The Vatican's Naughty Library

Independent horror film ‘White Zombie’, starring Bela Lugosi, premiered in New York City’s Rivoli Theatre on July 28th, 1932. It marked the first time that zombies had featured in a Hollywood picture - albeit as the result of an evil voodoo master in Haiti rather than a condition ...  عرض المزيد

Warner Brothers’ biggest animated star, Bugs Bunny, made his cartoon debut on July 27th, 1940, in A Wild Hare - though, at the time, he didn’t officially have a name… Though previous versions of the ‘wabbit had appeared in earlier Looney Tunes shorts, this incarnation - directed ...  عرض المزيد

50 years ago this week, the Vatican's list of banned books was finally abolished by Pope Paul VI. The aim of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was to protect the faith and morals of Catholics by preventing the reading of what the Church deemed to be heretical and immoral books. The ...  عرض المزيد

What makes a book bad? Does it have to be nonsensical? Heretical? Libellous? Sexy?Well for 500 years, a panel from the Roman Catholic Church attempted to grapple with this distinction.Today Betwixt the Sheets, we find out what this collection of people deemed unsafe for the eyes ...  عرض المزيد

Sex, scandal and ... the Sacraments? Renaissance Rome wasn't for the faint hearted. And the Vatican? For some that was the source of the drama.In this episode, Kate is joined by Catherine Fletcher to meet one of the Vatican's randiest residents - Pope Alexander VI. From saucy par ...  عرض المزيد

What are the most commonly banned books? In this classic episode, Cristen and Caroline read between the (banned) lines of history, from a legal timeline of book banning to the primary reasons books are banned in the first place: sex, language and the occult.See omnystudio.com/lis ...  عرض المزيد