Dirty Sexy History

Latest Episodes:

Episode 23: The Monster Mash Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

In this year’s last episode of the Halloween series, Doctor John presents the Monster Mash: a little history behind werewolves, Dracula, “resurrected corpses,” and mummies’ curses. It’s a graveyard smash!

Episode 22: Byron’s Fault. An Introduction to Vampires with Violet Fenn Oct 27, 2021

Show notes

Happy Halloween! This week, we welcome special guest Violet Fenn, author of The History of the Vampire in Popular Culture: Love at First Bite. We cover everything from the earliest myths to the Victorians, and even make it to 1950s Glasgow and a (not so) surprising connection to the Monmouth Vampire in 1980s Wales. Release the bats!

Episode 21: Daniel Mendoza and the Modern Art of Boxing Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

This week on DSH, we look at the life of 18th century prizefighter Daniel Mendoza, who paved the way for acceptance of the Jewish community in Georgian London and changed boxing forever.

Episode 20: Death in the Walls. How Arsenic Green Poisoned Victorian Britain Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

Decor can be ugly, but what about when it’s deadly? Continuing with our Halloween series this week, we’re talking about Scheele’s Green, the arsenic-based pigment that filled homes in Britain throughout the nineteenth century, and its surprising connection to William Morris, one of the most influential figures of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Millions of miles of arsenic green wallpaper filled the homes of Victorian Britain, causing illness and death with toxic dust. You’ll never look at green walls quite the same way again…

Episode 19: 40 Elephants, with special guest Sarah MacLean Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

This week, we look at 40 Elephants, an infamous all-female gang active in London from about 1870 - 1950. Then Jess talks to New York Times Bestselling Author and host of Fated Mates, Sarah MacLean, about the gang and how it helped to inspire her latest Historical Romance, Bombshell. From organized crime and chloroform to Victorian fast food and IUDs, we cover it all today on Dirty Sexy History

Episode 18: The Catacombs of Paris Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 3 of our Halloween series, Jess talks about the history of Paris’s catacombs from the dangerous graveyards that led to their opening to the surprising things they are still used for today

Episode 17: The Malleus Maleficarum. Witch Hunts in Late Medieval Europe Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

In the second episode of our Halloween series, we’re picking up where we left off last week with a look at the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century German handbook for the identification of witches.

Episode 16: Witchcraft, Part One. Women’s Vices Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

In the first episode of our Halloween series, Jess talks about 11th century ideas of witchcraft in penitential literature and reads some of her favorite “women’s vices” from Burchard’s Decretum

Episode 15: Heroin and the Spanish Flu Sep 01, 2021

Show notes

How did people manage their symptoms during the last pandemic? Heroin! Once and over-the-counter cough aid, it was sold to women, children, and soldiers with chronic pain as a “non-addictive” alternative to morphine. In this episode, John looks at the early history of heroin as well as other common treatments for the Spanish Flu.

Episode 14: Porn. Politics and Censorship in 19th Century England Aug 25, 2021

Show notes

In this overview, Jess traces the development of pornography in Britain from its working-class political origins with Fanny Hill to later Victorian attempts to crack down on its sale

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