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Stiff Upper Lip: Do Brits have emotions?

Exploring the stereotype that Brits don鈥檛 show their emotions.

There鈥檚 a well known stereotype that Brits don鈥檛 show their emotions. George Gershwin even composed a song about the famous 鈥楽tiff Upper Lip鈥�.

This week Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson delve into the history of emotions and ask where the British stiff upper lip came from.

We鈥檒l hear how the French Revolution turned Brits against emotion, how the Victorians made repression a virtue, and why everything changed after World War II.

Key Sources
Ian Hislop鈥檚 Stiff Upper Lip: An Emotional History of Britain, 麻豆社 Two
Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears, Prof Thomas Dixon
History of Emotions Blog, Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions
Prof Julie-Marie Strange

Release date:

11 months left to watch

34 minutes

Download the podcast on 麻豆社 Sounds

Download the podcast on 麻豆社 Sounds

Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson reveal the historical roots of everyday life.