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

If people are still talking about your divorce and rumoured penis related issues 500 years later, it's safe to say you've had a bad break up.

For the final episode in our Worst Breakups series, we’re heading back to Renaissance Rome to meet Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of history’s naughtiest pope, and her first husband, Giovanni Sforza, in a story that ended mired in controversy over incest and impotence.

For this episode, Kate is joined by Catherine Fletcher, author of ‘The Beauty and the Terror’, ‘The Black Prince of Florence’ and ‘Our Man in Rome: The Divorce of Henry VIII’.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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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.

Neither woman expected to rule, but Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici became two of the most powerful women in Europe.

Was their relationship a fierce rivalry or something more respectful? And how did they navigate the Mary Queen of Scots crisis?

Joining Kate today is the fantastic historian and author Estelle Paranque to help us get to know these two women.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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.

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.

A 'bad boy' of Austrian art meets the 'loveliest girl in Vienna', what could possibly go wrong? Why did artist Oskar Kokoschka commission a life sized doll of his ex lover, Alma Mahler? And why did that doll end up beheaded in his back garden?

Kate is joined by Caitlin Hoerr, art historian and writer who is currently Chief of Staff and Board Liaison at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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.

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.

Frida Kahlo is an icon of art, feminism and... eyebrows.

Her art and imagery has entered into the mainstream like few artists have, and her life was as colourful and challenging as her creations.

She lived through revolutions, crippling accidents and illness, had a complicated marriage (to say the least) and many lovers.

Who was the woman behind all of this?

Joining Kate is Professor Patience Schell, Chair in Hispanic Studies at the University of Aberdeen, to help us get to know her.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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.

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.

Sending a lock of hair to your lover has fallen a little out of fashion. Sending a lock of pubic hair to your ex-lover ... well, we aren't sure that was ever in fashion.

This is just one of the things that Lady Caroline Lamb is alleged to have done when her heart was broken by Lord Byron.

For this episode, Kate is joined by Professor Paul Douglass to discuss the affair between Byron and Lamb, how it ended, and whether Lamb has been unfairly treated in the telling of this story.

Paul is Professor Emeritus of English and American Literature at San Jose State University, and the author and editor of ‘Lady Caroline Lamb: A Biography’ and a selection of Lady Caroline Lamb's letters, ‘The Whole Disgraceful Truth’.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feoderov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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.

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.