The Dark History of Bearded Ladies & the Victorian Freak Show
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 fr...
30 Jul 202439min
History of Grief: Sky Burials & Victorian Death Photos
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 bot...
26 Jul 202443min
Flagellation Brothels: Georgian Spanking Houses
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 ...
23 Jul 202439min
Incest & Royalty: House of the Dragon & Beyond
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 s...
19 Jul 202447min
Gaslighting to Woke: Origins of Modern Buzzwords
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...
16 Jul 202440min
Surprising History of Redheads: From Prehistoric Gingers to Ed Sheeran
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...
12 Jul 202436min
Queer London & The Post-War Moral Panic
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...
9 Jul 202440min
Emperors & Scandals in Ancient Rome with Mary Beard
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...
5 Jul 202447min
