SHOW NOTES for EPISODE 21 (Season Six)

(Sept. 27, 2026)

For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see ⁠⁠pennydread.com/discord.⁠⁠

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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!

Penny Dreadful is a weekly show that cycles through four themes each month. This is the TWOPENNY TORRIDS-theme show. It will be followed by ...

• The “Sixpenny Spookies” theme episode, coming next Sunday;
• The “Graanum Gothics” theme episode, coming two Sundays hence; and finally —
• The “Ha'penny Horrors” theme episode, coming three Sundays from now.

Then we’ll be right back around to the “Twopenny Torrids” again, for the fourth Sunday of next month!

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IN TODAY'S "TWOPENNY TORRIDS" EPISODE:

• 01:55: STREET POETRY: From a broadside ballad: “Sweet Betty of Billingsgate,” a short and very sweet love ballad. (1805).
• 04:00: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 91-95: In which we find Dick in London, staying with old Matthew Gale at the White Horse Inn in Drury-lane. Matthew has connected him with an old costumier who once worked for the theatre there, and the costumier proceeds to utterly transform Dick into an aged country farmer. His plan is to use this disguise to actually go into Newgate Prison, visit Tom King, and slip him something that will help him escape from custody. So, how will that work? We’ll see …
• 50:30: STREET POETRY: An 1845 broadside ballad: “Is Your Rhubarb Up?” — a rather spicy little bit of street verse about sex. If you have ever seen a rhubarb plant just sprouting from the garden soil, you’ll understand the reference immediately.
• 53:10: INTRODUCING MISS DAVIS: One of the “ladies of the evening” listed and described in Harris’s List of Covent-garden Ladies, a directory for bucks and bloods out on the town in the early 1800s.
• 56:50: A RATHER NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONG: "Jenny’s Sweet Dream” (about an innocent maiden’s not-so-innocent subconscious mind, which serves her up a rather detailed dream likely involving someone played by Colin Firth circa 1995!)
• 1:01:00: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker" by Martin Merryman, Esq. These are not very good today, certainly nothing anywhere near the level of last month’s “coal drop’t from your warming-pan” banger.

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• LOTHARIOS: (from intro) Rakish young men on the make, would-be seducers.
• MACE COVES: (ibid) Con artists.
• KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD: (ibid) Highway robbers.
• SKY PARLOUR: (ibid) A garret or attic room.
• CORINTHIAN FINN (ibid): This nickname is a reference to Corinthian Tom, the rakish hero of Pierce Egan’s Life in London; or, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom (1821) and the original Tom of “Tom and Jerry” fame. A “Corinthian” was a sporting man of rank and fashion.
• CYPRIANS: (From the introduction to Hostess Miss Davis) Ladies of easy virtue, a classical reference to the island of Cyprus, supposedly peopled with sexually frisky ladies.
• SPORTING THEIR BLUNT: (ibid) Throwing money around.
• JACKY: (ibid) Gin.
• SLUICE YOUR IVORIES: (ibid) Take a big drink.
• MORRIS OFF: (from outro) Run away at top speed.
• BEAKS ON THE NOSE: (ibid) Police detectives or magistrates on an investigation.
• BLOWINGS: (ibid) Ladies of the evening.
• WATER-PADS: (ibid) Thieves who work on the river, also known as ack pirates.
• RUM GAGGERS: (ibid) Crooks who tell crazy stories about misadventures to beg.
• CROSS-CRIB: (ibid) Thieves’ house.
• 18th BARON DUNWICH (ibid): A fictional title, adopted as a nod to Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (Lord Dunsany) and a reference to “The Dunwich Horror” by H.P. Lovecraft.

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!

This show cycles through four themes over a month-long cycle, one show per week. As today is the first Sunday of the month, this is the HA’PENNY HORRIDS theme show, featuring a few chapters of SWEENEY TODD, a true-crime story or two from the Penny Dreadful era, and various other grisly tidbits. Next week, the theme changes:

• Next Sunday will be a “Twopenny Torrids” theme episode — as always on the fourth Sunday of the month;
• The “Sixpenny Spookies” theme episode comes out two weeks from now, on the first Sunday of the month; and finally—
• The “Graanum-gold Gothics” theme episode is scheduled for the second Sunday of next month.

Then we’ll be right back around to the “Ha’penny Horrids” again, for the third Sunday of next month!

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For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see ⁠⁠pennydread.com/discord.⁠⁠

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IN TODAY'S "HA’PENNY HORRORS" EPISODE:

• 01:50: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY: It was 440 years ago today, on September 20, 1586, that Sir Anthony Babington was hanged, drawn and quartered for conspiring to murder Queen Elizabeth so that Mary Queen of Scots could take her throne. This was the conspiracy that led to Mary’s assassination as well.
• 09:25: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chaptes 114-115: “Charley Green” leaves the shop as instructed, but then stops and peeps through the window to watch developments. Todd, after learning from the “farmer” that he is in London alone and no one at the inn he’s staying in knows he’s going to be shaved, gets excited and goes into the other room to get a “keener razor.” The moment the door closes, the “farmer” jumps out of the chair. He waits and watches as it rotates, bringing a matching chair up from under the floor; then he hops back into the chair and waits for Todd to come out…. To say that Todd is surprised to see him there, in the chair, face still lathered up, would be understating things a bit!
• 38:40: HORRID BROADSIDE: “The Esher Tragedy: Six Children Murdered by their Mother.” (1854) Mary Ann Brough, the woman who had been Prince Edward’s wet nurse, snapped and murdered her six children with her husband’s razor.
• 45:10: YE OLDE MURDERER’S ROOST: A true-crime tale drawn from the colorful history of old England. Today, it’s the story of George Price, a flashy manservant who found himself in a great position to move in on a wealthy widow … only problem was, he was already married. But, of course, that was nothing a little late-night wife-murder couldn’t fix …

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• MILLERS: (from intro patter) Prizefighters.
• LADYBIRDS: (ibid) Socially flighty or promiscuous ladies.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BLADE: (ibid) Swaggering companions who are boastful of their prowess and may also claim a military rank — Captain, Major, Colonel — that they don’t really have a right to.
• FLASH OF LIGHTNING: (ibid) Glass of gin.
• SCRAGGED: (from Hanged Today) Executed by hanging.
• IN QUOD: (ibid) In gaol or prison.
• KNOWING CARDS: (from outro patter) Clever fellows who are not easily tricked.
• DING BOYS: (ibid) Rogue, knave, or sly fellow.
• VIRTUE REWARDED: (ibid) Nabbed by law enforcement or sentenced by a magistrate.
• JOCK GAGGERS: (ibid) Men who live on their romantic partners’ prostitution proceeds.
• COCK-CHAFERS: (ibid) Prostitutes.
• TRULLS: (ibid) Low-end prostitutes.
• NUNNERY: (ibid) A brothel.
• 18th BARON DUNWICH (ibid): A fictional title, adopted as a nod to Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (Lord Dunsany) and a reference to “The Dunwich Horror” by H.P. Lovecraft.

There are more! But we're out of space. For the complete glossary of flash-cant terms, plus art for various show elements, see ⁠pennydread.com/discord⁠.