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History Hit

Join sex historian Kate Lister on Betwixt the Sheets as she gets intimate with the stories that would make your history teacher blush.

What were the Victorians really like behind closed (bedroom) doors? How did the Black Death favour women in medieval England? And what was Caesar like in the sack? 

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

The history of lonely hearts ads might be a lot deeper than you'd expect.

For as long as people have been printing newspapers, people (read: men) were enquiring about potential partners.

By the time the culture took off in the 18th century, how were people looking for love? How did the First World War boost the medium? And what are some of the strangest dating stories from this history?

Joining Kate today is Francesca Beauman, author of Shapely Ankle Preferr’d: a history of the Lonely Hearts advertisement, to find out how lonely heart ads created a new way to date. 

In part two of the episode, Kate's joined by Ana Kirova, CEO of the dating app Feeld, who recently published a report with the Kinsey Institute on where dating culture is today, and where it could lead in the future.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy, the producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

History (and Future) of Dating

Henry VIII called her his 'rose without a thorn', but the teenage Catherine Howard was to fall out of favour less than 18 months after becoming Queen of England.

Out of all of Henry's wives it could be argued that the young queen, who was a cousin of Anne Boleyn, is most deserving of our sympathy.

How did her past come back to haunt her? What would it have been like for this young woman to be with Henry VIII - an older man with a stinky leg ulcer? And what was the truth behind the scandal of her downfall?

In the fifth and penultimate episode of our limited series, Secret Wives of the Six Wives, Kate is joined by Tudor export Nicola Tallis, to help us find out more about the young woman who had to deal with so much drama and tragedy in her short life.

This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Catherine Howard | Secret Lives of the Six Wives

Accessing stories from the past can be difficult, but how do we access smells from the past?

In today's episode, Kate is joined by Eleanor Jackson, curator of a new British Library exhibition, Mediaeval Women In Their Own Words, which features original texts about, and by, women from this period.

Whether that's Joan of Arc's signature or a welsh poet who wrote “Lovely bush you are blessed by God above” in her 'Poem to the Vagina'.

Kate's also joined by Tasha Marks, an artist who creates sensory experiences, who has brought to life smells such as medieval hair perfumes to life as part of the exhibition.

This episode was edited by Matt Peaty and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

How Did People Smell in Medieval Times?

At the time, surely Kateryn Parr had her reservations about being Henry VIII's sixth wife?

Aside from being a tyrannical maniac who'd just beheaded his last wife, Catherine Howard, he was getting old, angry and his ulcerous leg was getting smelly.

However, Kateryn was smart - she was the first queen to be a published author - and she loved the glitz and glamour of her new position.

What was her life like before Henry entered the picture? How did she narrowly escape being sent to the tower for heresy? And why was her marriage after Henry so controversial?

In the sixth and final episode of our limited series, Secret Wives of the Six Wives, Kate is joined by Tudor export Nicola Tallis, to help us find out more about the woman who would thrive as a queen and go on to live to survive Henry VIII.

This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Kateryn Parr | Secret Lives of the Six Wives

Like it or not, there's no escaping Charles Dickens at this time of year.

But who was the man behind classics such as A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and of course, A Christmas Carol?

His life is as rich as many of the characters' stories in one of his books, including a brutal Victorian upbringing and rumours of sex and scandal.

Joining us in this re-run to explore the controversy of the man is Charles Dickens super-fan Miriam Margolyes - a national treasure in her own right.

Having written and starred in the play, Dickens Women, Miriam knows better than most the complicated relationships he had in his life: from his mother who took him out of school to work in a rat-infested blacking factory aged 12, to his wife whom he had a bookcase wall built to separate her from him.

This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Sex Life & Scandal of Charles Dickens

Dating back some 30,000 years, sex toys have a long (no pun intended) and fascinating history.

What were the earliest sex toys like? How did technology change them? And did Victorian doctors really prescribing them for back pain?

In today's episode, we're revisiting an episode where Kate was joined by writer, sex and gender historian Hallie Lieberman to discuss the first dildo, the myth of the vibrator, and more.

Find out more about Hallie's book, Buzz: The Stimulating History of the Sex Toy, here.

This episode was produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Seyi Adaobi.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Did Ancient People Have Sex Toys?

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.

INTRODUCING Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

*WARNING this episode includes explicit language and adult themes*

What were your medieval ancestors getting up to in the bedroom? Join sex historian Kate Lister, Betwixt the Sheets, to find out.

Medievalist and George Michael super-fan Dr Eleanor Janega is on the podcast to chat all things aphrodisiacs, sex diaries and religious rules.

Hear about bizarre fertility treatments involving actual fish in places they should never go, medieval chat up lines, and much, much more.

You can watch Kate and Eleanor on screen together in History Hit's documentary, Medieval Pleasures here.

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Annie Coloe.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

This podcast includes music by Epidemic Sounds and archive clips from The Princess Bride 1987, Angela MacNamara's Sex Education for Girls 1980.

Medieval Sex

Warning: This episode includes strong language and some adult themes.

What comes to mind when you see the word voodoo? Most people tend to think of horror movies, zombies, dolls and witchcraft - but Vodou is a hugely misunderstood religion and spiritual practice.

Kate is joined by two experts Betwixt the Sheets on today's episode; Dr Kyrah Malika Daniels on Haitian Vodou and the part it played in the revolution of 1791, and Elizabeth James on New Orleans and Louisiana Voodoo.

Find out its long and fascinating history, and why it's become one of the most sensationalised religions in the world.

Learn more about Haitian Vodou and its history here, and here, and you can follow Dr Daniels work, here.

For more on African and Diasporic Religious Studies, please click here.

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Seyi Adaobi.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

This podcast includes music from Epidemic Sounds, and archive clips from White Zombie 1932.

Voodoo & Vodou

Warning: There are adult themes, explicit language and references of disordered eating and diets in this episode.

Did you know that before Queen Victoria married Albert she was a well-known party-animal, who could easily stay up until 5am, drunk on a concoction of red wine and whiskey?

Or that she was notorious for being able to eat seven or eight courses in half an hour, and had a penchant for mutton curries and the freshest fruit?

Kate is joined Betwixt the Sheets by food historian Dr Annie Gray to discuss Victoria’s very indulgent habits which spilled out into all areas of her life…including the bedroom.

You can find Annie’s incredible book, The Greedy Queen: Eating with Victoria, here.

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Annie Coloe.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

This podcast includes music by Epidemic Sounds and archive clips from Sixty Glorious Years, 1938.

Victoria: A Greedy Queen

What was life like as a single person in the 18th century? What if you became pregnant out of wedlock?

In today's episode, Kate talks to Angela Muir, author of Deviant MaternityIllegitimacy in Wales, c. 1680–1800, to find out what navigating single life was like for the lower classes: from strange dating customs such as 'bundling', to evidence we have of Georgian booty calls and the stigma of being single.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

18th Century Dating: From Booty Calls to 'Bundling'

18th Century Dating: From Booty Calls to 'Bundling'

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