The Victorian Talk Show

Professor Martin Hewitt - who is Dean of the University’s School of Music Humanities and Media – explores the importance of the celebrity lecture as a recreational activity in the nineteenth century.

At many late Victorian Mechanics’ Institutes, popular lecture courses, often featuring a galaxy of contemporary stars such as politicians, writers, intellectuals, explorers and artists, became their most prominent feature. This is a neglected part of the story of the growth of the entertainment industry and its celebrity culture.

However, Huddersfield Mechanics’ Institute actually gave less prominence to celebrity lectures than institutes in Bradford, Wakefield and Halifax and Prof Hewitt believed this could help explain its successful growth into Technical School and eventually to University.

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