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How Fear Shaped History
Episode 141
What scares you? Some of humankind’s most common fears and phobias include fear of heights, flying, spiders, snakes, injections, germs, public speaki…
3 years, 1 month ago
Gay Identity in Nazi Germany
Episode 140
Berlin in the early 1930s was a place of incredible liberation for its queer community.
There were over 100 gay clubs, and Magnus Hirschfeld’s Instit…
3 years, 1 month ago
Superstitions: Witch Marks, Touching Wood & Lucky Pants
Episode 139
Many of them pre-date modern religions and defy what science tells us about the world - from saluting magpies, to wearing lucky pants. Yet why do sup…
3 years, 2 months ago
Polyamory: From Mormons to 60s Counterculture
Episode 138
The polyamory movement has a long and interesting history. It takes in Pilgrims meeting Native American Indians, Mormons having their take on it, and…
3 years, 2 months ago
History of Kissing: Why do we lock lips?
Episode 137
A good old smooch. It’s something that we do on a daily basis in one form or another (if we’re lucky), and yet have you ever stopped and wondered why…
3 years, 2 months ago
History of Make-Up
Episode 136
Most of us present ourselves with some form of cosmetic, so it’s strange that historically there’s been so much judgement around the use of it.
It’s s…
3 years, 2 months ago
Eleanor Aquitaine: The Life of a Medieval Badass
Episode 135
You would think that a woman who was queen several times, commanded armies and was possibly the most powerful woman in medieval Europe would need no …
3 years, 2 months ago
Lube: A Slippery History
Episode 134
From the seaweed-strewn shores of Ancient China to the American army camps in the Middle East, lube has been on a long and slippery journey.
Wherever…
3 years, 2 months ago
Victorian Abortion & Birth Control
Episode 133
We’re connected to the past in more ways than you might think.
For example, the 1861 Offences against the person Act is an abortion law that is still…
3 years, 2 months ago
Barbie: Feminist Icon?
Episode 132
Barbie is many things: an astronaut, a robotics engineers, a judge, and now a movie star! But can she be considered a feminist icon?
For a toy with s…
3 years, 2 months ago