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

In 1909, the third and final woman hanged in Western Australia was executed. She had murdered three of her step children.What drove Martha Rendall to kill these children? Why did others in their neigh...

Malleus Maleficarum may sound like a spell but it is actually almost the opposite. This book was nicknamed the Hammer of Witches, and today we're finding out if it really started the European witch hu...

Until the 19th century in Britain, a woman killing her husband was guilty of worse than murder, she was guilty of petty treason.So what is petty treason? What is its very harsh punishment? And why was...

Lord Nelson is remembered as one of history's greatest military commanders. His victories at the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the Battle of Trafalgar cemented his legendary status,...

As if the Tudor world wasn't mad enough, in 1528 a mystic nun showed up demanding an audience with Henry VIII.Elizabeth Barton stood in front of him and told him that his controversial marriage to Ann...

The samurai are some of the most mythologised people in history, so let's do some myth busting!Kate is joined by Joe Nickols, who co-curated the British Museum's samurai exhibition, to dive into the r...

This is the wild story of a 12th century French philosopher, Abelard, who fell in love with his student, Heloise.There are a lot of problematic issues going on. Not least their age gap, the resulting ...

You know her from the perfume, the little black dress, the double C bag clasp, but who was the woman, Coco Chanel? What even was her real name?From her origin story, through her inspirations and affai...

‘Who wants a girl with a personality?’ Historically, not the royals.Queen Caroline of Brunswick became Queen Consort of the United Kingdom in 1820, when her husband became King George IV. She was incr...

Poor Catherine Howard. She was smart, intelligent and undeniably beautiful, but ultimately no match for the vicious Henry VIII.She was certainly a victim but was she totally blameless?Joining Kate tod...

Pablo Picasso's impact on the art world was sensational, but what impact did he have on the people around him?His relationship history contains some problematic moments, to say the least, so we are as...

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, sex work was a prime example of what capitalism did to society. Under communism, sex work would no longer need to exist in society.Spoiler: it very much stil...

Beautiful women are always causing trouble in history, and perhaps none more so than Helen of Troy.She's the daughter of Zeus and a human mother, after all.With the new film Odyssey hitting the big sc...

Picture a dragon and its dragon slayer. What do you imagine?It's likely going to be a giant, scaly, fire-breathing beast and a rugged knight with a massive sword. However, throughout history we have a...

With the Fourth of July and America's 250th around the corner we wanted to revisit an episode and take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives.Which president wa...

Why did 200 people queue to give blood in the San Diego summer heat on 16 July 1983?During the AIDS crisis, many people living with HIV developed severe anaemia as a result of the disease and the trea...

Marlene Dietrich was unapologetic in her love of sex, and she had a lot of it.She took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s and slept with some of tinsel town's most famous men and women.What made her so u...

Why on earth would anyone make a perilous journey across wilderness and snow covered mountains, all because of a bit of gold?This isn't Lord of the Rings, it's the Klondike Gold Rush, when an estimate...

Mata Hari was a dancer and courtesan who was executed in 1917 for being a spy during the First World War.How did she get involved in such dangerous business? Was she really a mastermind spy who used h...

Has Burlesque always meant the same thing? Where did it come from? And how has it changed?Kate is joined by Dr Marissa Vigneault, Associate Professor of Art History at Utah State University, to find o...

Madam du Barry's life was remarkable: from rags, to riches, to... revolution. And she pi**ed off Marie Antoinette along the way, too.How did this courtesan from a poor background make it to be royal m...

What really went down in the Garden of Eden? Was there an apple? Was there a snake? Was the 'original sin' all that bad?To answer these questions and more, Kate is joined by Dr Dylan Johnson, biblical...

In this new mini-series, we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used to define them.First up is Roman Empress Theodora. How did "Theodora from the brothels", as she was known, rise ...

Sex in the distant past is often thought about with all the fun taken out of it.Pleasure must have been a part of the sex lives of women and men in the past, so what evidence do we have to back this u...

How do you not only lose your own reputation and career, but also tank the reputation and freedoms of your entire industry?Today we’re exploring the first real Hollywood scandal, when actor Roscoe 'Fa...

It’s got many names: giving head, going down, eating out, dining at the Y, muff diving.Why has cunnilingus been stigmatised and feared so consistently throughout history?! When the Kama Sutra is turni...

Who was Lettice Knollys? And why was she expelled from Elizabeth I's court?Kate is joined by Estelle Paranque in this episode to find out how a man came between loving cousins, and explore whether get...

There will be giggling and gasping galore! And that's just when you listen to this episode!Dan Snow quizzes Kate on all things female pleasure. When was the first recorded female orgasm? Has there alw...

What do you have to do wrong to be specifically named in a law? In the 14th Century, one of the mistresses of King Edward III found out. So who was Alice Perrers?Kate is joined by the one and only Ele...

Has there ever been a time when homophobia did not exist? And what causes it to rise and fall?Kate is joined by Dr. Harry Tanner, author of 'The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer ...

What do we know about Jesus? Kate is joined for this episode by Professor of Christian Origins, Helen Bond, to find out more about the historical record for the events of the New Testament, why Jesus ...

What you'll hear in today's episode is a story that strikes to the dark heart of the British Empire.Despite being set in the time of Jane Austen's early 19th century polite society, Princess Caraboo's...

When the British Empire colonised India, how did it treat their different ideas about sex? How did they treat sex workers like the Devadasi, meaning 'slave of God'? And did the Victorians fetishise In...

Faces covered, identities unknown - masquerade balls sound like a place of anonymity and, therefore, SCANDAL.But how true is this in the 18th Century? Could people sneak in unrecognised like they do i...

In today's episode we're taking you back to the brothels of 19th century St. Petersburg.Sex work was legalised under the Emperor Nicholas I, but what was life like for sex workers? Why did they have t...

Was Sappho queer? Or was this Ancient Greek poet just really really good friends with women?Today on Betwixt the Sheets, Kate is joined by Katherine Horgan to find out how Sappho's poetry has lasted t...

Where the American War of Independence raged, the camp followers...followed.Among them were sex workers, for both the American and British troops. What was life like inside army camps where sex worker...

Sadism - the derivation of pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering and humiliation on others - is named after this man. So what exactly did he do?Kate is joined by journalist and author Joel Warner t...

The Moulin Rouge opened its doors in 1889, at the height of the Belle Epoch - 'the Beautiful Age'.Its famous windmill structure stood on the fringes of Paris, where intellectuals and artists mixed wit...

What is a mermaid? Do sirens, selkies and Aquaman fit into this category? And how far back in history do they go?Kate is joined by Diane Purkiss to discuss the Little Mermaid, both the Disney and Hans...

Storyville was the red-light district in New Orleans, created in 1897.What was it like in this neighbourhood, and inside the brothels there? How was race and segregation a factor in Storyville? And wh...

Was there really a boom in sex trafficking at the end of the 19th century? What was 'white slavery'? And how often did the traffickers get caught?Kate is joined by Dr Julia Laite for this episode. Jul...

Charlie Chaplin had an extraordinary life: from the workhouses of Victorian London to the glamorous films sets of Hollywood's Golden Age.He revolutionised the art form, but he wasn't without his scand...

Marie Antoinette went to her death as one of the most hated people in the world, but in recent years she has inspired millions with her style. How did she become such a contradiction?For this episode,...

Nearly 100 years ago, films in Hollywood were so much sexier and shocking than you might think they were.One of the most shocking things was how empowered and sexual women were in those films.Who were...

The Roman Emperor Tiberius has a harrowing reputation based on stories surrounding his latter years on the island of Capri. Stories of debauchery and abuse of the worst kind. But who was Tiberius and ...

In post-war Hollywood, the film industry had a reputation for its dark side as much as anything happening on the big screen.So when Elizabeth Short was dramatically - and cinematically - murdered in H...

Henry VIII, Charles II and Richard the Lionheart. What do all of these men have in common?They're incredibly eligible bachelors! Well, if not that then they are all former kings of England.At this liv...

Over 100 years ago the Hollywood film industry was shiny, new and sexy.Sex and sexuality was present on screen, but as the 1920s drew to a close, scandals and censorship crept in.Why did films begin t...

The 17th century witch trials in Scotland were many and they were brutal.Amongst the many people tried for being a witch, one woman's confessions stood out for being the most scandalous across all of ...