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The Wonders is a radical new history of the Victorian age: meet the forgotten and extraordinary freak performers whose talents and disabilities helped define an era.
On 23 March, 1844, General Tom Thumb, at 25 inches tall, entered the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace and bowed low to Queen Victoria. The age of the freak was born.
Bewitching all levels of society, it was a world of astonishing spectacle – of dwarfs, giants, bearded ladies, Siamese twins and swaggering showmen.
But the real stories – human dramas that so often eclipsed the fantasy presented on the stage – of the performing men, women and children have been forgotten or marginalised in the histories of the very people who exploited them.
In this richly evocative account, Dr John Woolf uses a wealth of recently discovered material to bring to life the sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant, always extraordinary stories of people who used their (dis)abilities and difference to become some of the first international celebrities. And through their lives we discover afresh some of the great transformations of the age, including the impact of exploitation and our fascination with 'otherness'.
The Wonders is a radical new history of the Victorian age: meet the forgotten and extraordinary freak performers whose talents and disabilities helped define an era.
On 23 March, 1844, General Tom Thumb, at 25 inches tall, entered the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace and bowed low to Queen Victoria. The age of the freak was born.
Bewitching all levels of society, it was a world of astonishing spectacle – of dwarfs, giants, bearded ladies, Siamese twins and swaggering showmen.
But the real stories – human dramas that so often eclipsed the fantasy presented on the stage – of the performing men, women and children have been forgotten or marginalised in the histories of the very people who exploited them.
In this richly evocative account, Dr John Woolf uses a wealth of recently discovered material to bring to life the sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant, always extraordinary stories of people who used their (dis)abilities and difference to become some of the first international celebrities. And through their lives we discover afresh some of the great transformations of the age, including the impact of exploitation and our fascination with 'otherness'.
A radical new history of the Victorian age: meet the forgotten and extraordinary freak performers whose talents and disabilities helped define an era.
Dr John Woolf is a historian and researcher. Having read history at
the University of Cambridge he went on to obtain a PhD on
nineteenth-century freak shows. Since then had developed the BBC4
series The Real Tom Thumb: History's Smallest Superstar, and was
assistant producer for Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch
Unveiled, also for BBC4, and narrated by A. N. Wilson.
John is currently co-writing a book for Audible, Victorian Secrets,
with Stephen Fry, to be released in 2019. John will also be
featuring in a new BBC4 documentary, Dwarfs in Art, as well as
presenting a new documentary on mental illness for BBC R4.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Gavin Osborn has fire in his belly,
stories to tell and a new-found sense of hope in his heart. Known
for his storytelling shows with comedian Daniel Kitson (Stories For
the Starlit Sky) and now with five studio albums under his belt,
Gavin is a regular on the festival scene (Latitude, Green Man,
Indietracks), familiar to listeners of BBC Radio 4 (Alun Cochrane's
Fun House) and an audiobook narrator for several titles, including
Living a Laptop Lifestyle.
'A promising young historian with a taste for the exotic.'
*Stephen Fry*
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