Record Number: 12679

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'At Wormwood Scrubs I lent a work on Henry VIII to a jewel thief. When he returned it, he remarked that he had enjoyed it very much and, if I had another similar book, he would like to read it. As he did not strike me as being the type of man to take so keen an interest in history as his praise of the book seemed to imply, I asked him what aspects of Henry the Eight had aroused his interest. He replied that it was Henry's penchant for women that had intrigued him. Only he didn't put it quite like that. What he really said was something like this: "Gor blimey! Wasn't 'e a b- (son of a bachelor) for wimmin! Tork abaht us blokes bein' 'at stuff, why the b- had a bleedin' 'Arem! Them kings, and blokes like 'im, were the dirtiest lot of b-'s I've ever read abaht. Tork abaht Marie Monk! Why there ain't a bloke in this nick, or Dartmoor, or Pankhurst, as is a quarter as bad as these blokes yer reads abaht in 'istory!"'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

unknown

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

specific address: Wormwood Scrubs
other location: in prison

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

anon

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Labourer (non-agricultural)

Occupation:

jewel thief

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[unknown]

Title:

[Henry VIII]

Genre:

History

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12679

Source:

Print

Author:

Stuart Wood

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1932

Vol:

n/a

Page:

147

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Stuart Wood, Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir, (London, 1932), p. 147, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12679, accessed: 27 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

None