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HistoryExtra podcast

Victoria's armpit and 'giant' bones: body parts that changed history

HistoryExtra podcast

HistoryExtra

History

4.34.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How did a severed ear start a war between Britain and Spain in the 18th century? And what has Queen Victoria's armpit got to do with the development of antiseptic? Speaking to Charlotte Hodgman, medical doctor and historian Dr Suzie Edge investigates our long-standing fascination with body parts, and explores the incredible stories of the people attached to them – from Albert Einstein's brain to the bones of 'Irish Giant' Charles Byrne. (Ad) Suzie Edge is a medical doctor, historian and the author of Vital Organs: A History of the World's Most Famous Body Parts (Wildfire, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vital-Organs-Suzie-Edge/dp/1035404583/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Just Between Us, the podcast with all of the answers, some of the time.

0:05.0

A bit of a different thing going on this week.

0:07.3

You've been immature and you've lied.

0:10.3

And now you're trying to turn it on me and manipulate me and gaslight me.

0:13.9

I was trying to manipulate you.

0:15.7

Diana, you would be chucking their clothes out of the window.

0:18.1

I know, I'd be like, are you joking?

0:20.6

I don't know. I guess you'd have to ask.

0:23.5

Someone that has sex.

0:24.2

Someone that has sex.

0:26.2

And remember, it's just between us.

0:32.3

Welcome to the History Extra podcast.

0:35.7

Fascinating historical conversations from BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed.

0:50.2

How did a severed ear start a war between Britain and Spain in the 18th century?

0:56.5

And what has Queen Victoria's armpit got to do with the development of antiseptic?

1:01.9

Speaking to Charlotte Hodgman, medical doctor and historian Dr Susie Edge delves into some of the

1:07.7

most intriguing and at times gruesome stories of the people whose body parts have made history.

1:14.3

This episode contains graphic details that some listeners may find upsetting.

1:19.1

So probably the first question is, where did all this start?

1:22.2

I said it actually at the beginning of the book that it really did start the day I picked up a scalpel and started doing

1:28.3

dissection in anatomy classes. I was lucky enough to train in Aberdeen, which is a really old

1:33.2

anatomy school, and it was just all, I could feel the stories coming through already, but I've

...

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