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Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home - BBC doco`

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Amanda
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Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home - BBC doco`

Post by Amanda » Mon April 1st, 2013, 3:33 am

This is programmed for Wed 9pm in the UK. Looks really interesting....
The Victorians were intensely proud of their homes. But, suggests Dr Suzannah Lipscomb in an entertaining documentary, these homes were potential death traps. Expect tales of green wallpaper laced with arsenic, lead-laden paint and even internal organs squashed by corsets.
Someone read a book on this topic IIRC....maybe SonjaMarie?? Don't you if you will get it in the US (or here in Australia for that matter).

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Lisa
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Post by Lisa » Mon April 1st, 2013, 9:10 am

Thanks for posting about that, I hadn't heard about it. Looks interesting although maybe a touch melodramatic (the synopsis I found about it emphasised "No health and safety! Their homes were DEATH TRAPS!!!" - wow it's a wonder they all survived, but then it has to be exciting for TV :) ). I'll watch it on Wed night and report back.

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Lisa
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Post by Lisa » Thu April 4th, 2013, 8:26 am

I watched the documentary last night - it was interesting, but there wasn't much I didn't already know. It concentrated on:
  • Arsenic in wallpaper
  • Lead in paint (wall paint and children's toys)
  • Gas lights/stoves when people didn't know the dangers of gas
  • Corsets squeezing internal organs
  • Baby bottles, which were full of bacteria because they were hard to clean and the same cork was left in for months
I hadn't heard about the baby bottles before, so that was quite horrifying to learn about. The presenter did an experiment with the corset, doing some monitored exercise while wearing one and not wearing, and the graphs at the end showed the extent to which she was struggling for breath. They also showed an actual preserved Victorian lady's liver that had been compressed up into the ribcage and had permanent grooves in it from the ribs. :eek:

If the show gets broadcast in the US/Down Under I'd recommend watching it. Don't expect anything too enlightening, but it's a nice diversion.

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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Thu April 4th, 2013, 11:19 pm

[quote=""LadyB""]
I hadn't heard about the baby bottles before, so that was quite horrifying to learn about. The presenter did an experiment with the corset, doing some monitored exercise while wearing one and not wearing, and the graphs at the end showed the extent to which she was struggling for breath. They also showed an actual preserved Victorian lady's liver that had been compressed up into the ribcage and had permanent grooves in it from the ribs. :eek:
[/quote]

There was a reality show on PBS called "The 1900 House" which aired here in the US in 2000. It followed a modern British family who lived as a Victorian family for 3 months. I didn't watch the series entirely but still found it interesting! In one episode, Joyce was shown doing the breathing test described above.
Anyone else remember watching this show?

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Lisa
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Post by Lisa » Fri April 5th, 2013, 8:26 am

[quote=""princess garnet""]There was a reality show on PBS called "The 1900 House" which aired here in the US in 2000. It followed a modern British family who lived as a Victorian family for 3 months. I didn't watch the series entirely but still found it interesting! In one episode, Joyce was shown doing the breathing test described above.
Anyone else remember watching this show?[/quote]

Oh! I do remember that, but I think I only caught one episode at the time, maybe right at the beginning because I remember the kids complaining they couldn't watch TV and it was too dark to do anything in the evenings, and the mother was having to wash clothes in the big tub outside.

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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Fri April 5th, 2013, 8:29 am

I remember that show being on - there were a few others too, set during later periods - and it was very popular. Yes children, there wasn't TV way back when.....wonder what the current smart-phone generation would say if they did another 1900-set series; no phones, internet, games; they'd probably feel like their oxygen supply had been cut!
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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Post by rebecca » Sat April 6th, 2013, 3:23 am

[quote=""Madeleine""]I remember that show being on - there were a few others too, set during later periods - and it was very popular. Yes children, there wasn't TV way back when.....wonder what the current smart-phone generation would say if they did another 1900-set series; no phones, internet, games; they'd probably feel like their oxygen supply had been cut![/quote]

I have the 1900 house on DVD and loved it. I also bought the series on the Victorian/Edwardian farm and one set in the 1600's with Ruth Goodman..I love watching them. But I'm glad I'm living in this century!

Bec :)

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Post by DianeL » Sat April 6th, 2013, 10:48 pm

"1900 House" was very interesting, and around the same time on this side of the pond they did "Frontier House" with a load of yuppie families deprived of their McMansions and toys. The big draw with that one was the cheating - though I do recall the 9/11 episode being extremely surreal and a bit devastating. I remember fairly vividly the one family of rich spoiled people who went back to their rambling, gigantic "home" and talked about how the kids lived in one wing and they all never saw one another. Sad, really.


"Hidden Killers" sounds about as compelling to me as all the latest scare stories in the news. There might be some valid info there, but it has the appearance of a lot of puffery too.
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