In 1877, Annie Besant took the stand. She was on trial for selling an "obscene publication" – a pamphlet designed to educate the masses on birth control. Author Michael Meyer tells Ellie Cawthorne about how this sensational legal case lit a fire under Victorian society, and why the woman at the centre of it decided to represent herself in the courtroom.

(Ad) Michael Meyer is the author of A Dirty, Filthy Book: Sex, Scandal, and One Woman’s Fight in the Victorian Trial of the Century WH Allen, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dirty-Filthy-Book-Victorians-1877-1888/dp/0753559927/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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