Enjoy the tea!
April 30, 2022

Society and Scandal: Introductory Episode

Society and Scandal: Introductory Episode

Hi everyone! This is “Society and Scandal: Spilling the Tea on the Regency Era,” the podcast that tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Opera Dancers, Debts of Honour, the Marriage Mart, and more. I’m your host, Summer. 

First of all, I just want to say thank you for taking a moment to listen to this podcast. This is a big passion project of mine, because I’m really interested in history, especially how people lived their day-to-day lives, and ESPECIALLY anything to do with the Regency period.

I have all these books written by and about Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, and  books on Regency England. I’m a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America and I read their literary journal "Persuasions," and basically I will talk to anyone who will listen to me about the Regency period. But I wanted to share my knowledge with an audience who actually cares, and not just continue to force this information on my dear, patient friends. And I’m assuming if you’ve found this podcast, you care, at least a little bit. So yay! I’m SO excited to finally share all my Regency knowledge with y’all.

And you don’t have to be a big Regency nerd like me to appreciate the stuff I’m going to talk about. So, for example, if you’ve been watching Bridgerton and some of the Regency cant expressions - that means slang - are going over your head, you’re not sure what “Diamond of the First Water” means, exactly, or why an opera singer is only fit to be a mistress for a gentleman, and not a wife, but if you’re interested in all that, then this podcast is for you.

Or if you just love history, or hearing about high society and scandal, or, on the other hand, if you’re more interested in the day-to-day life for people in the past, not just the “ton” or the upper crust, but the middle class and the poor, well, I’m going to get into all that, too. 

And while regular episodes will focus mainly on the Regency period, I will get a little into other time periods in the minisode episodes.

So, speaking of that, here’s a quick outline of what I’m going to be doing. Regular episodes are not probably going to be maybe 30 minutes long, tops. Each episode will have a topic that it will be centered around. Upcoming topics include regency fashion, the highest and loftiest of regency high society, the marriage mart and matchmaking mamas, and what life was like for the not-so-fashionable: your Cyprians (a.k.a. sex workers), servants, and the working poor of Regency England.

Minisodes will be probably be a little shorter, and will include a few different segments. For example, we’ve got:

  1. “Historical Burn Book” - a look into historical scandals, from all time periods.
  2. “Ok, Can we talk about…?” Thoughts on period TV like Bridgerton, The Gilded Age, etc., or historical-themed games I like, like Obsession (which has you playing as a family in Victorian England trying to move up in society) or the game Marrying Mr. Darcy, or, you know, whatever I want to talk about, I mean, this is MY podcast, right?)
  3. And the "Regency Word of the Day." It was fashionable for gentlemen to use cant, or slang, that they got from the lower classes. So if you want to be a fashionable gentleman OR a scandalous lady, you can learn to talk regency cant with this segment.

Episodes 1-3 and minisode 1 all dropping all at once, so you should have plenty to get you started. This will be in August 2024. After this launch, my regular posting schedule will be every other week, on Tuesday mornings.

That’s it. I just want to say thank you for trying this podcast out, and please please please if you go ahead and listen to some episodes, and you enjoy it, rate and review me on Apple Podcasts, it’s the number one way to show your support and make sure my passion project gets some traction!

Also, subscribe to me on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share episodes, talk to your friends and your followers about it if you like the podcast, and reach out to me on social or via email to tell me what you think, if you completely disagree with my thoughts on something, think I’m right, or you know, think I’m brilliant, I’d love to hear that.

To reach out on social to keep up-to-date on new episodes and what’s going on AND see some silly historical memes:

Follow me on Instagram at @societyandscandal

Facebook at @societyandscandal

Twitter at @regencypod

TikTok at @societyandscandal

If you want to email me to suggest a topic or to just say hi, my email is societyandscandal@gmail.com.

Thanks again, y’all, and if you could rate and review this podcast on Apple, it would mean so so so much to me. Thanks, and enjoy the tea.