The Curious History of Your Home

Beds

Archaeologists in South Africa discover the world’s oldest bed. In Victorian London, homeless people have to choose between sleeping on a bench or sleeping in a coffin. 26 butchers and their wives get cosy in 17th-century Hertfordshire. And a bed proves fatal for three men in medieval France…
A Noiser production, written by Nicole Edmunds.
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Join domestic historian Ruth Goodman as she guides you through the surprising, often epic, stories behind everyday objects in your home. Double-glazed windows? We owe those to a French king’s odd fascination with oranges. The minty fresh toothpaste by your sink? Well, if you lived in Ancient Greece, you’d be washing your teeth with ground-up bones and oyster shells. And wallpaper? It seems innocent enough, but in the Victorian era it was downright deadly.

Discover the extraordinary history of the ordinary items all around you, every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Hosted by Ruth Goodman. Production: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Tom Pink, Addison Nugent, Nicole Edmunds, Lloyd Starr, George Colwey, Miriam Baines, Katrina Hughes. Compositions by Tom Pink, Dorry Macaulay, Oliver Baines.