Hidden Killers

From the food they ate to the clothes they wore, the Victorians were surrounding themselves with killers. What made taking a bath and drinking milk potentially so dangerous? And how did the Victorian woman turn herself into a walking fire hazard?

It was a great age of exploration and science where adventurers returned from the New World with exotic goods previously unknown in Europe. An era in which the newly emergent middle classes had, for the first time, money for luxuries and early consumer goods, many of which contained hidden dangers.

Dr Suzannah Lipscomb takes us back to an age when asbestos socks and radio-active toothpaste were welcomed into British homes. She reveals how their lethal qualities were discovered and why some of us are still living with the consequences of our Edwardian forbears' enthusiasm for untried and untested products.

It was a great age of exploration and science where adventurers returned from the New World with exotic goods previously unknown in Europe. An era in which the newly emergent middle classes had, for the first time, money for luxuries and early consumer goods, many of which contained hidden dangers.

In the 1950s, people embraced modern design for the first time after years of austerity and self-denial. The modern home featured molded plywood furniture, fiberglass, plastics and polyester - materials and technologies that were developed during World War II, but may not be as wonderful as they seem.