Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
Why did kings and queens have spectators on their wedding night? Who had the very first boob job? And did our ancestors have their unmentionables pierced? Join historian, Kate Lister, Betwixt the Sheets as she unashamedly roots around the topics which seem to have been skipped in history class. Everything from landmark LGBTQ+ court cases, to political scandal, to downright bizarre medieval cures for impotence. The etymology of swear words, gender bias in medicine, and satanic panic and cults - there’s nothing off limits. She'll be bed-hopping around different time periods; from ancient civilisations, to the middle ages, to renaissance and early modern...right up to now. You’ll laugh, you’ll wince, and you’ll ask yourself how much has actually changed. So join Kate Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society - a podcast from History Hit.
Episodes
Why did the Victorians dress up their dead relatives for photo shoots?
What are the origins of embalming? And why do most of us have such a separated relationship with death?
Helping Kate get to the bottom of all of this is the wonderful Brandy Schillace, author of Death's Summer Coat: What the History of Death and Dying Teaches Us About Life and Living.
This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior p...
18th century London was a haven for kinky connoisseurs, and flagellation houses were at the heart of it.
Whatever your preference to be spanked by - birches, whips, paddles - they had you covered.
What went on behind closed doors? Who was being spanked, and why was it all the range for upper class men?
Taking Kate into this naughty underworld today is Julie Peakman, author of Lascivious Bodies: A Sexual History of the Eigh...
With the House of the Dragon featuring *that* incest scene, we thought we'd look into the real history of sexual relations within families.
Has it always been taboo? How have the necessary degrees of separation between partners grown and shrunk over the years? And why were so many royal families keen on familial relations in the past...Hapsburg chin anyone?
Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with Brian Connolly to discuss the hi...
What does it mean to be 'woke'? What did the bluesman Leadbelly mean when he coined the phrase? And what does a story set in Victorian London have to do with the term gaslighting?
Joining Kate today is Robbie Morgan, Lecturer and Consultant in Applied Ethics at Leeds University, to chat about the buzzwords we use and how their meanings have changed for better and worse since they were first coined.
This episode was edited and...
Boudica. Elizabeth I. Ed Sheeran. The history of the redhead goes back thousands of years, and it fluctuates from prejudice in medieval Europe, to the height of fashion in Protestant England.
2% of the global population are redheads, so if you are one, you're one of a special few.
Jacky Colliss Harvey, author of Red: A History of the Redhead, joins Kate Betwixt the Sheets to explore red hair throughout the ages, debunking myt...
In the wake of the Second World War, a moral panic swept through Britain around a rise in homosexuality.
London was the heart of this scare because of how thriving and vibrant the gay scene was.
How did lawmakers react during time? What affect did class have on the gay experience? And amongst the darkness of the period, what joy could be found?
Joining Kate today to explore this time is Peter Parker, author of Some Men In ...
What happens at a Roman emperor's dinner party? Why would you be lucky to get out alive? And how are emperors even chosen?
Joining Kate today is the one, the only Mary Beard, to take us back to Ancient Rome and help separate the facts from the myths.
Mary's latest book, Emperor of Rome, is out now in paperback.This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimi...
With the UK election a mere few days away (at time of release), what better time to look back at some of the biggest scandals in our political history?
In this episode, Kate's exploring the notorious Profumo affair of the early 1960s and the Thorpe Affair of the 1970s.
They had it all: sex, espionage and corruption at the highest level of society. It's no wonder they caught the attention of the world's media.
Whose idea was the patriarchy? How long has it been a part of our lives? And how do we even define it?
For something that's so prevalent in most of our lives, it can sometimes feel like there's an inevitability to it.
However, there are so many examples of alternatives, and surprising reasons to its origins.
Exploring all of this with Kate today is Angela Saini, author of The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule.
This episo...
From recent research we know that the great boy king Tutankhamun was a result of incest.
How did it effect him? And was incest in Ancient Egypt mostly for symbolic reasons of retaining power, or did it go further than that?
Joining Kate today is the wonderful Sarah Parcak, archaeologist and Egyptologist, to help us find out more. Importantly, they also touch on why the Ancient Egyptians found lettuce sexy.
This episode was...
When we think of Henry VIII we think of a big, blood thirsty tyrant.
But was there more to this caricature of a king then we give him credit for? Joining Kate today to help us get to know this man better is the fantastic Tracy Borman, author of Henry VIII and the men who made him.
Why did Henry love his daily horoscopes? How did his hypochondria affect his sex life? And was he in, in fact, a bit of a prude?
This episode wa...
*SPOILER ALERT: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS DETAILS OF SEASON 3 OF BRIDGERTON*
With the second part of season 3 of Bridgerton dropping on Netflix in the last few days, Kate is joined by Catherine Curzon, author of Inside the World of Bridgerton: True Stories of Regency High Society, to break down how it stands up to historical accuracies of the era.
How does season 3 match the historical goings on of the time? How did gossip become...
Throughout history, it's mostly been queer men who were persecuted under the historical sodomy laws, but the Tudor period saw a spike in women being tried under it.
Why was this? And why was it mostly happening in what is modern day Belgium and Netherlands?
Joining Kate today is historian Jonas Roelens, who specialises in sexuality in the early modern period, to explore the unique things that were happening in Europe during t...
Mary Queen of Scots had a life that resembled a Game of Thrones plot: she had awful taste in men, and a cousin in Queen Elizabeth I of England, who - spoiler alert - eventually signed her death warrant.
In the face of some outrageous adversity, though, Mary Queen of Scots was an extraordinary woman and queen.
Was it all bad luck, or was there poor judgement from Mary, too? What are some of the conspiracies that brought about ...
What were condoms like in Tudor times? Before you were able to pop to the supermarket to pick some up, where did people buy them?
Joining Kate today is historian Dr. Kate Stephenson, to explore what the earliest evidence of condoms is, just how effective they were, and to smash some of the myths surrounding their history.
This episode was edited by Tom Delargy, the producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlot...
What's the worst thing you could accuse someone of in Ancient Rome? There are a few strong candidates, but incest is definitely up there.
In today's episode, Kate speaks with Roman historian, Emma Southon, author of A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women, to find out more about the different ways the Ancient Romans thought about incest.
This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior pr...
The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask: how real is Bridgerton?
On our third episode in our REAL Bridgerton mini-series, we're looking at the the booze and drugs that took 18th and early 19th century Britain by storm.
Why was opium taken for health purposes? How did gin get the nickname "mother's ruin"? And what does it fee...
From the first fleet of convict ships arriving in Australia in 1788, sex work was a central part of the new society British colonialists were building.
What was the reality for women when they arrived? What records are there of sex workers from this time? And how has sex work shaped modern Australia?
Today, Kate's joined by the fantastic Rae Frances, author of Selling Sex: A Hidden History of Prostitution, to find out ...
The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask: how real is Bridgerton?
On this second episode in our REAL Bridgerton mini-series, we're looking at the royals and celebrities who filled the newspapers during 18th and early 19th century Britain.
What was Queen Charlotte really like? What was the genius Mozart's fascination with fart...
From the earliest iterations on the plains of Africa, to 21st century reconsiderations of it: are humans meant to be monogamous?
Joining Kate today is Helen Fisher, author of ANATOMY OF LOVE: A Natural History Of Mating, Marriage, And Why We Stray, to shed a light on our own relationship with this ancient social status.
How successful is it really? And will it survive well into the future?
This episode was edited by Tom De...
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