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

Who really were the gladiators of Ancient Rome?With them once again hitting the big screens this month, we wanted to take you back a couple of thousand years to find out more about the people who fought and what their lives were really like.What rights in society did they have? How often did they meet a gruesome end? And were they sex symbols?Joining Kate is historian and expert in all things Ancient Rome, Emma Southon, author of A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women, to help us find out more.This podcast was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.

** TW: This episode contains themes of suicide **Sylvia Plath was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.During and since she died, she became known for her volatile relationship with fellow poet, Ted Hughes, as much as her own beautiful, confessional writing.What was Sylvia Plath like as a woman? What drew her and Ted Hughes to each other? And how did sex and sexuality influence her personality and writing?Joining Kate today is Emily van Dyne, author of Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation, to dispel some of the myths and help us get to know this remarkable woman.This podcast was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.

With the US election happening, we wanted to 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 and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House.This podcast was edited by Freddy Chick. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.

When we think about Greek and Roman beauty, we think of marble statues of huge men with tiny...feet.But what did it mean to be a beautiful woman? What role did their ideas of ugliness play in these ideas? And how did Christianity throw a curveball in all of this?Taking us back to this world is Caroline Vout, author of Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body, to give us a learned glimpse beneath the togas.This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

We often think of the witch trials as something in the deep and distant past.But, as we'll hear in today's episode, the attitudes and behaviour that led to witch trials is as present today as it was then.In this third and final episode of our limited series, Inside the Witch Trials, we go back to Salem, Massachusetts, to find out how colonialism, racism and a radical ideology created a witch trial that's as relevant today as it was in the 17th century.What was life like for Puritans in this new and unfamiliar land? Why did so many people willingly admit to being witches? And what became of Tituba, the enslaved woman whose testimony sparked panic in this remote village?Kate is joined by Professor Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials, to find out.This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.

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.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

When we think of the witch trials, we often think of women being charged.Whilst misogyny was at the heart of many of the witch trials, this isn't the full story.In this second episode of a limited series, Inside the Witch Trials, we go back to the the Westfjords of Iceland, to find out why it was mostly men, not women, who were burned at the stake for witchcraft.How did society differ to the rest of Europe at this time? How did Iceland's history of magic impact ideas around witchcraft? And what hope did you have if you were accused of being a witch?Kate is joined by Dr. Ólína Kjerulf Þorvarðardóttir, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bifröst.This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.

Ancient Egyptian rulers, incest, the Nazis and female empowerment, all in one episode! 'But how?' You say. 'What story could possibly bring all of these things together?'This is the story of Queen Nefertiti and her bust. Kate is joined by Joyce Tyldesley and Monica Hanna to find out just who this woman was, and how a statue of her ended up in Berlin.Joyce Tyldesley is Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology at the University of Manchester. She is the author of many books including ‘Nefertiti's Face: The Creation of an Icon’.Monica Hanna is an Egyptologist, Associate Professor and Acting Dean of the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, in Aswan, Egypt. You can find out more about her work here.This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

People in the 17th century were at spiritual war with the devil. It was a time of huge upheaval. What became known as the witch trials soon followed.In this first episode of a limited series, Inside the Witch Trials, we go back to the English village of Pendle in 1612, to find out how and why a nine year old girl was able to condemn her family to death, as witches.How was magic viewed and used before the witch trials? What influence did the Reformation play in stoking fears and paranoia? And what became of the girl who stood up in court to accuse her family of witchcraft?Kate is joined by historians Eleanor Janega, co-host of Gone Medieval, and Ronald Hutton.This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code BETWIXTYou can take part in our listener survey here.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.