5.06: Mrs. Lovett vents her fury on Sweeney Todd! — The exploits of the original “gentleman highway robber.” — Hanged for murder, then handed over to the Reanimation Lab! cover art

5.06: Mrs. Lovett vents her fury on Sweeney Todd! — The exploits of the original “gentleman highway robber.” — Hanged for murder, then handed over to the Reanimation Lab!

5.06: Mrs. Lovett vents her fury on Sweeney Todd! — The exploits of the original “gentleman highway robber.” — Hanged for murder, then handed over to the Reanimation Lab!

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS":01:10: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY: Convicted of murder, George Foster was hanged 223 years ago today … and then handed over to the Regency equivalent of Herbert West, Reanimator. (More info from executedtoday.com) (With art, posted on Discord.)09:50: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 81-82: Upon hearing that Sweeney Todd has withdrawn all the money, Mrs. Lovett, of course, flies into a rage, and Mr. Brown narrowly escapes getting beaned with a heavy inkstand. Then she storms out of the building, into the hackney-coach (which she almost forgot she’d hired) and has the jarvey bring her to Fleet-street. Full of rage, she storms into Sweeney Todd’s shop ready for a fight … how do you think Sweeney Todd will handle this? (Art on ⁠Discord⁠.)36:30: BROADSIDE BALLAD: A lament from a maiden in love with a young man who’s decided to enter the priesthood, and the ballad of a maid betrayed and her disconsolate lover joining her in the grave. (Art on ⁠Discord⁠.)42:15: LIVES OF THE HIGHWAYMEN: Stories of the men and women who made the Romantic Age spicy! Meet Claude DuVal, the original sharp-dressed “gentleman robber of the high road.” (More info from stand-and-deliver.com.org.uk) (Art on ⁠Discord⁠.)PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS":51:30: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 48: Turpin and King make their way south through the woods, hoping to reach the sea, from which, if things are too hot, they hope to slip away to the Continent to lie low. After a lengthy bushwhack, they emerge on a hillside overlooking the Channel and drink in the beauty of the scene. The centerpiece of it is a great Gothic mansion alone on a promontory surrounded by chestnut trees. Tom knows there’s a story about that mansion — a sinister mystery connected with it … 1:09:25: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: What happens when a gifted Romantic-Age poet comes across a love letter from a sailor’s lass to her briny beau? High art, that’s what! (Art on ⁠Discord⁠.)1:14:25: A RATHER NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONG: "Jack Junk On Board of Molly Brown” — it’s actually not what you probably think from that title!1:19:40: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker."GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:CROSS-COVES: Swindlers and con artists. HELL CATS: Dangerous ladies who hang out in gambling hells. KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home. CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on. BEAKS: Magistrates. LAMBSKIN MEN: Judges. CULLS: Contemptible men. TRAINOR: Member of a trainband. TRAINBAND: A home-guard neighborhood militia of the 1600s and 1700s. HALF-PAY: Navy officers got put on half-pay when the Navy was not using their services. It was well known that most officers on half-pay were low-quality men who for social reasons could not be fired; so the idea of a captain on half-pay having “ships at sea” was a joke contemporary readers would have understood. PINS: Legs, here being punned on “bowling pins” given that bowling balls and cannonballs are rather similar in form and weight. PIKE OFF: To run away at top speed. FLATS: Suckers. SPOONEYS: Slow, stupid fellows. FLY TO: Wised-up about, aware of.FAKEMENT: Plot or scheme.MAUNDERS: Beggars. NIMMERS: Thieves of the lowest order. THE HOLY LAND: St. Giles Parish. The joke is that St. Giles was the Patron Saint of Thieves because if so, his parish was thoroughly infested with his acolytes. There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-5-episodes" thread.
No reviews yet
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.