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

With the Fourth of July and America's 250th around the corner we wanted to revisit an episode and take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives.

Which president was well-endowed and supposedly presented it to staff in the Oval Office? Which president had an affair on his honeymoon? And which had an affair with his wife's secretary?

And no, they're not all JFK.

Joining Kate today to help us find out is Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Presidents: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House.

This podcast was edited by Freddy Chick. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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Why did 200 people queue to give blood in the San Diego summer heat on 16 July 1983?

During the AIDS crisis, many people living with HIV developed severe anaemia as a result of the disease and the treatments available at the time, leaving them dependent on regular blood transfusions. But where would the blood come from, especially with gay men being turned away from donating?

In this episode, we're exploring one of the most inspiring examples of solidarity between lesbians and gay men in modern history: the Blood Sisters.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. 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.

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Marlene Dietrich was unapologetic in her love of sex, and she had a lot of it.

She took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s and slept with some of tinsel town's most famous men and women.

What made her so unique and create such a legacy? As a sexually liberated German woman what did the Nazis make of her? And did she really sleep with JFK and his father?!

This is the final instalment of our mini-series, Supersluts of History, where we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used to define them. Have we saved the best til last?

Joining Kate for this episode is author and journalist Mick LaSalle.

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

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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Why on earth would anyone make a perilous journey across wilderness and snow covered mountains, all because of a bit of gold?

This isn't Lord of the Rings, it's the Klondike Gold Rush, when an estimated hundred thousand people made the journey across Alaska to goldfields in the Klondike region, Canada. Among them, women.

But why did women make this journey? How much of their work was sex work?

Kate is joined by Brian Castner for this episode about life in the Alaskan Gold Rush. Brian is the author of ‘Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike’.

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

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Mata Hari was a dancer and courtesan who was executed in 1917 for being a spy during the First World War.

How did she get involved in such dangerous business? Was she really a mastermind spy who used her sexuality to gain intelligence? Or a scapegoat whose sexuality was used against her?

In our new mini-series, Supersluts of History, we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used to define them.

Joining Kate today is Professor Julie Wheelwright, author of The Fatal Lover: Mata Hari and the Myth of Women in Espionage. Find out about her upcoming talk about Mata Hari here.

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

Around 18 minutes says "letters published in 1917" which is wrong, it's 2017.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WtevPqsQ9ecjK2BrXnbFsudhYHzJU6hB

I’ll be speaking about Mata Hari at the Society for Intelligence History conference at King's College, London, in October.

And about Martha McKenna, the Spy Who Fooled Churchill at Bletchley Park in October.
https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/nihc/

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.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

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.