconceptions.

    We tend to think of the Victorians as dyed in the wool prudes, and we have latched onto the idea that the Victorians felt their values of self-discipline, temperance and hard work were threatened by the temptations of the flesh. This episode will show in enjoyable detail that ordinary Victorians’ attitudes to sex was for the most part enthusiastic, unembarrassed and surprisingly well informed. Apart, that is, from one secret sexual practice that was loathed, feared and tragically misunderstood.
    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
    Free with 30-day trial
Great Britain
Show More Show Less

What listeners say about Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    414
  • 4 Stars
    80
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    400
  • 4 Stars
    50
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    347
  • 4 Stars
    79
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com.au reviews

Amazon Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for bridget Huolohan

Love this!

Eclectic group of scenarios, stories and topics read entertainingly by Stephen Fry and a handful of actors. Very entertaining!!

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for AM
  • AM
  • 12-04-2019

Great stories.

Easy to listen to and fascinating yarns. Fry is a wonderful story teller. I recommend.



Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

top notch

factually fabulous and and characteristically charming. binged the whole thing and I loved it completely.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for shevaun

A study of the beginning of modernity

I couldn't get enough of this series and was quite disappointed when it ended. Stephen Fry, as always, was an engaging narrator bringing his perspective and humour to some occasional very tough subjects.
Beautifully written and wonderfully interesting.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Kindle Customer

A Not So Secret Pleasure

Stephen Fry is a master narrator. His voice is so hypnotic, mesmerising and enrapturing!

He draws you right in to his stories with humor and wit that is a rare but wonderful talent.

such a wonderful series. Well worth the listen!

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

enjoyable to listen to

loved it. the narration is great, and the stories, though at times wierd, were interesting.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

History comes to life!

Great to find a free, fun and informative book that's such a pleasure to listen to, a blast from the past!

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

Great series

Perfect for listening to while commuting. The always entertaining Stephen Fry delights in his role as spiller of secrets. Wholly enjoyable listen.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

easy listening

i have trouble sleeping it helps me with my sleeping steven has a great voice to do this job

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for R. Caldwell

So good!

So interesting I really loved every minute of it, I'm sad now I have finished both this podcast and secrets of the edwardians

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.