Description: Dr Bob Nicholson is a historian of Victorian Britain. He is the presenter of ‘Killing Victoria’ (BBC Sounds) and has worked on projects for Radio 4, Radio 3, Channel 5, History Today, and The Guardian.
I’m an expert on the history of nineteenth-century Britain. My research focuses on the period’s popular culture, leisure, and entertainment. I’m passionate about challenging the old stereotype that the Victorians were ‘not amused’. If you want to hear the jokes that made Victorians laugh, learn how to mix the cocktails they drank on a night out, or discover what was printed in the period’s bestselling books and newspapers, then I’m the historian for you! I regularly give interviews for news articles and ma
I’m an expert on the history of Victorian newspapers and magazines. I’ve researched everything from highbrow broadsheets like The Times , to low-brow crime papers like the Illustrated Police News , popular magazines like Tit-Bits , satirical publications like Punch , and comics like Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday . I once went viral and made headlines of my own by complaining about the shocking misrepresentation of newspapers in period dramas! Presenter : Exploring the history of Victorian tabloids for Radio 4
For the last decade, I’ve been on a mission to discover what made the Victorians laugh. I’ve uncovered thousands of long-forgotten jokes from the nineteenth century, some of which I’ve shared online via the @OldJokeArchive. If you want to cringe at Victorian puns, hear the jokes they told at dinner parties, or need help deciphering obscure bits of nineteenth-century satire then drop me a line. Presenter : Telling Victorian jokes on the streets of Liverpool for Radio 4's Making History. Interview : Discus