The Truth About Mythical Women
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Myths are incredibly powerful, especially when it comes to creating nations.
Why are mythical women so central to how we think about our nations? When women had so little power in creating them in the first place.
Joining Kate to explore these fascinating and important ideas today is the fantastic author and historian Dr Janina Ramirez.
This episode was edited by Tim Arstall and produced by Stuart Beckwith. 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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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, my lovely betwixters. It's me, Kate Lister. Thanks for listening to Petwetters Sheets. I'm so glad that you have returned once more. But before we can proceed together, I think you know what's coming. Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right. It's the fair do's warning. And here it is. This is an adult podcast, welcome by adults to other adults about adulty things in an adulty way coming around adult subjects and you should be an adult too. I feel safer. Do you feel safer? The lawyers feel safer. |
| 0:24.0 | Oh, thank you for that. Welcome by adults to other adults about adulty things in an adulty way covering arranged adult subjects and you'd be an adult too. |
| 0:26.2 | I feel safer. Do you feel safer? The lawyers feel safer. Oh, thank for that. Let's get on with it. |
| 0:36.8 | Hello, Bert Twixters. Thank you for joining me for a stroll through medieval Coventry. What a lovely day. |
| 0:42.1 | There's absolutely nothing bizarre or unusual happening here at, or hang on a minute. |
| 0:44.9 | There is a naked chick on a horse. |
| 0:46.3 | I didn't see that one come in. |
| 0:47.3 | Did you see that one come in? |
| 0:48.8 | It is Lady Godiva. |
| 0:50.0 | Of course it is. |
| 0:51.4 | Medieval Coventry. |
| 0:53.9 | It's wall-to-wall naked women on horses. Well, that's if the story is to be |
| 0:56.1 | believed, obviously, and there was only one. I don't know if the trend caught on. I just they're still |
| 1:01.1 | doing it in Coventry. Maybe they are. Right, focus, focus, focus. Why was Lady Godiva going through |
| 1:07.2 | Coventry in the nip? Well, she was trying to make a point to her husband about |
| 1:11.1 | relieving the townspeople of hefty taxes. Well, that's all right then. We will accept nudity |
| 1:16.9 | in a socialist cause. And I am totally here for it. But, but, but, is there any truth to that story? |
| 1:24.9 | Is any part of that true at all? Was there even a Lady Godiva? |
| 1:29.6 | And more importantly, what do these kind of myths tell us about ourselves |
| 1:34.2 | and about our sense of nationhood? |
| 1:36.7 | These are important questions to ask, |
| 1:38.8 | and I know just the person who can help us. |
... |
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