Nell Gwyn: Celebrity Mistress of King Charles II

Sexuality is a funny thing. It's a social construct just as much as, say, virginity is.We use words like heterosexuality and homosexuality because they are convenient, more than because they're wholly...

8 Des 202340min

If the Kennedy's were America's first royal family, then Jackie was its queen.She was a style icon who, alongside her husband and president JFK, symbolised a fresh hopeful start in post-war America.An...

4 Des 202334min

How do we understand something as huge as a global epidemic?Similarly to Covid, the AIDS epidemic, which was most destructive in the 1980s and 90s, had such universal reach. Yet within that, there wer...

1 Des 202359min

“If I don’t have a woman for three days, I get terrible headaches.”That is what JFK allegedly told the UK prime minister, Harold MacMillan, after a meeting on nuclear arms. An interesting alternative ...

28 Nov 202340min

The 1980s have a lot to answer for - spandex, for one.It also saw the first new anti-gay law in Britain for over a century.Against the backdrop of the HIV epidemic, and increasing homophobia across th...

24 Nov 202338min

Napoleon Bonaparte has been described in many way throughout history. Conquerer. Lover. Legend. Shrivelled Eel?Perhaps you haven't heard the last description before, but that's how a journalist descri...

21 Nov 202344min

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, ...

17 Nov 202332min

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...

13 Nov 202344min