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

To celebrate the release of Kate's new History Hit documentary, Beating Around The Bush: The History of Pubic Hair, we're revisiting a favourite episode about exactly that.

Watch the documentary here: https://access.historyhit.com/videos/beating-around-the-bush

Find out about the history of pubic hair removal from ancient Greece and Islamic bath cultures through Renaissance Italy and Victorian England to today's porn-influenced trends.

Joining Kate is Professor Jill Burke, author of How to be a Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty and Female Creativity, to help us uncover this...

Forget celebrities running around the Highlands... come back to the 16th century Tudor court when being a traitor meant literally losing your head.

Joining Kate today is Tudor historian and author Nicola Tallis, to expose the ultimate Tudor traitor: Thomas Cromwell.

Why did he work so hard to make Anne Boleyn queen only to orchestrate the plot to kill her? How involved was Henry VIII, really? And what happened that meant Cromwell was eventually betrayed?

This podcast was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer...

In the first half of the 1700s, Britain was overwhelmed by gin. But it might not have been as fun as it sounds.

Today, we're hearing about what the so-called gin-craze was, the impact that it had on regular people, and the government's attempts to control it.

Kate is joined by Professor Judith Hawley from Royal Holloway for this episode.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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Demonic blood-sucking creatures have existed for thousands of years before Dracula showed up all sexy, suave and problematic.

Who were these figures who inspired what we know today as vampires? Why are a lot of these supernatural creatures female figures? And why did left-handed red heads once get stakes through the heart!?

Joining Kate today is the fantastic historian and author Janina Ramirez, to get to the bottom of these important questions.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producers were Stuart Beckwith, Sophie Gee and McKenna Fernandez. The...

Is this the story of a sex crazed empress? Or just some good (really) old-fashioned gossip?

Was Messalina, wife of Emperor Claudius, really a sex worker by night? And did she really marry another man whilst her very powerful husband was still alive?

This episode of Betwixt contains possibly the biggest scandal to take place in Ancient Rome, brought to us by the wonderful Alexander Meddings.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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Forget what you think about fairies... they are not cute and definitely not harmless.

In today's episode we're going back centuries to a time when they could take human form and were mentioned as part of the witch trials.

What are the rules of talking to a fairy? What are the differences between Irish and Scottish fairies? And what influence did Shakespeare have on how we see fairies?!

Joining Kate today is Diane Purkiss, historian and author of books including Fairies and Fairy Stories and The Museum of Witchcraft.

*TRIGGER WARNING: CONTAINS OLD NORSE SWEAR WORDS*

How would you insult a Viking? What strange nicknames did they give each other? And what did a Viking rap battle sound like?!

Brush up on your Old Norse and impress your friends with the most obscene Viking swear words. To help you out and talk Kate through the reasons behind their offensive language is historian and author Dr Eleanor Barraclough.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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What happened to King Tut's 'Little Tut' during mummification? The rumour is that he took an erection to the afterlife, but what can we know after several millennia and a very rough excavation?

Dr Campbell Price came into the studio to bust a few myths about the boy Pharaoh. But not to worry, for every myth busted, Campbell has another golden nugget!

Campbell is Curator of Egypt & Sudan at Manchester Museum.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

STOLEN! Jesus' foreskin!

Well, maybe not. But 2000 years after his birth, where might Jesus' foreskin be? And why does it matter to people?

Kate is joined by Dr James White for this episode to find out how the Holy Prepuce has supposedly survived the last two centuries, and what it has meant to the people devoted to it.

James is a historian of late medieval Europe, with a special interest in the body, gender, and religion. He teaches at the University of Alberta, where his research has focused on

Why were the Nazis so fixated on birth rates? How did they encourage larger families? And what was their surprising angle on extramarital pregnancies?

In essence, what was the Lebensborn policy?

Taking us through Nazi family policy today is Lisa Pine. Lisa is Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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Was Rasputin really Russia’s greatest love machine? Did he have any healing powers? And why might his penis be pickling in a jar?

We're in the middle of some willy related episodes at the moment, and it would be wrong not to include the man, the myth, the 'mad monk'. In this episode from the early days of Betwixt, we are drawing Rasputin out of his cloud of green smoke to find out which of the things we know about him might actually be true.

Kate is joined by Douglas Smith, historian, tr...

To many she's known as Lady Jane Grey, but history should remember her as Queen Jane I.

She was only queen for 9 days in 1553, but this made her the first ever queen of England when she was just 16.

What happened in her short life that made her suddenly the most powerful woman in England? How did 'Bloody Mary' Tudor react? And how did it all go so wrong?

Joining Kate is the wonderful historian Kate Williams, author of Regina: A New History of Women and Power.

This...

Small. Shrivelled. Separated from its owner. What has been said about Napoleon Bonaparte's penis? And how much of it is true?

Dr Zack White joins Kate for this episode to discuss these rumours, and what kind of lover and partner Napoleon really was (hint: not great).

Zack is a research fellow at the University of Portsmouth, Chair of the Napoleonic & Revolutionary War Graves Charity, and host of 'The Napoleonic Wars Podcast'.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

Marie Antoinette famously spent quite a lot of money and time on her outfits and make-up. But what would it feel like to actually wear it?

Joining Kate in this episode is the amazing Casta Hex, historical drag queen, embroiderer and textiles artist for film and TV. Casta creates all her costumes using period accurate fabrics and techniques.

Layer by layer, they explore how to get ready like Marie Antoinette.

This episode was edited by Natasha Hughes. It was produced by Sophie Gee, McKenna Fernandez and Georgie Turner. The senior...

In the midst of the most hostile period in Scottish history, comes a passionate lesbian love story.

Set against post-Reformation Scotland, with Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, is Marie Maitland whose erotic lesbian poetry gives us a rare and significant insight into same-sex love and desire at this time.

What exactly do her poems say? And how was she able to get away with it at such a dangerous time in history for queer people?

Joining Kate today is Ashley Douglas, historian, translator and author of With My...

The Romans have gone down as some of the greatest perverts of all time. But what really went on inside a Roman orgy? Joining Kate to get behind the bacchanalia is fan-favourite Emma Southon whose new book is Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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Josephine Baker went from poverty and segregation in St. Louis to becoming Paris’s most sensational showgirl, captivating Europe with her dancing, sexuality and scandalous performances.

But behind her outrageous persona was an extraordinary woman who became a spy in World War Two, civil rights activist and French national hero.

Joining Kate today is author and Second World War French historian, Professor Amerita Hanna Diamond.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

Subscribe to the new Be...

Mary Queen of Scots has gone down in history for her power struggle with her cousin, Elizabeth I. But this was just one of the challenges she faced.

Another was that Mary's second husband, Lord Darnley, was one of history’s worst husbands.

Estelle Paranque joins Kate for this episode to discuss Mary's disastrous love life, as well as how much of a threat she was to her cousin, Elizabeth I.

This episode was edited by Natasha Hughes. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most famous works of medieval art in the world, but what do we actually know about it? Who made it? Where? Why? And are those actually human genitals?

Kate is joined by Dave Musgrove, content director at History Extra and co-author of 'The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: Unraveling the Norman Conquest'.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. Produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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Behind the impressive relics the Romans left behind lurks a much darker story: that most of Rome was built on the back of enslaved people.

It's shocking to know that up to 30% of Roman society was made up of enslaved people. So how was this represented in every day life? What was life like for different enslaved people in the Roman empire? And was freedom ever a possibility?

Joining Kate today is Roman historian Emma Southon, whose new book Servus: The Moving, Enthralling True Story of Slavery in the Roman Empire takes us...

Elizabeth Bathory was a fabulously wealthy Noblewoman accused of torturing and killing some 600 women in the 16th century.

Her story is popularly spoken about as one of history's deadliest women... but is it true? And if it isn't, why has it stuck?

Helping us get to the bottom of these questions is Shelley Puhak, author of The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal and the Making of a Monster, to talk through her new findings on Elizabeth Báthory.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The s...

It's the most famous sunken ship in history, but its story is surrounded by a lot of myth.

Were the working classes locked below deck and doomed to drown? Could the Titanic have avoided the iceberg? And most importantly (to us, at least), what sex and scandals took place on board?

Joining Kate today is the marvellous Gareth Russell to talk us through what really went down on the Titanic, and why they've got major beef with Rose from the 1997 film.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall and produced...

In 1909, the third and final woman hanged in Western Australia was executed. She had murdered three of her step children.

What drove Martha Rendall to kill these children? Why did others in their neighbourhood stand by and not raise the alarm sooner? And how do our understandings of women who kill factor into the evil stepmother figure factor?

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a...

Malleus Maleficarum may sound like a spell but it is actually almost the opposite. This book was nicknamed the Hammer of Witches, and today we're finding out if it really started the European witch hunts.

Kate is joined by the wonderful Eleanor Janega to talk all things Heinrich Kramer, the monk who wrote the Malleus. Where did his obsession come from? And did his colleagues in the Catholic church support his views?

This episode was edited by Natasha Hughes. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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Until the 19th century in Britain, a woman killing her husband was guilty of worse than murder, she was guilty of petty treason.

So what is petty treason? What is its very harsh punishment? And why was women killing their husbands so terrifying?

Kate is joined by Rose Wallis, a social historian of crime, criminal justice and social protest at the University of the West of England. They discuss the particular case of Elizabeth Herring, and why she ended up at the stake.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov...

Lord Nelson is remembered as one of history's greatest military commanders. His victories at the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the Battle of Trafalgar cemented his legendary status, as did his dramatic death mid-battle.

But there's another side to Nelson's story: his extraordinary love affair with Emma Hamilton. Today, Kate explores the scandalous relationship between Britain's greatest naval hero and his famous mistress, and asks how their spouses reacted to their very open relationship.

Kate is joined by History Hit's very own Dan Snow!

This episode...

As if the Tudor world wasn't mad enough, in 1528 a mystic nun showed up demanding an audience with Henry VIII.

Elizabeth Barton stood in front of him and told him that his controversial marriage to Anne Boleyn would make God strike him down.

Did Barton survive this? Well, what do you think. As the only nun executed in English history, what was her origin story? How did she become so famous? And if her visions weren't real, why would she be faking them?

Joining Kate today is author and historian...

The samurai are some of the most mythologised people in history, so let's do some myth busting!

Kate is joined by Joe Nickols, who co-curated the British Museum's samurai exhibition, to dive into the real lives of the samurai. How much fighting did they actually do? Could women be samurais? And what did they use for lube?

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

This episode...

This is the wild story of a 12th century French philosopher, Abelard, who fell in love with his student, Heloise.

There are a lot of problematic issues going on. Not least their age gap, the resulting power dynamic, and, oh yes—Abelard was castrated.

So why does this love story endure?

Joining Kate today is the fantastic Dr Eleanor Janega, historian, author and co-host of our sister podcast Gone Medieval.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place yo...

You know her from the perfume, the little black dress, the double C bag clasp, but who was the woman, Coco Chanel? What even was her real name?

From her origin story, through her inspirations and affairs, to her connections to the Nazi party - today we find out more about Chanel.

Kate is joined by NYT columnist Rhonda Garelick, author of 'Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History' and founding director at Hofstra's Institute for Public Humanities and the Arts.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice...

‘Who wants a girl with a personality?’ Historically, not the royals.

Queen Caroline of Brunswick became Queen Consort of the United Kingdom in 1820, when her husband became King George IV. She was incredibly popular with the public, but unfortunately not so much with her husband, who had hated her from the start (the feeling was mutual).

Today, Kate is joined by Ann Foster to tease apart all of the wild parties, pranks, adultery, accusations of adultery and actual mob violence involved in the life of this amazing woman.

Ann is the...

Poor Catherine Howard. She was smart, intelligent and undeniably beautiful, but ultimately no match for the vicious Henry VIII.

She was certainly a victim but was she totally blameless?

Joining Kate today is the always-fabulous historian Gareth Russell, author of Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII, to help us find out more about this short-lived Queen of England.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click here to place your vote! Thank you...

Pablo Picasso's impact on the art world was sensational, but what impact did he have on the people around him?

His relationship history contains some problematic moments, to say the least, so we are asking if you can - or even if you should - separate the art from the artist.

Joining Kate today is author and Harvard professor, Suzanne Blier, to help us navigate this and find out more about Pablo Picasso.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click here to...

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, sex work was a prime example of what capitalism did to society. 

Under communism, sex work would no longer need to exist in society.

Spoiler: it very much still existed.

How were sex workers treated in Soviet Russia? Why were they glamourised? And what's the sex industry like in Russia today? 

Joining Kate today is expert on all of this and more, Professor Emily Schuckman Matthews, to take us back to Soviet Russia.

This episode was edited by Tim Ar...

Beautiful women are always causing trouble in history, and perhaps none more so than Helen of Troy.

She's the daughter of Zeus and a human mother, after all.

With the new film Odyssey hitting the big screen, find out all about the formidable Helen of Troy who was supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world and caused the Trojan War.

Joining Kate today is Ruby Blondell, Professor of Classics at University of Washington and author of two books on Helen of Troy.

This episode was edited...

Picture a dragon and its dragon slayer. What do you imagine?

It's likely going to be a giant, scaly, fire-breathing beast and a rugged knight with a massive sword. However, throughout history we have amazing myths of women dragon slayers.

What are the ancient origins of the dragon? How do women dragon slayers differ from their male counterparts? And what genitals do medieval dragons have?!

Joining Kate today is historian and author Jasmine Elmer, to get to know these historical stories and the reasons behind them.

This...

With the Fourth of July and America's 250th around the corner we wanted to revisit an episode and take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives.

Which president was well-endowed and supposedly presented it to staff in the Oval Office? Which president had an affair on his honeymoon? And which had an affair with his wife's secretary?

And no, they're not all JFK.

Joining Kate today to help us find out is Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Presidents: The Ins...

Why did 200 people queue to give blood in the San Diego summer heat on 16 July 1983?

During the AIDS crisis, many people living with HIV developed severe anaemia as a result of the disease and the treatments available at the time, leaving them dependent on regular blood transfusions. But where would the blood come from, especially with gay men being turned away from donating?

In this episode, we're exploring one of the most inspiring examples of solidarity between lesbians and gay men in modern history: the Blood Sisters.

This episode was...

Marlene Dietrich was unapologetic in her love of sex, and she had a lot of it.

She took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s and slept with some of tinsel town's most famous men and women.

What made her so unique and create such a legacy? As a sexually liberated German woman what did the Nazis make of her? And did she really sleep with JFK and his father?!

This is the final instalment of our mini-series, Supersluts of History, where we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used...

Why on earth would anyone make a perilous journey across wilderness and snow covered mountains, all because of a bit of gold?

This isn't Lord of the Rings, it's the Klondike Gold Rush, when an estimated hundred thousand people made the journey across Alaska to goldfields in the Klondike region, Canada. Among them, women.

But why did women make this journey? How much of their work was sex work?

Kate is joined by Brian Castner for this episode about life in the Alaskan Gold Rush. Brian is the author of ‘St...