The House of Byron: Scandal, Fall and the Rise to Celebrity
Channel: British Library
Date: 2021-05-21

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 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.