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

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...

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 episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith...

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 sister podcast, Gone Medieval, to find out more...

When you look into the history of menopause it’s steeped in misogyny, fear and demonising women’s bodies. 

But what is the truth behind some of the popular menopause myths? How has it been understood (or misunderstood) throughout history? And how have post-menopausal women essential to human evolution? 

Joining Kate today is Dr. Jennifer Gunter, author of the Menopause Manifesto and gynaecology physician of 30+ years...

There are many privileges that come with being a royal, but where do mistresses lay amongst these? If you'll excuse the pun.

Charles II was notorious for the women in his life, from his wife Catherine to infamous mistresses like the formidable Nell Gwynn.

What was in it for them? And how did they all get along? Joining Kate today is Linda Porter, author of Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy...

What does it mean to be a geisha? How does someone become one? And how do they differ from sex workers?

The geisha world is famously very secretive and private, and taking us into it today is Lesley Downer, who spent years befriending geishas in research for her book Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World.

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

Glass of meat wine, anyone? That's right, the Victorians loved a glass of meaty wine.

They loved drinking so much that it became a moral panic, with whole movements of temperance cropping up around Britain...

Elvis Presley embraced sexuality from the start. Rock n roll was not tame music, and neither were his early performances.

So much so that he was nicknamed Elvis 'the pelvis' after early TV performances...

If there’s one thing you’ll find out from this episode, it’s that the Ancient Greeks were better at philosophy than gynaecology.

Struggling to conceive? You might be given a stuffed dead puppy to provoke fertility.

Helping Kate make sense of Ancient Greek gynaecology today is Helen King, author of Hippocrates' Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece...