Time Travelling Queers

Don One is joined by the fabulous Layton Williams and historian (and Ghost Club member!) Jonty Stern for a spooky spin through queer history.

From 1930s drag balls and ancient Celtic rituals to the legendary Ladies of Llangollen and their possible lesbian ghosts, we're uncovering the fabulously queer history of Halloween.

With Layton hitting the road on his UK tour in 2027, expect big laughs, spooky surprises and plenty of queer chaos.

Hop in… if you dare! 👻

#ttqpod

Website: Timetravellingqueers.com

Social media: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Instagram: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production.www.mollyhousemedia.com

Host: Don One

Guest: Layton Williams

Historian: Jonty Stern

Creator, writer and Director: David Graham

Writer and Producer: Marie Horner

Executive Producer: Rishi Khosla

Editor: David Graham

Set Designer: Ellie Koslowsky

Sound Designer and Dubbing Mixer: Jon Gray

Theme Music Composer: Adiescar Chase

Chapters/timestamps

0:00 - 0:42 Coming up on TTQ

0:43 - 7:47 Intro

7:47 - 8:05 Call to Action

8:06 - 8:55 Time Travel jump 1

8:55 - 10:06 - Chicago 1932: No Booze, No Queers… Except Tonight!

10:06 -12:29 - 1935 Finneys Drag Balls

12:29 - 13:31 Halloqueen - being out in plain site 

13:31 - 17:03 1943 Finney’s legacy Bitches Christmas!

17:03 - 17:36  Time Travel jump 2

17:36 - 21:33 French Celts? The Gaul and Ghoul of it all

21:33 - 25:05 Halloween’s Celtic roots

25:05 - 26:29 Queer Celts!

26:30 - 27:34 Time Travel jump 3

27:34 - 31:03 Ladies of Llangollen enter the chat

31:03 - 32:45 Divergent Diaries: Enter Ann Lister aka Gentleman Jack 

32:45 - 33:50 She Said, She Said- more lesbians more judgement

33:50 - 35:56 An ode to the Lesbians of Llangollen

35:56 - 38:21 Fashionable Late!

38:21- 40:32 Are they ghosting or haunting us?

40:32 - 42:35 Riding Rating our guest passenger gets quizzed

42:35 - 43:42 What is the future Layton up to?

43:42 - 44:15 Outro

REFERENCES:

The Ladies of Llangollen by Elizabeth Mavor

At Home with the Soanes by Sue Palmer (to help with food and drink questions)

Cysgu Efo Ysbrydion: Llangollen - Welsh language documentary by S4C.

https://www.philipharland.com/Blog/2023/07/celts-galatians-diodoros-on-their-myths-origins-and-customs-mid-first-century-bce/

https://rainbowmessenger.blog/2021/11/09/gay-celts/

Celt, Druid and Culdee” by Isabel Hill Elder

“Celtic Britain” by Nora Chadwick.

IMAGE CREDIT:

The Rt. Honble. Lady Eleanor Butler & Miss Ponsonby 'The Ladies of Llangollen', 1880s, Part of the Welsh Portrait Collection, National Library of Wales.

Grab your gin and settle into your speakeasy booth, babs—we’re heading back to the roaring, smoky clubs of 1920s Harlem. In the sixth episode of Time Travelling Queers, we’re unearthing the life of a true original: the legendary blues pianist and singer, Gladys Bentley.

Clad in a sharp tuxedo, top hat, and cane, Gladys wasn't just performing, she was rewriting the rules of gender and desire. From headlining the Ubangi Club with a drag queen chorus line to turning popular hits into scandalous lesbian anthems, she was a Black queer icon before the world was ready for one.

But what happens when the party ends? We’re diving into her mysterious marriage, the hostility of the McCarthy Era, and the complicated, messy reality of survival that forced a legend to reinvent herself. Join celebrity guest Farrel Hegarty, and historian Paula Akpan as Don One travels back in time to celebrate the unapologetic, the glamorous, and the forgotten.

History has never been this queer.

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Social Media: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production. 

www.mollyhousemedia.com 

Host : Don One

Guest : Farrel Hegarty

Historian : Paula Akpan

Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham 

Writer & Producer : Marie Horner 

Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla

Editor : Lesley Posso

Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky 

Sound Designer & Dubbing Mixer : Jon Gray

Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase

CHAPTERS/TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - 2:57 intro


2:58 - 4:23 Time Travel


04:24 - 5:42  The great migration


05:43 - 13:31 Horoscopes, mummy issues and teacher crushes


13:32 - 18:30 The Clam House, a Harlem Queer Speak Easy


18:31 - 19:28 What’s on Trend?!



19:29 - 27:30 A queer prohibition triple threat

27:31 - 31:47 Filthy lyrics



31:48 - 34:57 From Clams to Crowns - Ubangi Club Royalty 


34:57 - 39:11 Gladys’ or a “special friend” 

39:12 - 52:36 A woman again- McCarthyism

52:37 - 56:03 Legacy


56:04 - 57:07 Sorting out the fare and outro 


57:08 - 57:14 Easter egg

REFERENCES

Gladys Bentley and the Performance of Queer Black Female Masculinity 

Gladys Bentley: The Life and Legacy of a Blues Singer 

The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules 

The Miraculous Masculinity of Gladys Bentley 

Gladys Bentley (National Museum of African American History and Culture) 

Gladys Bentley: Pioneering Queer Performer 

IMAGE CREDIT

Gladys Bentley circa 1930, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture via New York Times

CONTENT WARNING : this episode includes a reference to sexual assault

They lived as a seamstress, a soldier and a servant — and then a court demands to know whether they’re a man or a woman, and the answer is: both.

This week, Zelah Glasson travels back in time with historian Kit Heyam to meet Thomas(ine) Hall, an extraordinary figure whose life crossed the boundaries of gender in 17th-century England and colonial Virginia.

Born Thomasine, they wore women's clothes before cutting their hair, dressing as a man and joining the army. Later, they returned to women's clothing, worked as a seamstress and eventually travelled to Virginia as a male servant.

But in 1629, Thomas(ine)'s neighbours began to question their gender. What followed was an extraordinary court case involving examinations, accusations and intense scrutiny of Thomas(ine)'s body and identity.

Thomas(ine)'s answer was clear: they were both a man and a woman. The court's eventual ruling was just as extraordinary — ordering Thomas(ine) to live publicly as both.

A seamstress. A soldier. A servant. A survivor. And someone who refused to fit neatly into the boxes of their time.

History has never been this queer.

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Instagram: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production. 

www.mollyhousemedia.com 

Host : Don One

Guest : Zelah Glasson

Historian : Kit Heyam

Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham 

Writer & Producer : Marie Horner 

Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla

Editor : Lesley Posso

Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky 

Sound Designer & Dubbing Mixer : Jon Gray

Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase

Recorded at www.storyhousestudios.co 

CHAPTERS

0:00 - 2:20 intro
2:21 - 3:09 time travel
3:09 - 7:52 Pissing on everyone’s cornflakes
7:53 - 8:40 Thomas the Soldier. Thomasine the lacemaker
8:41 - 13:52 crossing the Atlantic and gender norms
13:33 16:30 Why is this gym bro hanging with the girls?- Zelah BB experience
16:31 - 19:40 Whats on Trend? Sad colours!
19:41 - 21:00 “A bit for my cat”
21:01 - 22:59  The examinations to “settle the matter’
23:00 - 25:55 the sentence for being both
25:56- 26:36 Gender anxiety
26:37 - 27:16 Native American two spirits
27:17- 31:27 Legacy
31:28 - 32:31 Outro
32:31- 32:47 Easter egg

REFERENCES

Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender (Basic Books UK / Seal Press, 2022)

David Hackett Fischer, Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (Oxford University Press, 1989)

H. R. McIlwaine (ed.), Minutes of the Council & General Court of Colonial Virginia, 1622–1632, 1670–1676, with Notes & Excerpts from Original Council & General Court Records, into 1683, Now Lost (Richmond: The Colonial Press, Everett Waddey Co., 1924), pp. 194–195

Virginia General Court, 1622–29, Cases, with Minutes, ser. 8, vol. 15, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress 

Jennifer Frangos, ‘The Early Modern Queer Atlantic: Narratives of Sex and Gender on New World Soil’, in The Edinburgh Companion to Atlantic Literary Studies (Edinburgh University Press, 2016), 248–267

Kathryn Wichelns, ‘From The Scarlet Letter to Stonewall: Reading the 1629 Thomas(ine) Hall Case, 1978–2009’, Early American Studies, 12.3 (2014), 500–523

What happens when you're born a princess without a kingdom, fall in love with your governess, and end up risking everything to help people escape the Nazis?

This week, Don travels back in time with Dr Ranj and historian Dr Kit Heyam to the extraordinary life of Catherine Duleep Singh, daughter of the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, who was forced into exile in Britain after the British conquest of Punjab.

Born a princess in exile, Catherine Duleep Singh lived a life of aristocratic glamour—but behind the scenes, she was battling displacement and colonial expectations. 

Enter Lina Schäfer. What began as a governess-and-chaperone relationship became a lifelong partnership—a love story society tried to file under 'just friends.' When the Nazis rose to power, Catherine didn't just survive; she became a resistance hero, using her wealth to save lives and refusing to leave Lina behind. It’s a story of a princess who defied everything to protect the person she loved.

A princess. A love story. A suffragist. A resistance ally. And a woman who refused to leave the person she loved behind.

History has never been this queer. 

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Instagram: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production. 

www.mollyhousemedia.com 

Host : Don One

Guest : Dr Ranj Singh

Historian : Kit Heyam

Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham 

Writer & Producer : Marie Horner 

Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla

Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky 

Sound Designer : Jon Gray

Dubbing Mixer : Sam Morris

Edited by : David Mark Graham

Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase

Recorded at www.storyhousestudios.co 

CHAPTERS

0:00 - 4:53 Intro

4:54 - 5:48 Time Travel

5:48 - 13:36 Exiled princess

13:36 - 19:05 Governess Lina

19:05 - 23:17 What’s on Trend!?

23:17 - 28:39 The party’s over, The Nazi’s arrive

28:39 - 33:14 The Suffragette sisters

33:14 - 34:15 Ashes to ashes

34:15 - 40:17 Catherine’s Legacy

40:18 - 41:37 Sorting out the fare and outro

REFERENCES

Catherine Duleep Singh — Historic Royal Palaces, Hampton Court Palace, 2026. Read online

Princess Catherine and the Jewish Refugees — Tylers Green Church. Read online

Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary — Anita Anand, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.

IMAGE CREDIT

Portrait of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, by Lafayette Studio, 1897.  © Courtesy of Peter Bance Collection.

Catherine Duleep Singh (left) with her German governess and lover, Lina Schäfer (right). Addressed to Miss Mayes, signed ‘Lina Schäfer’, 1930. © Courtesy of Peter Bance Collection.

Travel with us to meet the gender-defying ruler who demanded to be recognised on their own terms.

In Episode 3 of Time Travelling Queers, Don One is joined by model, entrepreneur and activist Dani St James and historian Paula Akpan to journey to seventeenth-century Central Africa and meet the extraordinary Njinga a Mbande, the 17th century ruler of the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba.

For more than forty years, Njinga resisted Portuguese colonisation through fearless diplomacy, military strategy and political brilliance. Defying European expectations of how a ruler should look or behave, Njinga embraced masculine dress, adopted a male-coded title and kept a harem of male concubines.

Together, Don, Dani and Paula unpack one of history's most fascinating and complex leaders, exploring colonial resistance, gender, power, diplomacy and the legacy of a ruler whose story has too often been overlooked.

Expect political intrigue, battlefield strategy, royal drama and a history lesson that proves there was never just one way to rule.

History has never been this queer. 

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Instagram: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production. 

www.mollyhousemedia.com 

Host : Don One

Guest : Dani St James

Historian : Paula Akpan

Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham 

Writer & Producer : Marie Horner 

Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla

Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky 

Sound Designer : Jon Gray

Dubbing Mixer : Sam Morris

Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase

Special thanks to the incredible historians who gave their time and knowledge as we developed this show; Claire Mead, Jas Bevan Nas, Tim May, Ema Sala, Tallulah Smart, Kit Heyam, Ess Grange, Jonty Stern, Kit Green and Siobhan McGuirk.

Recorded at www.storyhousestudios.co 

CHAPTERS

0:00 - 03:41 Intro
03:42 - 04:36 Time Travel
04:37- 12:22 No Kings. No Pronouns. Only Rulers!
12:22 - 16:59 Nepo Baby
17:00 - 19:15 The UN Could Never. Njinga the Diplomat
19:16 - 20:48 What's on Trend?
20:49 - 24:54 The consequences of Colonialism
24:54 - 33:28 Njinga takes the Kingdom and another
33:29 37:09 Njinga’s legacy
37:10 - 38:53 Sorting out the fare and outro

REFERENCES

When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors — Paula Akpan, Trapeze, 2025.

Go buy this book and see all the amazing and extensive research Paula did to write it - go to www.paulaakpan.com 

IMAGE CREDIT

Queen Nzinga Mbande (Anna de Sousa Nzinga) by Achille Devéria, printed by François Le Villain, published by Edward Bull, published by Edward Churton, after Unknown artist hand-coloured lithograph, 1830s NPG D34632 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Meet Mary Frith aka Mary or Moll Frith aka Mal or Moll Cutpurse aka Mary Markham aka Mary Thrift.  - the gender non-conforming outlaw who thrived in the chaos of the early 1600s made breaking the rules an art form. Whether they were the first woman to smoke in public, wearing “men’s” clothes, or pawning stolen goods, Mary refused to play by society's rules. 

In Episode 2 of Time Travelling Queers, Don One is joined by comedian Rosie Jones and historian Ess Grange to travel back to the streets of early modern London and meet the extraordinary Mary Frith.

Centuries before gender expression became part of everyday conversation, Mary was wearing men's clothes, smoking pipes, wielding a sword, performing on stage and building a reputation as one of London's most notorious rule-breakers. 

Together, Don, Rosie and Ess unravel the myths and the facts behind one of history's most unforgettable queer figures, exploring prison stints, theatrical scandals, underworld dealings and the remarkable life of an icon who became larger than life.

History has never been this queer. 

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Instagram: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production. 

www.mollyhousemedia.com 

Host : Don One

Guest : Rosie Jones

Historian : Ess Grange

Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham 

Writer & Producer : Marie Horner 

Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla

Hair & Make Up : Nicole Fairfield

Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky 

Sound Designer : Jon Gray

Dubbing Mixer : Sam Morris

Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase

Special thanks to the incredible historians who gave their time and knowledge as we developed this show; Claire Mead, Jas Bevan Nas, Tim May, Ema Sala, Tallulah Smart, Kit Heyam, Ess Grange, Jonty Stern, Kit Green and Siobhan McGuirk.

Recorded at www.storyhousestudios.co 

CHAPTERS

0:00 - 03:31 Intro
03:31 - 04:17 Time Travel
04:18 - 07:41 London Is Falling Apart
7:42- 09:25 Did Mary go to America?
09:26 - 12:38 What's on Trend?
12:39 - 27:57 Moll Cutpurse takes to the stage
27:58- 33:08 The Christmas Eve Flashing Incident
33:09 - 39:13 Crime Boss Era
39:14 - 51:28 Life and Death of Mary Frith
51:29 - 53:11 Mary’s legacy
53:12 - 55:28 Sorting out the fare and outro

REFERENCES

The Roaring Girl, Middleton & Dekker, 1611

The Life and Death of Mary Frith (originally published first in 1662), modern publication edited by Janet Todd and Elizabeth Spearing, 1994. 

The Date of the Roaring Girl, P.A. Mulholland, 1977

Mary Frith alias Moll Cutpurse in Life & Literature, Gustav Ungerer, 2000

Plus Ess’ PhD research, not yet published but we will shout about it when it is!

IMAGE CREDIT

London (Castle Street, Leicester Fields) : Published by W. Richardson, [between 1800 and 1899?]. Wellcome Collection Reference: 2015801i

What do you get when you put a drag queen, a drag king, a Big Brother star and one of England's most controversial monarchs in the same taxi?

In the first episode of Time Travelling Queers, Don One is joined by RuPaul's Drag Race UK star Tia Kofi and historian and Big Brother 8’s Jonty Stern to journey back to the fourteenth century and uncover the extraordinary life of King Edward II.

Was Edward II really England's first queer king? Were his relationships with Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser love stories, political disasters—or both? And why has history spent centuries obsessing over how he died instead of how he reigned?

Expect scandal, court favourites, civil war, royal revenge, dubious death theories, and enough palace drama to rival today's reality TV.

History has never been this queer. 

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Instagram: @timetravellingqueers

Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag

A Molly House Media Production. 

www.mollyhousemedia.com 

Host : Don One

Guest : Tia Kofi

Historian : Jonty Stern

Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham 

Writer & Producer : Marie Horner 

Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla

Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky 

Sound Designer & Dubbing Mixer : Jon Gray

Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase

Special thanks to the incredible historians who gave their time and knowledge as we developed this show; Claire Mead, Jas Bevan Nas, Tim May, Ema Sala, Tallulah Smart, Kit Heyam, Ess Grange, Jonty Stern, Kit Green and Siobhan McGuirk.

Recorded at www.storyhousestudios.co 

CHAPTERS

0:00 - 03:23 Intro
03:24 - 04:06 Time Travel
04:07 - 08:58  For Queer King and Country
08:59 -  11:52 There were two of us in this marriage
11:53 - 13:00 The Favourite number 1 Piers
13:00- 16:20 Whats On Trend!?
16:20-23:40 Piers the favourite continued
23:41 - 37:44 Favourite number 2 Hugh Dispenser
37:45 - 43:17 Revenge is a dish served red hot and pointy.
43:18- 45:30 Is Diana Spencer related to Hugh Despenser?
45:30- 46:56 King Edward II Legacy
46:56- 48:11 Sorting out the fare and outro

REFERENCES

Edward II the Man: A Doomed Inheritance — Stephen Spinks, Amberley Publishing, 2017.

The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327–1330 — Ian Mortimer, Jonathan Cape, 2003.

Joan of Kent: The First Princess of Wales — Penny Lawne, Amberley Publishing, 2015.

The Queen and the Mistress: The Women of Edward III — Gemma Hollman, The History Press, 2022.

Edward I — L. F. Salzman, Frederick A. Praeger, 1968

IMAGE CREDIT

Manuscript in Carlisle Castle from c. 14th century and an anonymous 19th century portrait of Edward II by unknown Author, accessed via Wikimedia Commons.

History has never been this queer. 

Take a seat in the back of our cab with celebrity guests and historians for a ride through queer history, driven by our drag king extraordinaire Don One – hurry the meters running. Every episode uncovers the story of an extraordinary queer person from history, exploring the lives, cultures and moments that helped shape our community.

#ttqpod

Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com 

Instagram: @timetravellingqueers