Nell Gwyn: Celebrity Mistress of King Charles II

Nell Gwyn: Celebrity Mistress of King Charles II

How did a working class illiterate woman become King Charles II's favourite mistress?


Nell Gwyn was an incredibly talented comedy actor who came from a working class background, and was part of a group of pioneering women who were the first allowed to take to the stage to play women's roles.


Her personality was huge, audiences loved her ability to swear, and she was described as "the wildest creature to ever be seen at court." No wonder Charles loved her!


What was the wild world of 17th century Restoration Theatre like? How did she change comedy acting? What did the general public think of her?


Joining Kate to take us back to this world is Dr. David Taylor, Associate Professor of English at Oxford University.


You can also watch both Kate and David in the History Hit documentary, Sex and Scandal: Royal Favourites, for more about Nell's extraordinary life.


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


If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at betwixt@historyhit.com.


Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


You can take part in our listener survey here.


All music from Epidemic Sounds.


Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Avsnitt(404)

History of Sex For Sale

History of Sex For Sale

Many people claim sex work to be the oldest profession, but we can likely put that down to being midwifery or medical professionals of some sort.However, since money has changed hands, it has also don...

29 Aug 202334min

How Fear Shaped History

How Fear Shaped History

What scares you? Some of humankind’s most common fears and phobias include fear of heights, flying, spiders, snakes, injections, germs, public speaking and….death.When you think about it…fear, and the...

25 Aug 202343min

Gay Identity in Nazi Germany

Gay Identity in Nazi Germany

Berlin in the early 1930s was a place of incredible liberation for its queer community. There were over 100 gay clubs, and Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science - the first sexology researc...

22 Aug 202344min

Superstitions: Witch Marks, Touching Wood & Lucky Pants

Superstitions: Witch Marks, Touching Wood & Lucky Pants

Many of them pre-date modern religions and defy what science tells us about the world - from saluting magpies, to wearing lucky pants. Yet why do superstitions still have such a strong hold on our liv...

18 Aug 202340min

Polyamory: From Mormons to 60s Counterculture

Polyamory: From Mormons to 60s Counterculture

The polyamory movement has a long and interesting history. It takes in Pilgrims meeting Native American Indians, Mormons having their take on it, and a modern version born from 60s counterculture and ...

15 Aug 202343min

History of Kissing: Why do we lock lips?

History of Kissing: Why do we lock lips?

A good old smooch. It’s something that we do on a daily basis in one form or another (if we’re lucky), and yet have you ever stopped and wondered why we do it? Wonder no more. On today’s Betwixt the S...

11 Aug 202340min

History of Make-Up

History of Make-Up

Most of us present ourselves with some form of cosmetic, so it’s strange that historically there’s been so much judgement around the use of it.It’s something that’s been there from the Ancient world t...

8 Aug 202338min

Eleanor Aquitaine: The Life of a Medieval Badass

Eleanor Aquitaine: The Life of a Medieval Badass

You would think that a woman who was queen several times, commanded armies and was possibly the most powerful woman in medieval Europe would need no introduction…yet here we are.On today’s show we’re ...

4 Aug 202343min

Populärt inom Historia

kod-katastrof
massmordarpodden
motiv
historiska-brott
p3-historia
olosta-mord
rss-historien-om
historiepodden-se
rss-seriemordarpodden
historianu-med-urban-lindstedt
rss-brottsligt
rss-massmordarpodden
krigshistoriepodden
rss-historiska-brottslingar
militarhistoriepodden
palmemordet
rss-arkiv-stieg
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
nu-blir-det-historia
oppet-fall