
My Love Letter Time Machine - Victorian History
Shortlisted for the International Women's Podcast Awards 2024, 2023 + 2022, and the Independent Podcast Awards 2023. "Ingrid Birchell Hughes presents a charming take on family history via the love letters of her great-great-grandparents Fred and Jane, who exchanged 200 of them between their meeting and their marriage in Victorian Yorkshire. It’s a terrific insight into the lives of two witty working-class people and the times they lived in." — The Times. This is a true story, a love story, a family drama, all contained within Victorian social history. Ingrid has both sides (extremely rare) of a correspondence spanning 1878 to 1882 that her great great grandparents sent one another. They were ordinary folk, trying to make their way in the world, first in the city of Sheffield and later in the town of Middlesbrough. There is a whole 'cast' of characters too from Fred's industrial innovator of a boss who advanced the steel making process - and took Fred with him, to Jane's sister Emma, who had her life splashed across the newspapers through no fault of her own. Against the background of the dramas going around them, Fred and Jane overcame family objection to their match and through their own will and determination, made a new life together.
Episodes
Q&A Bonus Episode (Season 5, + Janie's story returning soon)

...till death do us part.

Happily Ever After...

Krakatoa (75th Episode!)

Mr & Mrs Fred Shepherd

“I Fred Shepherd, take thee Jane Warburton”

"My darling our letters will soon be closed"

Phone upgrades in Victorian Britain

Collars and cuffs and other stuff

Gout, Guests, and a Grumpy Groom

The Groomsman Confusion

The Bridesmaid Proliferation Problem

"There must be no bustles or crinolettes!"

Janie’s Dad's cricket match of 1843 (Bonus episode)

Q&A Bonus Episode (Season 4)

Knives and Forks, and The Cutlers' Feast

Handsworth Feast and Flower Show

Fred almost falls to his death...

Emma flies into a drunken rage

A family day at the seaside - Victorian Style

Baskets and Wotnots

Matrimonial Superstitions

Guns and Posies

Polly finally snaps at Emma's behaviour

Penny Gaffs, Parks, and Parenthood
