Showing results by author "Alice Loxton" in All Categories

London, 1772: a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy backstreets of the capital, on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Within a few years, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment, and forever changing the way we view power. Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, UPROAR! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power.

In this unconventional and witty history, award-winning writer and broadcaster, Alice Loxton, delves into Britain’s past, exploring the country though eighteen notable figures at this formative age. From a young Empress Matilda, already changing the fate of nations, to Richard Burton, the rugby-obsessed teenager who grew up in a Welsh mining town, each journey unpicks a different era of Britain. Irreverent and full of fascinating tidbits, Loxton shows how the way a society treats its young, reveals much about its values and foibles.