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

*WARNING this episode includes explicit language and adult themes*

What were your medieval ancestors getting up to in the bedroom? Join sex historian Kate Lister, Betwixt the Sheets, to find out.

Medievalist and George Michael super-fan Dr Eleanor Janega is on the podcast to chat all things aphrodisiacs, sex diaries and religious rules.

Hear about bizarre fertility treatments involving actual fish in places they should never go, medieval chat up lines, and much, much more.

You can watch Kate and Eleanor on screen together in History Hit's documentary, Medieval Pleasures here.

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Annie Coloe.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

This podcast includes music by Epidemic Sounds and archive clips from The Princess Bride 1987, Angela MacNamara's Sex Education for Girls 1980.

Warning: This episode includes strong language and some adult themes.

What comes to mind when you see the word voodoo? Most people tend to think of horror movies, zombies, dolls and witchcraft - but Vodou is a hugely misunderstood religion and spiritual practice.

Kate is joined by two experts Betwixt the Sheets on today's episode; Dr Kyrah Malika Daniels on Haitian Vodou and the part it played in the revolution of 1791, and Elizabeth James on New Orleans and Louisiana Voodoo.

Find out its long and fascinating history, and why it's become one of the most sensationalised religions in the world.

Learn more about Haitian Vodou and its history here, and here, and you can follow Dr Daniels work, here.

For more on African and Diasporic Religious Studies, please click here.

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Seyi Adaobi.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

This podcast includes music from Epidemic Sounds, and archive clips from White Zombie 1932.

From Boudicca to Ukrainian snipers, battlefields have always contained a surprising number of women.

Today Kate is joined Betwixt the Sheets by Sarah Percy to get to the bottom of why women were allowed to be astronauts a full thirty years before they were allowed to fight in combat.

From women who disguised themselves as men in order to be allowed to fight, to the Soviet all-female regiments who Nazi Germany learnt to fear, they'll be discussing fearless women warriors on the frontline.

You can find out more about Sarah's book here.

If you're enjoying Betwixt please vote for us at the British Podcast Awards here. It would mean the world to us!

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What does it take to get the reputation as one of the least popular queens in history?

Should we remember Henrietta Maria as the wife of the King executed by his subjects, the Catholic influencer and a serial adulterer? Or as a prankster, a patron of the arts and a mother of two Kings?

Henrietta Maria became Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland aged 15. A quarter of a century and a civil war later she was widowed when her husband, Charles I, was executed. By the end of her life she was restored to court on a generous pension.

Her life, therefore, was a busy one, and in this episode of Betwixt the Sheets Kate is joined by Leanda de Lisle to bring Henrietta Maria out of the shadows. We look into her marriage, her motherhood and her life after the death of her husband.

*WARNING there are naughty words and adult themes in this episode*

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Edited by Joseph Knight.

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*WARNING this episode includes adult themes and conversations about mental health and drug use.*

In 2020, the UK government revealed that 17% of the adult population of Britain were prescribed medication for their mental health. But when were these drugs invented? How were they tested? And how have they become, in some cases, ‘mother’s little helper’?

From antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications to stimulants and mood stabilisers - Dr David Healy takes us on a journey through the development and use of psychiatric - or psychotropic - medication, and how this development has in turn affected our diagnoses.

David is a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, and is a professor of Psychiatry at McMaster University in Canada.

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Aidan Lonergan.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

This episode includes music by Epidemic Sound and archive clips from Zoloft commercial 2001.