Have you ever heard of the Emperor who made his horse a senator? Seems like a top bloke, right? Today on Betwixt the Sheets we’re going to meet (possibly) the most debauched Roman Emperor.

From stealing brides from their wedding days to an unhealthy obsession with his sister, who was Caligula and was he a f*ckboy? Kate is joined by historian Alexander Meddings to find out. 

Alexander is a Rome-based historian and travel writer. He leads tours of the Appian Way - one of the most important roads of Ancient Rome.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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Today, it is one of the most commonly performed surgeries. But when was the hysterectomy, the removal of the uterus, first performed? How has this procedure interacted with ideas such as femininity and eugenics? And WHY would a very brave woman perform this surgery on herself?

Kate is joined Betwixt the Sheets with returning guest, Dr Elinor Cleghorn. Elinor is the author of 'Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World'.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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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.

How 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' was Lord Byron really?

We know the Romantic poet had a bit of a reputation, but how true was it? And how unusual would his behaviour have been?

In the first episode of our series on the worst f*ckboys in history, we're digging into Byron's relationships with Andrew Stauffer, President of the Byron Society of America, professor and chair of the Department of English at the University of Virginia, and author of 'Byron: A Life in Ten Letters'.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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.  

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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

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Possibly the first recorded sexually transmitted disease, gonorrhoea is still one of the most common.

We're back on the itchier side of history today to find out more about the story of this difficult-to-spell affliction.

Kate is back with Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh. Together they discuss the odd and off-putting treatments offered for gonorrhoea over the centuries.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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.  

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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.

For better or (mostly) worse, Jiang Qing left her mark on the 20th century.

Even before she was married to Chairman Mao, Jiang was a charismatic actor, and her passion for culture helped her spearhead the Cultural Revolution as part of the Communist Party in China, later in life.

Joining Kate for this fourth and final episode of our limited series, Real Wives of Dictators, is Linda Jaivin, author of Shortest History of China and the upcoming Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China.

How did she make her way to the head of the Communist Party? Why did she describe herself as "Mao's dog"? And what brought about her downfall?

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

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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.  

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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.

When the music hall dancer, Belle Ellmore, disappeared in January 1910, it was her performing colleagues who raised the alarm.

Her murder by Dr. Crippen became a media sensation, and he became the star of the story.

Why was Belle Ellmore murdered? Why did it cause such a sensation at its time? And what role did her friends and colleagues in the music hall industry play in bringing justice?

Joining Kate today is historian and author, Hallie Rubenhold, whose feminist lens on this story, in Story of a Murder, is long overdue.

This episode is edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer is Charlotte Long.

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.  

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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.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva was born into a revolutionary family, but was it always her fate to marry Joseph Stalin?

She was independent, intelligent and highly politicised. Indeed, Stalin was a hero of hers growing up.

What was it like to be so heavily involved in the Communist Party and the Soviet Union? What was Stalin like as a husband to her? And was her death as suspicious as some made out?

Joining Kate for this third episode of our limited series, Real Wives of Dictators, is Sheila Fitzpatrick, historian of the Soviet Union and author of books including The Death of Stalin.

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

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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.  

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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In this episode, we're well and truly going down a rabbit hole. To unpick the controversies surrounding the author of Alice in Wonderland, Kate is joined by author and Professor of Film and Cultural Studies, Will Brooker.

Will introduces us to Charles Dodgson, pseudonym Lewis Carroll, and his life, relationships and photography. Will is a professor at Kingston University and author of 'Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll in Popular Culture'.

This episode was edited by Tomos Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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.  

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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.

What was life like as Adolf Hitler's other half?

Although their marriage came (very) late in their lives, Eva Braun was with Hitler from the earlier days in his political career, and was a confidant to him through the rise (and fall) of the Nazi Party.

How complicit was she in the evil ideologies Hitler set out? Was she in any way a victim? And what was it like to be part of the inner circle?

Joining Kate in the second episode of our limited series, Real Wives of Dictators, is Clare Mulley, historian and author of books including The Women Who Flew For Hitler, and recently, Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elzbieta Zawacka.

This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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.  

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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

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Travel back to post-WW1 London, when sex, drugs and music was exploding in Soho... causing a national moral panic.

The drugs of choice? Cocaine and morphine. Still used by doctors for questionable medicinal reasons (cough syrup anyone?!) but now also taken in nightclubs and opium dens by socialites around Soho.

This week, Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with Professor Toby Seddon to talk about the history of drugs, the people who were selling and taking them, and how the government attempted to crack down.

Historic Soho has been brought to life in the new BBC show Dope Girls, which tells the story of Soho when female gangs ran the nightclubs after the First World War. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer now.

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.