Illegitimacy: Sex & Secrecy in the 18th Century

The words "the man, the myth, the legend" can easily apply to King Arthur.Today we're looking past the round table, the sword in the stone, and his magician mate Merlin to explore what his love life c...

19 Dec 202347min

Margaret Cavendish was extraordinary for any time, let alone the 17th century.She was a trailblazer in fiction, writing and publishing what many believe to be the first science fiction book - her 1666...

15 Dec 202342min

What was it about the Kennedy's that attracted so much tragedy, that many believed them to be cursed?From plane disasters in World War 2, to drug overdoses and of course, assassinations - it has to be...

11 Dec 202344min

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 Dec 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 Dec 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 Dec 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