Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
How Nudes Changed Britain
Episode 239
Why were nudes so significant in Victorian England? What role did painting them play in wider social change at that time? And why didn't men think th…
2 years, 2 months ago
The Dark History of Bearded Ladies & the Victorian Freak Show
Episode 238
What would it have really been like to visit a Victorian freak show? Were "freak performers" exploited, or empowered in a world that would likely hav…
2 years, 2 months ago
History of Grief: Sky Burials & Victorian Death Photos
Episode 237
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 …
2 years, 2 months ago
Flagellation Brothels: Georgian Spanking Houses
Episode 236
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 - b…
2 years, 2 months ago
Incest & Royalty: House of the Dragon & Beyond
Episode 235
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 alw…
2 years, 2 months ago
Gaslighting to Woke: Origins of Modern Buzzwords
Episode 234
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…
2 years, 3 months ago
Surprising History of Redheads: From Prehistoric Gingers to Ed Sheeran
Episode 233
Boudica. Elizabeth I. Ed Sheeran. The history of the redhead goes back thousands of years, and it fluctuates from prejudice in medieval Europe, to th…
2 years, 3 months ago
Queer London & The Post-War Moral Panic
Episode 232
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…
2 years, 3 months ago
Emperors & Scandals in Ancient Rome with Mary Beard
Episode 231
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 o…
2 years, 3 months ago
Sex & Scandal in UK Politics
Episode 230
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 histor…
2 years, 3 months ago