About this episode

The episode explores the evolution of nightlife from the 17th century to the present, discussing its cultural significance and the impact of technology.

Mass commercial nightlife began in a Japanese Pleasure Garden in 1657 and it’s blossomed ever since – via Victorian Vauxhall, cabaret Paris, jazz-driven New Orleans, flappers, speakeasies, moonshine, Studio 54 and the rave palaces of the 21st Century. Imogen Willetts tracks its riotous evolution in ‘Up All Night: A History of Going Out’ and wonders if the invention of the iPhone has burst the balloon. She talks to us here about …   ... the Tango, the Can-Can: dances that got you arrested   … how bourgeois French ‘slummers’ found a taste of danger   … the heady allure in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens as an escape from Victorian squalor   … how Anita Berber’s chloroform ballet shocked and delighted Weimar Berlin   … when dancing was a mating ritual and the impact of Dating Apps     … democracy on the dancefloor: the unrepeatable mix of punters and celebrities at Studio 54   … and how the invention of the electric light got people going out and the iPhone made them stay home   Order ‘Up All Night’ here: https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/imogen-willetts/up-all-night/9781399617093/ Help us to keep The Longest Continuous…

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