Rochester: The Restoration's Filthiest Poet with Neil Gaiman

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

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He kidnapped his wife and got locked up in the Tower of London. He slept around King Charles II’s court, and drunk to excess for years before dying from syphilis and alcoholism. He became a war hero but grew disillusioned by religion and monogomy. He also wrote some of the filthiest poetry of all time. Who are we talking about? John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

Today Kate is joined by two special guests Betwixt the Sheets. Neil Gaiman, who will be reading some of his favourite Rochester poems, and historian Rebecca Rideal, who will be taking us through the wild life of this 17th century libertine.

To find out more about Rebecca Rideal’s work and podcast, click here.

*CONTENT WARNING: There are adult themes and explicit words in this episode. In fact, we think it’s our naughtiest episode yet.*

Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.Producer: Sophie Gee. Mixed by: Charlotte Long & Anisha Deva

Transcript

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0:00.0	Everyone leaves a legacy.
0:02.2	But a legacy can change over time as new generations
0:05.6	re-examine old preputations.
0:07.6	From Wundery and Gohanger podcasts, I'm F4hersh.
0:11.0	I'm Peter Frankapan, and in a brand new series,
0:14.0	we're exploring the lives of some of the biggest characters in history,
0:17.4	from Napoleon to Picasso.
0:19.2	And asking, what does their past tell us about our present?
0:23.4	This is legacy.
0:24.7	Follow now wherever you get your podcasts.
0:30.0	Hello there, everybody, I'm Neil Gaiman.
0:37.2	I first discovered Rochester's poetry.
0:41.6	As a small boy, I'd heard the heroizer,
0:45.4	sovereign Lord the King, whose word no man relies on.
0:48.8	He never said a foolish thing and never did a wise one.
0:53.0	And that, of course, was Rochester.
0:55.9	What I didn't know was there were lots of other
0:59.3	wonderful Rochester poems.
1:01.5	And that had to wait until I picked up in a dusty, old,
1:06.9	secondhand bookshop in, I think, Minneapolis,
1:12.4	a biography of Rochester.
1:15.3	And I fell in love.
	...

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