The House of Byron: Scandal, Fall and the Rise to Celebrity

17.00 – 17.50

Sunday 11th April

This is an online event hosted on the British Library platform. Bookers will be sent a link in advance giving access and will be able to watch at any time for 48 hours after the start time.

Poet Lord Byron has been called the first modern celebrity, renowned in his day for his striking good looks, fierce intellect, heroic adventures and string of scandalous love affairs. But as historian Emily Brand explores at this event and in in her new book The Fall of the House of Byron: Scandal and Seduction in Georgian England the family he was born into had become known for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety, from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea. Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons – and the myths that began to rise around it – would his influence his life and poetry for posterity. Historian and broadcaster Greg Jenner joins Emily to place Byron in the wider context of the culture of fame. His new book is Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity. The event is chaired by historian and broadcaster Professor Kate Williams.

Ticket Information

Individual Ticket: £5

HistFest Sunday Pass: £15

HistFest Weekend Pass: £25

This event is kindly supported by History Hit

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