Fun and entertainment in 18th century London

FunEntertainment

&

, With a population so vas t and varied so , hungry for divers ion it is no wonder that

London offe red every conce ivable .ente rtainment to the paying cus tomer

Freaks and curios itie s of every kind were on , commerc ial display from hermaphrodite s and

. dwarfs to operatic cats and acrobatic monkeys- - ,Hand to hand combat

, puppe t shows, conjurers s trange, inventions quack

doctors and cock fighting were all .popular amusements

" " - , There was even a vogue for learned animals pigs - , mostly who purportedly could perform arithmetic play

.cards and te ll fortune s

When the real thing was not, available waxworks would do

. . ' almos t as we ll Mrs Salmon s Flee t Stre e t exhibition of his torical tableaux and horrific

1711 scene s in wax opened in and prospered for more than a

, century until it was outdone ' by Madame Tussaud s new

display in Baker Stre .e t

Sex touris ts inte re s ted in vis iting one of

' London s brothe ls could even buy a guide, ' book Harris s Lis t of

Covent Garden Ladie s(1773) to he lp them find

a pros titute that would suit the ir tas te andincome

( ), Bethlehem Royal Hospital Bedlam a palatial asylum for , 1770 lunatic s in Finsbury Square was open to the public until as

. a sort of human zoo Vis itors could pay a few pence to ente r and .gawk at the inmate s for as long as they liked

, Thousands of s ightse ers came each year wandering through the wards . and brutally teas ing the patients in order to he ighten the fun

, ' At one point Bedlam s governors fe lt that the s ightse ers were behaving , " so badly they decreed the doors be locked on public holidays agains t

."all vis itors

But it was the spec tac le surrounding the

punishment of crim inals that was perhaps the most

antic ipated and popular form of mass

. , ente rtainment Whippings, flogg ings be ing paraded through the s tre e ts in

chains and enduring the" " - pillory an open forum

for mockery and verbal - abuse were common

punishments for pe tty.crim es

Executions were an even more e laborate affair and quite often

were se t as ide as . public holidays

, Occas ionally engraved invitations

. would be sent out On, 35 average around

crim inals were hanged each year at

the infamous Tyburn, Tree and late r at

.Newgate Prison

Monday was the s tandard execution

day so chaplains could spend Sunday

evening preparing . the condemned

Large crowds of, rowdy jeering

- onlookers some tim es in

30,000 numbers of or (80,000 more was the) - record would arrive

in the morning to follow the prisoner to

.the hang ing platform

, , , , Men women children gentry and paupers alike all attended the se executions in the hope s of

, witne s s ing a particularly dramatic dec laration a- , -las t m inute reprieve or a courageous applause

" ."worthy farewe ll from the doomed male fac tor

END Work by

Simona Santars ie ro

Eleonora Bompieri

Sara Palombo