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

Sex and death are often intertwined: one is the start of creation, the other is the end. And as we’ll learn in today’s episode, ancient battlefields were the setting of intimate acts, too. One on one, heart pounding, adrenaline pumping and picking out a partner to…engage with. And so it makes sense that the Ancient world would have gods that meet both needs - sex and death. Joining Kate today is r...

This November marks 60 years since President John F Kennedy was assassinated.  His name is associated with history defining events, but it’s also connected with a dynasty, known for their celebrity and notoriously for being ‘cursed.’ The Kennedy family, thought of as American royals by many, have a fascinating and tragic history - especially the women in JFK’s life and family line. Today we'r...

It can be hard to comprehend the magnitude of historical events, with World War Two a prime example of this. By 1945, some 3 million British people had served. As such, the rich diversity of masculinity and sexuality of those men is often reduced or hidden from the history books. With Remembrance Day approaching, we've spoken to Luke Turner, author of Men At War: Loving, Lusting, Fighting, Remembe...

This November marks 60 years since President John F Kennedy was assassinated.  His name is associated with history defining events, but it’s also connected with a dynasty, known for their celebrity and notoriously for being ‘cursed.’ The Kennedy family, thought of as American royals by many, have a fascinating and tragic history - especially the women in JFK’s life and family line. Today we’r...

They’re famously thought of as a buttoned up prudish bunch, but we all know they loved to bump uglies as much as anyone today.  Were the spanking punishments of boarding schools really the origins of flagellation brothels? Who were the pin-ups of Victorian women? And what did the saucy portrait Queen Victoria gave to Prince Albert look like?  Today we go Betwixt the Victorian Sheets with...

It’s that time of year again, Halloween. A word which conjures up images of pumpkins, ghosts, and of course…witches. But have you ever wondered what the ancient origins of witchcraft is? How did the black-hat-broomstick stereotype emerge? And what causes the waves of witch trials throughout history, right up to the present day? Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with Ronald Hutton to discuss the history o...

Josephine Baker was one of the most extraordinary people of the 20th century - and the first black woman honoured in the French Panthéon in 2021. From an early life of poverty in St. Louis, America, to being a superstar singer, actress and dancer, to being a spy as part of the resistance against the Nazis.  For today’s episode, we’re sharing an episode from our sister podcast Dan Snow’s...

We live in a hyper-sexualised world. But what if you don't take a sexual interest in anyone? Asexuality makes up roughly 1% of the population, and even though it will have been around as an identity since humans have been around, the language for it has a relatively recent history. Joining Kate today is Tony Bogaert, author of Understanding Asexuality . Do people who are asexual enjoy romance stil...

We all know how the song goes, the one about Hitler having one testicle. And whilst it's disarming to poke fun at someone so evil, there's an interesting and serious conversation to be had about how Hitler's relationships and sexuality could have shaped him. Today Kate is joined by Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany , to find out more about Adolf Hitler's personal life, his vie...

If you happen to be a Spectrophiliac, then October must be a particularly exciting time for you. What is a spectrophiliac? Well, it's a fetish for ghosts (as well as mirrors), so being turned on by anything lurking in the non-physical realm. After all, as the old adage goes, the most important sex organ is the brain. What are the historic origins of this fetish and phenomenon? And what real life s...

There’s not much good to come out of a plague, especially a bubonic plague in the 14th century. A pandemic which definitely didn't involve zoom quizzes and a video montage of celebrities singing 'Imagine' by John Lennon (actually, maybe they were better off in the 1300s). But something extraordinary happened after The Black Death, which killed around half of the population in England. Because of a...

What made a working class woman from Edinburgh become such a threat to British intelligence services during the Second World War, that they tried her as a witch? In today's episode, we're telling you the story of Helen Duncan, aka Hellish Brown, a medium who lays claim to being the last woman in England to be tried as a witch, culminating in her trial in 1944 under the 1735 Witchcraft Act. Joining...

While the age of consent has fluctuated over time, it reveals some fascinating and enlightening things about how we view sexuality in society. Today's guest, Laura Lammasniemi, professor at Warwick School of Law, takes us back in time to explore the many ways these laws have changed, and why they have just as much relevance now as they ever have done. How did Medieval England interpret ideas of co...

Given that the medieval period covers the best part of 1000 years, there's a fair amount of sexual myth and beliefs to get through. How kinky were people in those times? Was the chastity belt just a Victorian myth? And did women really put live fish into their vaginas and then feed them to their husbands? All of these questions and more will be answered in today's episode of Betwixt the Sheets, wh...

"I came. I saw. I conquered". Perhaps the most famous Julius Caesar quote of all time. But after hearing all about his bedroom antics, it takes on a slightly...different meaning. From Cleopatra, to his three wives, to male lovers, to mistresses - Julius Caesar definitely slept his way round Rome. Today Kate is Betwixt the Ancient Roman Sheets with Emma Southon, to find out all about his rampa...

It's a credit to the resilience of the gay community that when society tried to outlaw and silence them, they just created a language of their own to keep conversation (and gossip) alive.  The language, polari, was born out of prejudice, and while it's now classified as endangered, many of its words are still used by us today. What were its many origins? When was it at its peak? And why did s...

From Catherine Howard’s affairs whilst she was with Henry VIII, to Charles II’s mistress staging a lesbian wedding as part of a threesome… Hampton Court has seen it all.  Today’s guest is Gareth Russell, historian and author of The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of History at Hampton Court , to explore a selection of the sex and scandal that’s taken place there at the hand...

As taboos go, sex between two consenting adults should not be up there as one of them. And yet! When we talk about sex in old age many people have an awkward reaction to it. Ask yourself this - is there an age when you intend on stop having sex? Joining Kate today is senior sex author and advocate of ageless sexuality, Joan Price, to tackle the myths and challenges that come with sex as you get ol...

From tip-off letters about the gun powder plot to village quarrels that lead to jail time - today we’re going Betwixt the Sheets to find out about the history of hate mail.  Joining Kate is Dr. Emily Cockayne, author of Penning Poison and consultant on the forthcoming film Wicked Little Letters , starring Olivia Coleman, based on a famous case of anonymous letters from the early 20th century....

Holywell Street, just off London's Fleet Street, was the hidden epicentre of Victorian pornography. The Daily Telegraph described it as "the vilest street in the civilised world," so naturally, we wanted to know all of the smutty details. Joining Kate to take us into this hidden world is Dr. Matthew Green, author of Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost Britain. What does this tell us about Victoria...

Why did Cleopatra soak the sails of her ship in jasmine? How did Queen Elizabeth smell? And why was perfume an essential tool of power for women across history?  Whilst it’s hard to research the history of something that leaves no physical trace, we actually know a great deal about how some of the most iconic women in history would have smelt.  Joining Kate to evoke these scents and what...

When sex between two humans can be many things, how do we define bestiality - that is, sex between a human and a non-human?  Especially when the farming industry relies on certain sex acts on animals - or ‘animal husbandry’ to use the correct term - to function.  These are an uncomfortable but important question, and we’re joined by academic Joanne Bourke, author of Loving Animals: On Be...

Today we’re looking into self sacrifice in ancient India. Why did people do it? How did people think about death and the afterlife? Who were the gods people would sacrifice themselves for? And why would a widow sacrifice herself by sitting on top of her dead husband's funeral pyre?  Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with Mary Storm to find out all about it. You can find out more about Mary’s work he...

Many people claim sex work to be the oldest profession, but we can likely put that down to being midwifery or medical professionals of some sort. However, since money has changed hands, it has also done so for sex. In today's episode of Betwixt the Sheets we're going back to a conversation I had with Dan Snow on Dan Snow's History Hit , How have attitudes to those who sell sex changed through hist...

What scares you? Some of humankind’s most common fears and phobias include fear of heights, flying, spiders, snakes, injections, germs, public speaking and….death. When you think about it…fear, and the panic it produces ,has long been driving forces — perhaps the driving force — of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and of other people.  So how did it shape history?...