Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
Artwork

Content provided by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee, and Jonty Claypole. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee, and Jonty Claypole or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

A Date With Signor Gonorrhea: James Boswell's London Journal 1762

1:20:57
 
Share
 

Manage episode 493269166 series 3598585
Content provided by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee, and Jonty Claypole. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee, and Jonty Claypole or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

It’s London, 1763 - we're paying a visit to the most fashionable, literary, sexy, filthy, glamorous capital in the world.

The 22 year old James Boswell, born and raised on a large country estate outside Edinburgh, has escaped his ambitious and pushy Presbyterian parents and arrived in London. They want him to follow the family footsteps and become a lawyer. He wants a commission in the guards - which means that he wants to loaf around London in peacetime wearing a smart uniform and getting paid. But more than that, he wants to make a splash – to leave his mark among the great writers and artists of his day.

Boswell will go on to write the "Life of Samuel Johnson," maybe the greatest biography ever written, and the founding text in modern biography. But in 1762 he’s having trouble getting a start on his career. When this journal was discovered hidden away in a house in Aberdeen in the 20th century, the full extent of Boswell’s literary genius was finally understood. The "London Journal" was published to instant notoriety and celebrity, because of Boswell’s tell-all sexual adventures and total frankness about his efforts to make a mark on literature, and his own life.

We see Boswell in company with the most celebrated artists and writers of the day, and we hear about his adventures with his most treasured possession – a reuseable eighteenth-century condom, fabricated from sheeps' intestines.

Books referred to in this episode:

James Boswell, London Journal

James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson

James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

Samuel Johnson, Johnson’s Dictionary

Samuel Johnson, Rasselas

Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets

Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

John Hunter, A Treatise of Venereal Disease

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, the Tatler and The Spectator


-- To join the Secret Life of Books Club visit: www.secretlifeofbooks.org

-- Please support us on Patreon to keep the lights on in the SLoB studio and get bonus content: patreon.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast

-- Follow us on our socials:

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secretlifeofbookspodcast/shorts

insta: https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast/

bluesky: @slobpodcast.bsky.social


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

71 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 493269166 series 3598585
Content provided by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee, and Jonty Claypole. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee, and Jonty Claypole or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

It’s London, 1763 - we're paying a visit to the most fashionable, literary, sexy, filthy, glamorous capital in the world.

The 22 year old James Boswell, born and raised on a large country estate outside Edinburgh, has escaped his ambitious and pushy Presbyterian parents and arrived in London. They want him to follow the family footsteps and become a lawyer. He wants a commission in the guards - which means that he wants to loaf around London in peacetime wearing a smart uniform and getting paid. But more than that, he wants to make a splash – to leave his mark among the great writers and artists of his day.

Boswell will go on to write the "Life of Samuel Johnson," maybe the greatest biography ever written, and the founding text in modern biography. But in 1762 he’s having trouble getting a start on his career. When this journal was discovered hidden away in a house in Aberdeen in the 20th century, the full extent of Boswell’s literary genius was finally understood. The "London Journal" was published to instant notoriety and celebrity, because of Boswell’s tell-all sexual adventures and total frankness about his efforts to make a mark on literature, and his own life.

We see Boswell in company with the most celebrated artists and writers of the day, and we hear about his adventures with his most treasured possession – a reuseable eighteenth-century condom, fabricated from sheeps' intestines.

Books referred to in this episode:

James Boswell, London Journal

James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson

James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

Samuel Johnson, Johnson’s Dictionary

Samuel Johnson, Rasselas

Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets

Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

John Hunter, A Treatise of Venereal Disease

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, the Tatler and The Spectator


-- To join the Secret Life of Books Club visit: www.secretlifeofbooks.org

-- Please support us on Patreon to keep the lights on in the SLoB studio and get bonus content: patreon.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast

-- Follow us on our socials:

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secretlifeofbookspodcast/shorts

insta: https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast/

bluesky: @slobpodcast.bsky.social


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

71 episodes

All episodes

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play