Medieval Beauty Standards with Kate Lister

What if one of the most famous stories in English history never happened? What if King Harold did not march his exhausted troops 200 miles before the Battle of Hastings?Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Tom Licence whose explosive research argues that King Harold’s legendary marc ...  Show more

What happens when Vikings stop raiding and start laying siege to a mighty rock fortress on the Clyde?Matt Lewis is joined by Todd Ferguson to uncover the four-month Viking siege of Dumbarton in 870, exploring why this Brittonic stronghold mattered so much, how its fall reshaped S ...  Show more

Why did Victorians value pale skin so highly? And how were black bodies viewed by Victorian society?

In this episode Kate is joined by author and historian Dr Rochelle Rowe of the University of Edinburgh.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer ...

How do you begin to look for examples of lesbians in the medieval period?

Even though it was deeply frowned upon by the powers that be, the clues are very much there... if you know where to look.

What examples do we have? How did the male-run church respond ...

From medieval d*ck pics to sex with monks, how did people in medieval times think about sex and sexuality?

It was a period that spanned roughly 1,000 years and even though views on sex were largely shaped by the dominant Christian faith, whether this filtered down to ...

Why did royalty have worse teeth than commoners? How would the Tudor court have smelt? And when even the Queen of England can be accused of being a witch for a random mole, what hope did the rest of us have?

In this new mini-series, we'll be exploring the beauty stan ...