The Worst Jobs in History

The Worst Jobs in History

2004, History  -  Playlist 31 Comments
7.44
12345678910
Ratings: 7.44/10 from 27 users.

The Worst Jobs in HistoryIn this series, Tony Robinson sheds light on how a previously unsung army of workers shaped the world as we know it.

First series are concentrated on a different historical period per programme: Roman and Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Tudor, Stuarts, Georgian and Victorian.

There was a one off special called The Worst Christmas Jobs in History.

Second series is concentrated on particular job settings, namely: Urban, Royal, Industrial, Maritime and Rural.

Some of the more repulsive or dangerous jobs included chimney sweep, executioner, leech collector, Plague burier, rat-catcher, leather tanner, gong farmer and sin-eater.

More great documentaries

guest

31 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Emily
Emily
10 years ago

I thought I had the worst job in history. I was wrong.

gaboora
gaboora
10 years ago

This is an informative, funny series. Only once or twice does he loose his tongue in a bad way, and it happened because of fear. I like that he actually tries these worse jobs out and discovers the origins of terms like 'top dog' and 'boogyman.' Watching this may be an avenue to appreciating how well off we really are in the jobs that most of us do.

beYOU
beYOU
11 years ago

I love this show, I laugh my ass off sometimes.

Harriet Leeck
Harriet Leeck
11 years ago

God Almighty
I see the World , melancholy as it may be sometimes...WITH DIFFERENT EYES after THIS

NATURALLY THE DOCUMENTARY DOESN T SHOW MUCH OF THE BACKBREAKING UNDERPAIS AND EXTREMELY CAREERLESS JOBLOAD women HAD TO ENDURE
oN TOP OF BEING RAPWED ,IF UNLUCKY, DYING OF CHILDBIRTH , NOT SO RARE AT ALL...ETC

El_Criticón
El_Criticón
12 years ago

Tony Robinson had the most awful and terrible job of all...Being bled and trying the worm soup??? I could hardly watch the thing...

Matt van den Ham
Matt van den Ham
12 years ago

Being a gold miner would suck, but the other jobs aren't much worse than a lot of the labour jobs of today. I wouldn't mind building a mud house or tending to charcoal....Just look at guys working at indoor garbage dumps these days. They work in the foulest smells, rats, bugs, and often times have to dig around in it and separate the metal, electronics and sometimes wood. Looks at toy factories in China...they work next to burning plastics for 12-15hours a day and 'accommodations' are on site.

S.E.T.H
S.E.T.H
12 years ago

What........no prostitutes?

Angela Velazquez
Angela Velazquez
12 years ago

very interesting and funny doc. it puts things into perspective about how we got to where we are today. more than ever I am glad to have a computer, lots of books and a safe place to live.

Zubair Ahmed
Zubair Ahmed
13 years ago

Great videos these. Wonderful effort. thank goodness i wasn't born in those dark ages :)

pusspussbangbang0555
pusspussbangbang0555
13 years ago

When I left school in 76 my first job was in a rendering works,making beef dripping and also tallow for the cosmetics industry. The animal carcesses were fed into giant fat boilers upstairs guts heads the lot. My job was a woozer man The cooked bodys were fed by a Archimedes screw into a giant centrifuge like a spin dryer to extract the juice and the dried remnants we bagged up in seprerate sacks the flesh to make dog chews and the bones and powder for fertilizer it truly was a crap job,the smell was indescribable and athe wages were derisory,23 pounds for a 45 hour week So dont talk to me about crap jobs!!

John
John
13 years ago

The man who invented the lie detector used it to test plant responses and discovered that plants respond as animals do (thanks to Derrick Jensen for writing extensively about this). So there is scientific evidence that plants are as sentient as animals. Obviously plants and animals (and humans) are part of a food chain, so we need to responsibly take life. It is all the needless killing of plants, animals, and other humans that is objectionable.

Dominique
Dominique
13 years ago

In 1 word: Asame!!

Nelson
Nelson
13 years ago

One note: here there are 50 videos but the YouTube site hosts all 59.

Sadie the Celt
Sadie the Celt
14 years ago

Thoroughly enjoyed this series - a lot of footage was filmed in and around Wales. The gold mines in Wales are still ongoing, though the reserves are rapidly depleting - there is hardly any Welsh gold left! - subsequently the price of Welsh gold is sky high. All the Royal familys wedding bands are made of this rare gold. Nowadays its very common to be offered Welsh gold that is in actual fact just a small percentage of genuine Welsh stuff - 'diluted' with gold from elsewhere. But the indeniable attraction (and distiction) of Welsh gold is its 'pink' hue....its gorgeous...I wish I could afford some of the 100% pure Welsh gold! - but even the 'diluted' variety' is coveted, fetching double or treble of yellow gold prices, because of its attractive colour.

Pia
Pia
14 years ago

@Solipse

Plants cannot feel pain or fear. That's the difference. This is personally where I draw the line. And this is also why I have no problem with abortion of early embryos.

Solipse
Solipse
14 years ago

@gero2006,

Do you know that vegetables are also live organisms? What is the difference in eating meat and eating an eggplant?

It doesnt matter, because vegetables don't have eyes and mouths, and cannot scream in agony when youre violently plucking them from their soil or branches?

Ton
Ton
14 years ago

Gero2006, you dont know what animal torture is. Try not to make a storm in a glass of water.

gero2006
gero2006
14 years ago

Shocking scenes of animal torture in this series. I was disgusted. If people of the past tortured animals it is enough to say so, we do not need torture enacted live before us on a 'family entertainment' show hosted by a British comedian. I was dismayed. My formerly high opinion of Tony Robinson nose-dived. How low is he prepared to crawl to make a t.v. show? I used to love Time Team and other history shows presented by Robinson. Now I am not sure I want to watch anything he is associated with. I have written to tell Channel 4 (the series producers/original broadcasters) this. Maybe they will clean up their act... Other than animal torture this is a good family entertainment: history of the Terry Deary 'Horrible Histories' kind (UK children's non-fiction author) - lots of jokes about toilets and fleas... appeals to nine-year-olds and the nine-year-olds in all of us.

And before people ask: no I don't eat meat; I am a vegan. Yes, I do have Multiple Sclerosis a life-threatening disease and no, I have not accepted any treatment developed through animal experimentation. If I think it wrong to 'use' animals to cure disease or feed people, I sure as H*ll think it wrong to torture them for entertainment. But this is a debate for some other forum. Rant over.

Jane
Jane
14 years ago

I was very suprised and learned a lot from this short clip. Of course, I enjoyed it very much.

Heather
Heather
14 years ago

That plow was a bit ridiculous. They were just skidding it over the top of the field. If you want to see some real plowing, watch the documentary "Victorian Farm", available on this website.

axolotl
axolotl
14 years ago

Brilliant series, hell of a lot of fun and very informative.
This was first aired when I was really really poorly and my dad recorded it for me and I remember it cheering me up no end.
Plus I adore Tony Robinson, he's a great presenter!

tomoa
tomoa
14 years ago

really enjoyable!

Lucy
Lucy
14 years ago

Such an awesome series, fun and interesting! Thanks for posting it!