Scandal of the Season: Gossip in 18th Century London
1,040 views · Published 25 April 2014 · 48:11 · Indexed 6 November 2026
Channel: GBH Forum Network · 2014 · Education
Sophie Gee discusses her book Scandal of the Season, an erotic, witty drama about life in 18th century London, a time of Jacobite plots and Popish fears that threatened to erupt in political violence. Scandal of the Season is supposedly a fictionalized account of the true story behind Alexander Pope's 1712 poem, "The Rape of the Lock." When Pope composed his satirical epic, he was shining a spotlight on a suspected affair between the British aristocrats Arabella Fermor and Lord Robert Petre, two mainstays of the London scene. The intrigue became common knowledge when Petre publicly cut off a lock of Fermor's hair, providing fodder for gossip writers of the time.
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