The REAL Bridgerton: Georgian Drugs & Alcohol

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

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask: how real is Bridgerton?

On our third episode in our REAL Bridgerton mini-series, we're looking at the the booze and drugs that took 18th and early 19th century Britain by storm.

Why was opium taken for health purposes? How did gin get the nickname "mother's ruin"? And what does it feel like to take snuff?

Joining Kate today are Maddy Pelling, co-host of our sister podcast After Dark and author of Writing on the Wall: Graffiti, Rebellion and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Britain; Marina Capaldi from Summerhall Distillery, and Robert Good from Segar & Snuff Parlour.

Also, if you'd like to find out more about this incredible period, you can watch Kate present a two-part documentary - Georgian Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll: Unbuttoning Bridgerton - over on History Hit. Simply click here for a free 14 day trial and watch now.

This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. Additional production was provided by Annie Woodman. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Peter Frankerpern and in our podcast Legacy we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history.
0:08.0	This season we're exploring the life of Cleopatra.
0:11.0	An iconic life full of romances, seages and tragedy. But who was the real Cleopatra? It feels like her story's been told by others with their own agenda for centuries.
0:23.0	But her legacy is enduring,
0:25.0	and so we're going to dive into how her story has evolved
0:28.0	all the way up to today.
0:30.0	I am so excited to talk about Cleopatra Peter.
0:33.0	She is an icon.
0:35.2	She's the most famous woman in antiquity.
0:37.5	It's got to be up there with the most famous women of all time.
0:39.5	But I think there's a huge gap between how familiar people are with the idea of her
0:44.1	compared to what they actually know about her life and character. So for Pyramids,
0:48.5	Cleopatra and Cleopatra's nose. Follow legacy now wherever you get your podcasts or you can
0:54.6	binge entire seasons early and ad-free on Wonder E Plus. Dearst gentle listener, today I have something very special for you. You may have heard that London's fashionable set of
1:15.2	returned for the new series of Bridgerton. You've seen their love stories, watched
1:21.4	their decadent parties, and you've met the Royals and High Society
1:26.0	darlings.
1:28.0	But today we're stripping back all the televised glamour and finding out about the real
1:34.8	Bridgeton. Sex, drugs and celebrities in 18th century Britain. From the real life
1:41.1	dating taboos in the Georgian period
1:43.6	This thing that if you had one dance with a man at a ball that's fine
1:48.1	two dances signaled you were getting close
	...

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