1970: VICTORIAN TEENAGERS reminisce | Yesterday's Witness | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

What was it like to be a teenager in the Victorian era? Two women, now in their 90's, talk about their younger days in the 1890s. Frances 'Effy' Jones - one of the first women to be trained to use a typewriter, and to take up cycling as a hobby - recalls the life of a young working woman in London. Berta Ruck, a romantic novelist, remembers her formative years at art school, and the culture shock she experienced after moving from her secluded home in rural Wales to the muddy hustle and bustle in the heart of Victorian London.

Together they provide a fascinating oral history of 1890s England.

This clip is from Yesterday's Witness: Two Victorian Girls, originally broadcast 8 June, 1970.




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