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

London's Gin Craze

2026-10-30

In the first half of the 1700s, Britain was overwhelmed by gin. But it might not have been as fun as it sounds.

Today, we're hearing about what the so-called gin-craze was, the impact that it had on regular people, and the government's attempts to control it.

Kate is joined by Professor Judith Hawley from Royal Holloway for this episode.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. 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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No. of episodes

470

Latest episode

2026-10-30

Where can you listen?

Join sex historian Dr Kate Lister on Betwixt the Sheets as she gets intimate with the stories that would make your history teacher blush.

What were the Victorians really like behind closed (bedroom) doors? How did the Black Death favour women in medieval England? And what was Caesar like in the sack? 

Join Kate as she bed-hops around different time periods; from ancient civilisations, to the middle ages, to renaissance and early modern...right up to now.

You’ll laugh, you’ll wince, and you’ll ask yourself how much has actually changed.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society - a podcast from History Hit.

History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

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.  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.