UK Edition
University seeks 'joke detectives' to unearth Victorian humour
The image of a po-faced Queen Victoria responding to a risqué joke with the words "we are not amused" has cast that whole era in a rather stuffy light.
In fact, the Victorians loved humour – well, what passed for humour in the days of horses and carts – and Queen Vic even told her grand-daughter, Princess Alice, that she enjoyed a laugh and never in fact uttered those words.
Edge Hill University’s Dr Bob Nicholson is recruiting a team of volunteer "joke detectives", using digitized books and newspapers held by the British Library in search of historical humour.
Nicholson, a lecturer in Victorian popular culture, will present the project at Harvard University in America next week. He says: "When it comes to humour, our ancestors don’t have a sparkling reputation. But far from being humourless, it turns out that the Victorians were prolific joke writers. Some of them, dare I say it, were even quite funny."
Mahendra Mahey from The British Library says they want to help revive a forgotten part of Britain's history. He said: "Dr Nicholson's idea of creating comic strips by putting the Victorian jokes together with our digitised images from that era was really interesting. What we like about Bob’s project is that it has helped the Library understand how to utilise online communities to help us locate and catalogue culturally significant information that otherwise may have been forever lost."
Some of the jokes are being shared using the hashtag #VictorianJokes.
Judge for yourself how side-splitting you find Victorian humour. They liked puns, as in the popular joke:
What's the difference between Joan of Arc and a canoe? Answer: One is Maid of Orleans and the other is made of wood.
In 2007, a book of 200 jokes used by Victorian circus entertainer Thomas Lawrence was discovered. It is believed to have formed the basis of Bob Monkhouse's act.
Victorian comedians also used mime and liked to play clowns. One of Lawrence's regular "jokes" was about marriage. He would point at a single man in the audience and say: "There's nothing to be frightened at. Surely it is only like bathing in cold water: one plunge and it's all over."
Another example of a Victorian joke is:
"Bad husbands are like bad coals – they smoke, they go out, and they don't keep the pot boiling."
How much has comedy changed? Well, in the 19th century women, lazy policeman and obese people were the subject of jokes. And nowadays . . .
If you want you need some modern wit to refresh you, try our 100 best jokes by 100 comedians.