Source: BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Trial by Laughter – A satirist on trial – so what’s new?
In the early 1800s, a satirical challenge to Royalty, Parliament and the Church went all the way to court. A new play by Nick Newman and Private Eye editor Ian Hislop – modern torch-bearers for free speech – is based on the public trials of William Hone…
In December 1817 the satirist and bookseller William Hone was subjected to three trials on three successive days. He was charged with seditious libel and blasphemy – Hone had dared to attack the Prince Regent and his ally, the Tory government, by parodying the Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments – among other Biblical tracts. In fact, what was on trial was free speech and press freedom – and the cartoonist George Cruikshank was to prove…
Source: BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Trial by Laughter – A satirist on trial – so what’s new?