HistoryExtra podcast Terrible puns and filthy limericks: the Victorian sense of humour
Feb 13, 2026
Bob Nicholson, a lecturer in 19th-century history who studies Victorian culture and humour, explores the era’s love of puns, conundrum contests and punny prestige. He delves into censored bodily jokes, private risqué limericks like those in The Pearl, early comic performances and how jokes spread across the Atlantic. Short, surprising stories reveal how Victorians laughed in public and behind closed doors.
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Punning As Popular Puzzle
- Victorians loved puns and wordplay to a degree that seems torturous to modern ears.
- They treated many puns as puzzles called conundrums and enjoyed solving them socially.
Professor Anderson’s Conundrum Nights
- A touring magician, Professor Anderson, ended shows with large conundrum competitions judged by local gentlemen.
- Winners received prizes and local papers published the best puns, raising social prestige.
Respectability Shaped The Record
- Public Victorian print culture edited out bodily and sexual humour, unlike 18th-century satire.
- This censoring shaped the modern image of Victorians as prudish despite private crude humour existing.