WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en-GB 1 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:03.350 Today's video contains images of a preserved dead body. 2 00:00:03.350 --> 00:00:08.430 If that's not for you: time to pick another video. 3 00:00:08.430 --> 00:00:12.040 This is a dead man. Or most of a dead man. 4 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:16.460 This is the skeleton of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who died in 1832, 5 00:00:16.460 --> 00:00:18.939 preserved, stuffed, dressed in his own clothes, 6 00:00:18.939 --> 00:00:20.869 all as requested in his will, 7 00:00:20.869 --> 00:00:23.050 and put on display at University College London. 8 00:00:23.050 --> 00:00:24.720 And it is a little bit creepy. 9 00:00:24.720 --> 00:00:30.089 NICK BOOTH: He's bolted to his chair, and he's wearing a conservation-grade nodysuit 10 00:00:30.089 --> 00:00:35.809 held together with copper wire and hinged in his joints, so in theory he could move 11 00:00:35.809 --> 00:00:39.289 in a realistic manner. We don't do that any more, because he's very delicate. 12 00:00:39.289 --> 00:00:44.800 There's a few theories as to why. He didn't like the church, he was an atheist, and at 13 00:00:44.800 --> 00:00:49.719 the time you had to pay money to be buried, as you still do now, and one of the theories 14 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:54.359 is that he just didn't want to give money to the church. Also, he did have a bit of 15 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:58.379 a sense of humour. He maybe wanted to get some more use out of his body rather than 16 00:00:58.379 --> 00:00:59.989 just be buried in the ground. 17 00:00:59.989 --> 00:01:04.019 TIM CAUSER: Jeremy Bentham is most famous for being the founder of modern utilitarianism. 18 00:01:04.019 --> 00:01:09.549 That is, the idea that all action and legislation should be for the promotion of the greatest 19 00:01:09.549 --> 00:01:15.840 happiness. The famous quotation is "the greatest happiness for the greatest number". 20 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:22.280 Bentham tried to write about 12 pages a day. He tried to keep in that rhythm. And occasionally, 21 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:26.579 when we're looking through his papers, we'll come across a sheet dated 25th December and 22 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:29.799 think, you know, Jeremy, just have a break(!) 23 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:34.060 Transcribe Bentham is a crowdsourced transcription initiative. The transcripts of the manuscripts 24 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:39.549 that they're producing, we'll use as a starting point for producing volumes of Bentham's collected 25 00:01:39.549 --> 00:01:43.360 works, which is the main purpose of the Bentham Project here at UCL. 26 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:48.340 One of the major things in his life was an attempt to reform the law. He studied law, 27 00:01:48.340 --> 00:01:52.920 he began to practice law -- his first case, he realised his client would actually pay 28 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:57.810 him more than he would get in compensation, for Bentham representing him. So Bentham, 29 00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:02.399 at this point, threw up the law and decided that he would instead dedicate the rest of 30 00:02:02.399 --> 00:02:03.710 his life to reforming it. 31 00:02:03.710 --> 00:02:08.360 TOM SCOTT: The actual head that came up with most of those thoughts, though? That's not 32 00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:10.420 it. That is a wax model. 33 00:02:10.420 --> 00:02:15.690 The actual head didn't get preserved really all that well, so it's kept in a sealed box 34 00:02:15.690 --> 00:02:16.599 somewhere else. 35 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:21.200 It was kept in a sealed box just here, but then some students from a rival university 36 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:23.129 stole it and held it for ransom. 37 00:02:23.129 --> 00:02:26.319 NICK BOOTH: It was stored in his chest cavity for a while, and then it was discovered there 38 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.430 in 1898, during the first proper inspection of him. 39 00:02:29.430 --> 00:02:33.069 Then it was taken out and for a while it was kept in a box, we think, just on the ledge 40 00:02:33.069 --> 00:02:37.510 on the doorway to my left, and now it's in one of the safes here at UCL. 41 00:02:37.510 --> 00:02:41.980 TIM CAUSER: The thing that Bentham is most famous for is the Panopticon prison scheme. 42 00:02:41.980 --> 00:02:47.080 The basic design of the Panopticon prison was that it was meant to be a circular prison, 43 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:50.580 with the cells arranged around the outside and a central inspection tower in the middle 44 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:55.800 of the prison. And from there, the prison inspector, through an elaborate network of 45 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:00.310 curtains and lights, would be able to look into any of the cells at any point and see 46 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:03.400 the prisoners without himself being seen. 47 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:07.700 So he expected that prisoners would, in trying to avoid any punishment that would come by 48 00:03:07.700 --> 00:03:12.980 violating the Panopticon's rules and regulations, the prisoners would modify their behaviour 49 00:03:12.980 --> 00:03:19.140 and eventually be released as working, decent members of the public again. 50 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:23.170 It became increasingly clear that the British government, rather than building a penitentiary, 51 00:03:23.170 --> 00:03:26.580 would rather pack off prisoners to Australia, as it was a lot cheaper. 52 00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:29.879 TOM SCOTT: And if you think it'd be a brilliant prank to write in your will that your should 53 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:35.830 be preserved, stuffed, and donated to someone you loved, or hated: don't get too excited. 54 00:03:35.830 --> 00:03:39.680 Your rights end when you die. So the final say on what happens to your corpse goes to 55 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:45.159 your family and friends. And while it is perfect legal, in the UK, to preserve and display 56 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:49.650 a body -- if you want that to happen, you'll need to find someone as strange as the man 57 00:03:49.650 --> 00:03:51.190 who preserved Jeremy Bentham. 58 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:53.960 [Translating this video? Add your name here!]