The Worst Jobs
in History
A
series of 6 programmes shown on Channel 4 between 28th
August and 2nd October 2004. Covering the Worst Jobs
in History from the Dark ages to the Victorians.
For a lot more information on the series see the
Channel 4 website: Worst Jobs
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There is also a book accompanying the series:
“Tony Robinson has set out to investigate life in the underbelly
of History.
Whether it's swilling out the crotch of a
knight's soiled armour after the battle of Agincourt, risking
his neck on a bleak cliff collecting guillemont eggs or as
'Groom of the Stool' going to places where none of Henry VIII's
six wives would venture - Tony endures it all to get to the
bottom (quite literally) of the story.
Covering the Roman invasion to the reign of Queen
Victoria, Tony seeks out the worst jobs of each era. The very
names, ‘Powder Monkey’ ‘Seeker of the Dead’ and Spit Boy
underline the fact that the past is a different and fairly
disgusting country. The Gunpowder Plot draws Tony to the role of
the ‘Saltpetre man’ who collected human waste for its nitrate
content to turn into gunpowder.
In the same vein, he looks at some of the worst jobs behind the
building of the great medieval cathedrals and at the dire
conditions on Nelson's Victory where the most common form of
retirement was being sewn into your hammock with a couple of
cannon balls and dropped over the side. Then there's the impact
of the Industrial Revolution, a source of wealth and power for
the few, but a cornucopia of lousy jobs for the many.
Richly illustrated with artwork, photographs and diagrams, The
Worst Jobs in History really gets into the grime of how life was
for ordinary people and shows how society would literally have
ground to a halt without them. By turns disgusting, dangerous,
painful, exhausting and humiliating, or a combination of them
all, Tony Robinson brings Gong Scourers, Pure collectors and
Resurrection Men blinking into the limelight to provide a vivid
and alternative history of Britain”
Don’t forget that Tony is also taking the worst
jobs on the road :
For more information and tickets please see:
www.mickperrin.com
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