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Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets
- Written by: Stephen Fry, John Woolf, Nick Baker
- Podcast
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Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets
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Summary
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Oct 18 201844 minsAdd to cart failed.
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Oct 18 201837 minsAdd to cart failed.
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Oct 18 201834 minsAdd to cart failed.
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What listeners say about Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-09-22
A scandalously entertaining listen
Well made, informative and rather spicy. A must listen who enjoy history for the drama. The narration creates the image of the scene wonderfully. And yes, of course, Stephen Fry.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Matthew Henry
- 11-03-21
Interesting
Ignore the guy complaining about the piano background music. It's totally fine. :-) I learned some things and Stephen Fry is great as always. Well worth a listen.
24 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-09-20
Please remove the horrible music
The awful piano background music sadly makes these very interesting and beautifully narrated stories unlistenable. Can't go on listening, it's too irritating.
19 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- P. Schroeder
- 06-10-20
Informative and Fun
This series was fun, insightful, and engrossing. I listened to all 12 episodes within 24hrs and wish there were more.
15 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dinah jolie
- 21-03-21
Absolutely Smitten!
I agree with Mathew Henry’s assertion to respectfully disregard the prior complaint about the background piano music...I found it atmospheric in the most unobtrusive way.
Stephen Fry’s storytelling prowess is quite legendary! An added bonus is the regular appearance of guest experts who add richness and flavor to each episode. Victorian Secrets shines an humorous, sometimes shocking, cross cultural spotlight on the people, places, and stories unique to the Victorian era whose existence have been denied historically in mainstream media and academia. I appreciate the inclusion of primary historical resources like personal diaries. I also love that the performances given by the voice actresses and actors never feel forced and caricature-like.
You will laugh, wince, cry, and contemplate throughout. You will be compelled to perform multiple Google searches to further enrich your self-education of Victorian his and her-story. While this podcast may not feel appropriate for children under the age of 12, I feel caregivers are ultimately responsible for deciding their child’s maturity and comfort level with subjects like sexual identity, death, mental illness, human anatomy, mythology, pornography, and political scandal. Used as a learning tool and with responsible adult “supervision”, each episode holds the power to catalyze important conversations between adult caregiver and child about class, sex, race, discrimination, diversity, disease, innovation, abuse, empowerment, and disenfranchisement.
I look forward to learning more about the Victorian era as well as listening to more of Stephen Fry’s creative content. Cheers and thanks for reading!
13 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Candice C
- 28-10-20
Well Done!
I loved everything about this production. This is a perfect one for a road trip with your spouse. Don’t have the kids tuning in though.
9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jenny
- 05-03-21
Fun, enlightening, and well narrated
I was excited to see Stephen Fry narrating something new because I’ve liked everything he has read aloud. The pacing of this series was engaging, making each episode seem to quickly go by. The added theatrics (music, additional voice actors, sound effects) were fun, and they were used in the right quantities to spice up the podcast without being annoying. The information was interesting and well delivered. I often shared the details I’d learned from the podcast with friends and family, and they were entertained and interested in the bits of new knowledge about the era. Overall, this was fun, entertaining, engaging, and quick.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Valérie
- 09-02-21
Quite Enjoyable
I'm starting to think that Stephen Fry is incapable of being dull, These episodes are all interesting, enjoyable and quite informative.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicole Steinmetz
- 06-11-20
Very entertaining!
Over the course of two days, I listened to this wonderful podcast series. It served as a good stepping point for me to learn about Victorian era England, a new obsession of mine now. I wish they would do a second series!
4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Callandra
- 14-10-21
excellent, as to be expected from Fry
As per usual, Stephen Fry's offerings were entertaining and informative. Looking forward to listening to the follow-up Edwardian series.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Heather Hyink
- 17-10-21
Simply Brilliant
I have listened to this production right the way through at least 5x. Highly entertaining and educational. Thought and conversation provoking. Well done.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- C Dale
- 14-11-18
Distracting music.
I found this book impossible to listen to. The incredibly annoying, distracting, all pervasive piano music throughout the readings by Mr Fry completely destroyed the listening experience for me. Such a shame, because I really enjoy his narration.
122 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ElizabethLovick
- 14-12-18
Ruined by the intrusive musak
Stephen Fry was brilliant. The historians were brilliant. The subject matter was brilliant.
But.
The music "behind" the speech was so loud that there were times when I could not hear what the interviewees were saying. As a result, listening to this was not relaxing, but hard work. Such a shame.
104 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Simon
- 21-10-18
The Quintessential Englishman!
Well, well, Stephen Fry appearing in Victoria(sic) Secret! Now there's an image to conjure with . . . though I am sure that even Stephen himself would agree that it's maybe not one to conjure with too long! He really is an absolute star on Audible and this is another fine series that he's helped bring to life with his narrating talents.
To suggest that the quality of this offering is based on Fry alone would be to do it a massive disservice though. This is a fascinating part of both British and world history and it's explored with a genuine relish for the subject. I was a little perturbed at first at how much the program seemed to be relying on expert contribution from US Universities but the subjects had global reach and the quality of the insight offered was excellent.
Never falling into the trap of glorifying or just simply titillating this is a very wry adult look at some of the quirkiest and at times darkest of aspects of Victorian life.
83 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maz
- 12-03-19
Please remove the piano background
The piano is like chinese water torture - I can practically guarantee whoever added it did not sit and listen for long enough to understand its negative impact. Stephen Fry is brilliant as usual and makes the subject interesting but it is difficult to listen for very long.
65 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jake
- 23-10-18
Fantastic book!
That was highly entertaining and insightful look at Victorian England! Stephen Fry was as usual brilliant and you could hear his passion and intrigue come across within his narration. I very much recommend this book, it is a great listen. It is also free.
35 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Z.
- 02-06-20
UNNECESSARY BACKGROUND MUSIC.
I detest talking programs with music in the background. To me is pointless , unnecessary , distracting and irritating .
27 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Chris H
- 29-01-20
Why the infernal background music?
The topic and delivery of this podcast are wonderful (I assume). I can only assume this as I was forced to stop halfway through thr first due to that intrusive, annoying and unnecessary background piano music. We have the intelligence to listen to something without being continually prompted that tension or focus is necessary.
Why ruin a potentially first rate podcast?
22 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MissusWarren
- 26-10-18
Fascinating look at our not too distant past
Beautifully performed, as always by Mr Fry, but also an excellent supporting cast; telling an intriguing, fascinating history of Victorian life, from the perspective of "secrets". Thoroughly recommend and wondering how folks in a couple of hundred years time would look at our society today!... So fascinating to realise - as is often the case when you study history - how you can draw the threads of the past into how we have turned out today.
19 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Nelliev
- 05-11-18
Really looked forward to this, but then.....
What is it with the piano in the background? I tried to ignore it, because this looked to be very interesting, but try as I might, I couldn't, and it became so intrusive that I found I wasn't actually listening to what was being said! Such a shame.
If there were to be a version without the tinkly annoying piano notes, I wouldn't hesitate to give it another try...
16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anastacia
- 21-10-18
Absolutely Brilliant !!!
Narrated by Stephen Fry's amazing wit and humour. A fascinating and surprising journey through Victorian Britain that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about our buttoned up, stiff upper lipped, bustle bottomed ancestors. Utterly brilliant !!!
13 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- bridget Huolohan
- 28-11-18
Love this!
Eclectic group of scenarios, stories and topics read entertainingly by Stephen Fry and a handful of actors. Very entertaining!!
9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-05-19
Very interesting
Loved listening to such interesting and never heard of facts about the people and, somewhat, strange events in the Victorian era. As always, it's fantastic to listen to Stephen Fry's amazing voice.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AM
- 12-04-19
Great stories.
Easy to listen to and fascinating yarns. Fry is a wonderful story teller. I recommend.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 19-02-19
top notch
factually fabulous and and characteristically charming. binged the whole thing and I loved it completely.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Nic
- 28-05-20
won't down load, always gives error message
I have no idea about this book as it won't down load, always gives an error message that it can't download. No matter what I do I can't delete the file, it keeps coming back like a bad case of herpes.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dazzlingdiamonde
- 21-06-19
Very interesting telling of historical occurance.
Love Stephen Fry's narration plus the other narrators included. Also nice to hear from historians and have facts represented.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pat Feige
- 14-03-19
Good insight into this era
excellent.insight in to Victorian England and abroad. Well narrated by Stephan Fry. would like to see more installments
1 person found this helpful
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Overallout of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-01-23
An entertaining look into Victorian history
Really enjoyed learning quirks of Victorian times... some funny, others more shocking.
Great interviews and performances
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jasmine joy
- 21-01-23
Loved it!
Soooo interesting and soooo well narrated. The actor’s were brilliant and the experts were great. I would highly recommend this. Going to start listening to the next one in the series now.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 28-12-22
good
I think the story was good I really like this I really love it thanks