Historian and journalist Tony Perrottet unearths sexual stories from throughout the ages. The series is modeled on the "secret cabinets" in Victorian museums, where medieval chastity belts, Renaissance pornography and perverse novels by the Marquis de Sade were hidden. Each episode will answer a burning question: How did Napoleon's penis end up in suburban New Jersey? Are champagne glasses modeled on Marie-Antoinette's breasts? How did you behave at one of Caligula's orgies? And what were Casanova's best pick-up lines?
Did Hitler only have one testicle? This juicy anatomical detail was included in the Nazi dictator's autopsy when it was finally revealed by the Soviets in 1968. Was the Fuehrer born that way? Did he suffer a nasty WW1 wound? Or does the secret lie with the famous British war anthem, "The Colonel Bogey March"?
1 Aug 2020
Footnote: Scent of a Führer
Eva Braun put up with more than we think to be a Nazi dictator's consort. Hitler suffered from uncontrollable flatulence -- an ailment that poisoned the atmosphere at the Berghof and may have hastened the end of the war.
26 Jul 2020
THE FASCINATING FASCIST WIFE: Interview with Nina Burleigh
What does America's current First Lady, Melania Trump, have in common with the consorts of history's great dictators -- Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci, Eva Braun, Evita Peron. Imelda Marcos? Nina Burleigh, author of "The Trump Women: Part of the Deal" reveals all! A fascinating insight into everything that is screwed-up with US politics today.
18 Jul 2020
Musical Interlude: Why Castrati Made Better Lovers
In the 18th century, castrated Italian singers were sex symbols sought out by women across the courts of Europe. The most famous, Farinelli, lived like a rock start and has even had his own modern biopic. Learn why castrati were the bedroom idols of the era -- and listen to the only known recording of a castrato, made in the Vatican in 1902.
14 Jul 2020
Footnote: Columbus Discovers the Clitoris
A survey of the forgotten milestones of modern love -- from the 1556 "discovery" of "the seat of a woman's delight" by Renaldo Columbus (no relation to Christopher) to the 18th century birth of "sex as we know it," the invention of pornography (1864), the first use of the word "homosexual" (1892), Virginia Woolf's vision that that the sexual revolution was nigh (1908)... and more!
6 Jul 2020
THE SCIENCE OF LUST: Interview with Wednesday Martin
Female desire has been a battleground for thousands of years. Men have downplayed it since the ancient Greeks, demonized it in Puritan witchcraft trials and misinterpreted in the studies of Sigmund Freud. Wednesday Martin -- author of Primates of Park Avenue, Untrue and The Button, a history of women's most sensitive part, unravels the saga from the Agricultural Revolution to the Renaissance and the "clitoracy" movement today.
27 Jun 2020
Footnote: Celebrity body parts
Jesus' foreskin isn't the only famous phallic relic -- the organs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Rasputin, Tutunkhamun and John Dillinger have been on the market over the years. A rundown of celebrity body parts, including Galileo's finger, Einstein's brain, Beethoven's ear bones and Abe Lincoln's skull fragments -- as well as famous frauds like Joan of Arc's heart. Sic transit gloria mundi.
20 Jun 2020
WHO STOLE JESUS' FORESKIN? Interview with David Farley
Celebrity memorabilia is big business these days, but nothing quite compares to the Holy Foreskin, a portion of Jesus' most intimate anatomy revered by Christians since the Middle Ages. David Farley, author of An Irreverent Curiosity and star of a National Geographic TV special, The Quest for the Holy Foreskin, is the world's leading expert on the sacred prepuce and its mysterious fate. The relic was stolen from a church in an Italian hill town in 1983. Was it by Satanists, neo-Nazis... or the Vatican?
15 Jun 2020
Footnote: the Curse of Self-Abuse
How an obscure 1712 pamphlet called Onania began the war on masturbation in Georgian London. Over the next 200 years, the campaign against self-pleasure became an international phenomenon, and led to such oddities as the creation of Corn Flakes and Graham crackers in the US.
12 Jun 2020
SEX AT DAWN: Interview with Chris Ryan
Was Charles Darwin a player? Christopher Ryan, author of the New York Times bestseller Sex At Dawn, discusses the Victorian triumph of views on sexual evolution and what they mean for us today. Discussed: Can new research on prehistory help explain modern scandals? What do we know about Darwin's erotic life? Who invented "key parties"? What is an "anaphrodisiac"? And -- are Republicans stuck in the Agricultural Revolution?
5 Jun 2020
Footnote: the Pages of Sin
Prostitute guidebooks flourished in Renaissance Venice, Georgian London, belle époque Paris -- and early 1900s Kansas City. What can historians learn from studying their well-thumbed pages?
3 Jun 2020
AMERICAN VICE: Interview with Karen Abbott
Who invented the term, "to get laid"? New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott reveals this and other lurid secrets of US history -- including the most luxurious brothel of the Gilded Age, the birth of burlesque in Depression-era New York and the sordid Prohibition sex-murder scandal that inspired "The Great Gatsby."
1 Jun 2020
Erotic Archaeology
An introduction to the series about unearthing sexual secrets from throughout the ages.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.1 / 5
18 ratings
Contact History Unzipped
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of History Unzipped?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
