The Scandalous Life of Lord Byron
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
WARNING: This episode includes discussion of sexual abuse and explicit language.
He appalled and titillated Regency polite society in equal measure. Lord Byron was a poet, a lover, a rebel, a romantic, an appalling husband and eventually a freedom fighter. He made terrible decisions, was notoriously bad-tempered and treated women and men appallingly. Yet, everybody who met him fell in love with him.
Dan is joined by Dr Kate Lister, historian and host of the Betwixt the Sheets podcast, to unravel the many phases and contradictions of Lord Byron's complicated life in an attempt to discover the man behind the scandalous reputation.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? |
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| 0:30.5 | Just a warning, this episode contains discussions that might not be suitable if you're listening |
| 0:34.9 | with your kids. |
| 0:38.8 | Hi everyone, welcome Dan Snow's History. |
| 0:41.1 | We're going to be talking about of history's greatest headline makers, |
| 0:44.7 | the original celebrity bad boy. |
| 0:47.1 | Yes, yes, it's time. |
| 0:49.3 | We're going there. |
| 0:50.4 | Today, we're talking about Lord Byron, poet, politician of sorts, lover, exile, self-starred |
| 0:58.8 | rebel, romantic, hideous, hideous partner, and eventually freedom fighter. |
| 1:06.2 | He appalled and titillated Regency Britain's polite society, He set hards racing. He managed to keep a bear |
| 1:13.1 | as a pet, and he just made lots of really, really terrible decisions, and yet strangely made them |
| 1:19.8 | look glamorous at the same time. He was born into a Britain that was experiencing multiple |
| 1:25.7 | revolutions, the industrial revolution, huge leaps in |
| 1:28.5 | technology, changes in the way that people lived, people were becoming subordinated to machines, |
... |
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