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Oh What A Time...

#146 Jesters (Part 1)

Oh What A Time...

Pop! Pop!

Comedy, History, Education

4.81.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we’re going back in time to look at that most curious of careers: jesters! We’ve got the earliest professional farters, we’ve got Harlequins and we’ll see what jesters were up to in Ancient Rome.


Plus we have a quick bit on the history of the mattress. And if you’ve got anything else to contribute, you know what to do: hello@ohwhatatime.com


And in huge news, Oh What A Time is now on Patreon! From content you’ve never heard before to the incredible Oh What A Time chat group, there’s so much more OWAT to be enjoyed!


On our Patreon you’ll now find:

•The full archive of bonus episodes

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•PLUS ad-free episodes earlier than everyone else


Join us at 👉 patreon.com/ohwhatatime


And as a special thank you for joining, use the code CUSTARD for 25% off your first month.


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Thank you to Dan Evans for the artwork (idrawforfood.co.uk).


Chris, Elis and Tom x


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Oh, what a time is now on Patreon. You can get main feed episodes before everyone else, ad free,

0:06.4

plus access to our full archive of bonus content, two bonus episodes every month, early access

0:11.9

to live show tickets and access to the Oh Water Time group chat. Plus, if you become an Oh Water

0:16.9

Time All-Timer, myself, Tom and Ellis will riff on your name to postulate where else in

0:21.7

history you might have popped up for all your options you can go to patreon.com forward slash

0:27.1

oh what a time

0:27.9

hello and welcome to all what a time the history podcast that asked the question,

0:43.3

how unearthed people sleep before mattresses?

0:46.6

Have you ever tried to sleep on something that isn't a mattress or an airbed?

0:50.5

Absolutely impossible.

0:52.3

Young children can do it.

0:53.9

Yes. It's a do it. Yes.

0:54.3

It's a dumb question. When was the mattress invented? I don't think that's a dumb question. I think that's an interesting question. Is it? I think that's an interesting question. Not sure. Because I slept in a hotel last night and I was ever with hotels and I never do anything about it, i.e. I don't take my own pillows anywhere. The pillows are too big. Too fluffy. Yeah, that's a pet hate, by the way, when you go to a hotel and the pillows are massive.

1:14.4

I don't take my own pillows anyway. The pillows are too big. Okay. Too fluffy. Yeah, that's a pet hate, by the way, when you go to a hotel and the pillows are massive. I don't understand like a hay bale. What? Who means that? Whose neck is at that angle? Hay bale thickness pillows. Who wants that? For a giraffe? Who wants that? There's certain things in life where you get a worse product the more you pay.

1:30.3

I'd put hamburgers in this category. But also I'd put, when you go to a nice hotel, they've got this idea in the head that you're going to want a massive pillow. But if you go to a travel lodge, they'll give you a nice, normal size pillow. You go somewhere nice. But we see more pillow makes better value. That's the idea. Yes. You're stuffed with more stuff. You don't need a massive pillow. It's justifying the expenditure. I completely agree. Those big pillows are not designed for the human neck. No, no, no, no. In any way. Not designed for the human experience. I had to put another thing in there in terms of the more you pay the worst the quality or the worst experiences, I would put chocolate in there. Post chocolate. Conflicture. Tea bags, I'd also say. Yeah, yeah. It's strange, isn't it? Claire and I stayed in Paris once in a lovely hotel as a real romantic trip and the pillows were so thick

2:19.2

I used my own jumper as a pillow and we were paying whatever. I don't know what we were paying

2:24.5

per night for this place but you should not on a romantic trip be rolling up your own sweater

2:30.1

to make a makeshift pillow. It's not all right. That's so funny. A jumper, like you've messed up camping. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's literally it. That's so funny. Because my son's just had a new bed. And I was lying down next to him a couple of weeks ago. He's only added for about two weeks. But his mattress is too soft for my liking because he's six, he doesn't mind, and he, he would sleep anyway.

2:51.5

I've seen him sleep on the floor. I've seen him sleep on a hard kitchen floor, doesn't care.

2:56.4

But once you get, once you get to adulthood, impossible. So, sleeping in a pre-matress age,

3:02.7

I mean, I would, I'd never be able to sleep on straw. Are you interested in a quick history of the mattress?

3:08.9

Absolutely.

...

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