Rude valentines

The theme of this 45 minute episode of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking radio show, broadcast on 14 February 2017, is drawn from my research into insulting valentine's cards of the nineteenth century. The arts and culture programme, presented by Rana Mitter, began with historic insults traded between myself and Edmund Richardson, classical scholar and 2016-17 New Generation Thinker, and developed conversations around the origins of Valentine's Day in the early Christian church and the residual carnivalesque practices seen in manufactured insult cards of 150 years ago. Other guests included the author Neil Gaiman on the subject of Norse myths, and Craig Clunas on the history of Chinese painting and its audiences. The programme was accompanied by a BBC Radio 3 online gallery of insulting valentine's cards, with selections, narrative and captions by Annebella Pollen.