Zounds! Swearing isn't the offence it once was

Zounds! Swearing isn’t the offence it once was, says University of Wolverhampton academic

From the four-letter rantings of Celebrity Big Brother contestants to the emotional outbursts of sporting stars, there are numerous examples of people in the public eye whose tongue got the better of them.

Andy Murray recently apologised for swearing during the Australian Open and Simon Cowell said sorry after uttering an expletive on X Factor last year.

But had they been around in Victorian times, they might have met a harsher punishment - a significant dent in their bank accounts.

University of Wolverhampton criminal justice historian Dr David Cox has uncovered findings about the use of profanities as part of research included in a new book Public Indecency in England 1857-1960.

Part of the book looks at ‘obscene’ or ‘profane’ language, which now falls under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 if there is intention to cause harassment, alarm, or distress and other circumstances are present.

In the 18th Century, the Profane Oaths Act 1746 introduced a hierarchical level of fines. If found guilty of issuing a profanity, labourers, rank-and-file soldiers and sailors could be fined a maximum of one shilling (5p); those below the rank of ‘gentleman’ could receive a fine of up to two shillings (10p), whilst gentlemen and the aristocracy could be fined up to five shillings (25p).

Dr Cox, whose research uncovered numerous prosecutions, said: “These amounts may seem trifling now, but one shilling (5p) was the equivalent of more than a day’s wages for a labourer in the 1740s.”