1) What will we have in
the house and what will we have to do without?
The property will be a fully functioning house of 1900, and this experiment
will adhere to what would have been available to a householder of the
time. For example:
You won't have
• Electricity
• Fridge
• Telephone
• Central Heating
• Inside toilet
• TV / Radio
• Washing machine
What you will
have
• Gas Lighting
• Fresh food delivered daily from local shopkeepers
• Post delivered several times a day
• Coal delivered weekly. Every room in the house has an open grate
coal fireplace
• An external (flushing) toilet
• Victorian Games, books and a Piano
• A Victorian garden where you can grow some of the produce used
in the 1900 House kitchen.
• Wash day: a hand wash, with a scrubbing brush, a mangle and line
dry.
2) How can
we do this if we do not live in London?
We are keen to make this a nationwide search for our family to give
us the widest possible range of participants. We will make strenuous
efforts for the right family to ensure that their lives will be as minimally
disrupted as possible. We will liase with employers and schools to organise
a temporary new work place and school nearby to the House.
3) What will
we be wearing?
You will be expected to wear period clothes, which we will have tailor
made for all of the family.
4) Will we
be left to fend for ourselves?
No. Besides regular contact with our production team and camera crew,
we will have a series of experts on hand to advise on necessary skills
e.g. cookery of the period, medical matters and operation of household
equipment. We will also have regular checks from a safety officer monitoring
all issues relating to your health and safety.
5) Will we
be paid for this?
Yes, we have a small fee available for our chosen family. However, there
is only a limited budget which we anticipate will be used primarily
to compensate any loss of earnings during the period.
6) How often
will we be filmed?
A small TV crew will be on hand to capture many of the experiences our
family will encounter. Therefore there will be quite a high level of
filming across the three months in the house. There will also be some
filming at the beginning of the experiment in the family's current home.
7) Can we have
visitors?
We will encourage friends and relatives to. Of course you will have
to entertain them in a thoroughly Victorian manner, perhaps a sing-song
around the piano.
8) What happens
if we get ill?
Your safety is our priority. We will be attempting to remain true to
the spirit of this experiment. We will have a medical officer on call
to dispense remedies of the day like aspirin for everyday ailments,
in the case of an emergency will of course revert to modern medicine.
