A History of Private Life

Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series. The hierarchy within the home was supposed to reflect the well-ordered society outside it. That was the theory, anyway. But what do letters and diaries from the 16th and 17th centuries tell us about who was really in charge? Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak. Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard. A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.