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

Anne Boleyn was smart, sophisticated and had SO much charisma. She kept Henry VIII waiting for SEVEN YEARS before they finally got together, and even then it was on her terms. So where did it all go wrong for Anne Boleyn? Were any of the wild accusations made against her true? And what do her last words tell us about her? Joining Kate today is the magnificent Tracy Borman, author of  Anne Bol...

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 that women had the capacity for genius? Joining Kate today is Tabitha Barber, curator of the Tate Britain exhibition Now You See Us , which explores women artists in Britain over the last 500 years. You can also watch Kate in a documentary all about thi...

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 have otherwise rejected them? And has the Victorian freak show ever really gone away? Joining Kate today is John Woolf, author of  The Wonders: Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age , to take us back to this world and explo...

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 relationship with death? Helping Kate get to the bottom of all of this is the wonderful Brandy Schillace, author of Death's Summer Coat: What the History of Death and Dying Teaches Us About Life and Living . This episode was edited and produced by St...

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 - birches, whips, paddles - they had you covered. What went on behind closed doors? Who was being spanked, and why was it all the range for upper class men? Taking Kate into this naughty underworld today is Julie Peakman, author of Lascivious Bodies: A...

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 always been taboo? How have the necessary degrees of separation between partners grown and shrunk over the years? And why were so many royal families keen   on familial relations in the past...Hapsburg chin anyone? Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with B...

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 do with the term gaslighting? Joining Kate today is Robbie Morgan, Lecturer and Consultant in Applied Ethics at Leeds University, to chat about the buzzwords we use and how their meanings have changed for better and worse since they were first coined...

Boudica. Elizabeth I. Ed Sheeran. The history of the redhead goes back thousands of years, and it fluctuates from prejudice in medieval Europe, to the height of fashion in Protestant England. 2% of the global population are redheads, so if you are one, you're one of a special few. Jacky Colliss Harvey, author of Red: A History of the Redhead , joins Kate Betwixt the Sheets to explore red hair thro...

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 how thriving and vibrant the gay scene was. How did lawmakers react during time? What affect did class have on the gay experience? And amongst the darkness of the period, what joy could be found? Joining Kate today to explore this time is Peter Park...

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 one, the only Mary Beard, to take us back to Ancient Rome and help separate the facts from the myths. Mary's latest book,  Emperor of Rome , is out now in paperback. This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was...

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 history? In this episode, Kate's exploring the notorious Profumo affair of the early 1960s and the Thorpe Affair of the 1970s. They had it all: sex, espionage and corruption at the highest level of society. It's no wonder they caught the attention of the wo...

Whose idea was the patriarchy? How long has it been a part of our lives? And how do we even define it? For something that's so prevalent in most of our lives, it can sometimes feel like there's an inevitability to it. However, there are so many examples of alternatives, and surprising reasons to its origins. Exploring all of this with Kate today is Angela Saini, author of The Patriarchs: How Men C...

From recent research we know that the great boy king Tutankhamun was a result of incest. How did it effect him? And was incest in Ancient Egypt mostly for symbolic reasons of retaining power, or did it go further than that? Joining Kate today is the wonderful Sarah Parcak, archaeologist and Egyptologist, to help us find out more. Importantly, they also touch on why the Ancient Egyptians found lett...

When we think of Henry VIII we think of a big, blood thirsty tyrant. But was there more to this caricature of a king then we give him credit for? Joining Kate today to help us get to know this man better is the fantastic Tracy Borman, author of Henry VIII and the men who made him . Why did Henry love his daily horoscopes? How did his hypochondria affect his sex life? And was he in, in fact, a bit...

*SPOILER ALERT: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS DETAILS OF SEASON 3 OF BRIDGERTON * With the second part of season 3 of Bridgerton dropping on Netflix in the last few days, Kate is joined by Catherine Curzon, author of Inside the World of Bridgerton: True Stories of Regency High Society , to break down how it stands up to historical accuracies of the era. How does season 3 match the historical goings on of...

Throughout history, it's mostly been queer men who were persecuted under the historical sodomy laws, but the Tudor period saw a spike in women being tried under it. Why was this? And why was it mostly happening in what is modern day Belgium and Netherlands? Joining Kate today is historian Jonas Roelens, who specialises in sexuality in the early modern period, to explore the unique things that were...

Mary Queen of Scots had a life that resembled a Game of Thrones plot: she had awful taste in men, and a cousin in Queen Elizabeth I of England, who - spoiler alert - eventually signed her death warrant. In the face of some outrageous adversity, though, Mary Queen of Scots was an extraordinary woman and queen. Was it all bad luck, or was there poor judgement from Mary, too? What are some of the con...

What were condoms like in Tudor times? Before you were able to pop to the supermarket to pick some up, where did people buy them? Joining Kate today is historian Dr. Kate Stephenson, to explore what the earliest evidence of condoms is, just how effective they were, and to smash some of the myths surrounding their history. This episode was edited by Tom Delargy, the producer was Stuart Beckwith. Th...

What's the worst thing you could accuse someone of in Ancient Rome? There are a few strong candidates, but incest is definitely up there. In today's episode, Kate speaks with Roman historian, Emma Southon, author of A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women , to find out more about the different ways the Ancient Romans thought about incest. This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was...

The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask: how real is Bridgerton? On our third episode in our REAL Bridgerton mini-series, we're looking at the the booze and drugs that took 18th and early 19th century Britain by storm. Why was opium taken for health purposes? How did gin get the nickname "mother'...

From the first fleet of convict ships arriving in Australia in 1788, sex work was a central part of the new society British colonialists were building. What was the reality for women when they arrived? What records are there of sex workers from this time? And how has sex work shaped modern Australia? Today, Kate's joined by the fantastic Rae Frances, author of Selling Sex: A Hidden History of Pros...

The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask: how real is Bridgerton? On this second episode in our REAL Bridgerton mini-series, we're looking at the royals and celebrities who filled the newspapers during 18th and early 19th century Britain. What was Queen Charlotte really like? What was the genius M...

From the earliest iterations on the plains of Africa, to 21st century reconsiderations of it: are humans meant to be monogamous? Joining Kate today is Helen Fisher, author of ANATOMY OF LOVE: A Natural History Of Mating, Marriage, And Why We Stray , to shed a light on our own relationship with this ancient social status. How successful is it really? And will it survive well into the future? This e...

The long-awaited third season of Bridgerton is here! And with it, we all become obsessed with a particularly sexy version of Regency-era history. Today's episode is the first in our mini-series on the REAL Bridgerton. Across four episodes we'll uncover Georgian attitudes to drugs and alcohol, insights into the celebrities of the time, and a re-cap on the historical accuracies of the latest season....

When you say ‘going medieval’ on someone, it brings up quite nasty connotations.  But is this brutal suggestion a fair depiction of medieval times and their thoughts on torture and punishment? What are some of the more gruesome methods they employed? And why did Henry I give authorisation for his own granddaughter-in-law to be blinded?  Joining Kate today is Matt Lewis, co-host of our si...