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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