Tea at Four - Who lost their virginity on their mum's grave, did Henry VIII smell and why were the Romans so horny?

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

Lauren and Billy are joined by viral TikTok creator, 'The History Gossip' (aka Katie). They dive into the past to discover things like why the Romans were so horny, how the Tudors had sexual superstitions and which royals were fans of incest...We learn about bizarre beauty standards, where current sayings like 'sleep tight' originated and how they kept themselves clean in the medieval times... (it involves pee). Follow Katie on TikTok @thehistorygossip and find her new book in stores and online now! If you have any confessions, funny stories or dilemmas you want to submit, send them to [e-mail]

Hi guys, welcome back to T4, I'm Lauren. And I'm Billy, and this is the podcast where we discuss all things that normally stay in the group chat. So today on T4, we're joined by a very special guest who I'm so excited about, we're joined by Katie. Hello! Welcome, Katie. Thank you for having me. So exciting. And you are also known on social media as a history gossip. Why did this royal love walking around in manky knickers?

That's me. I actually didn't know your actual name, I just knew you as history gossip. Yeah did this royal love walking around in manky knickers? That's me. I actually didn't know your actual name. I just knew you as history gossip. Yeah, I mean, it's in the bio. It makes sense. You should check that. You're not a truth fan. You should do some more reading, baby.

I don't know how to read, I just listen to the photos. I just watch videos. Yeah. Would you be able to tell our listeners a little bit about who you are, what you're doing, what you're working on at the moment? So I started the history gossip in September time last year and it started taking off in December time

when I started doing more like chill videos like was Anne of Cleves and Minga, why were the tutors clapped, the questions that the people need to know. We were waiting. Yeah. What was the answer? So it just started popping up from there and which is so exciting because now I'm writing

a book, I'm doing a masters in now. Yeah, so it's a stressful time, but it's fun. What's the book about? So it's kind of like digestible little bites of every day of the year, something happened. So January 1st, Anne of Cleves came to England January. So it's kind of like that. Cause sometimes when I read books, like history books and I love history,

the content is just too meaty. It's just too much. I get bored. So it's sort of like my TikTok content, but in a book form. Cause I've had a few comments being like, you should write a book. And I'm like, maybe I'm stressed.

So yeah. Got it on, thank you. Yeah, I'm a busy gal. And when is the book out? It's out in November. So, yeah. Got it on, thank you. Yeah, I'm a busy gal. Exactly. And when is the book out? It's out in November. Out in November. Exciting!

Exciting! Christmas presents, everyone. Right, I first have to ring something up. You are from Durham. Yes, I am, yes. And there's a gorgeous thing in Durham, which I- Oh, there's now to do in Durham. Have you's been to Durham?

No. No, I don't. No, but there is- No, but I should It's now to do in Durham. Have you been to Durham? No. Oh, no I don't. No, but there's... No, but I should be selling it. It's great. It's great. I was actually talking about the museum. Beamish. Oh, right. Oh, okay. That's like just outside of Durham, yeah. Oh, well, I

want to go there more than I want to go to the Amalfi Coast. Right. It looks insane. And I showed you Tiktok, you were there the other day, is that correct? Yes, I was. I've got a yearly pass. A yearly pass. Oh my God. What is it?

Explain it because. I can't explain it to people, but like whenever I like make a new friend at uni and obviously all from down south, I like take them there, like a little pilgrimage. And it's just like an open air museum. So they build like houses and stuff from around the Northeast.

They take it down brick by brick and then they rebuild it in Beamish and stuff. It's mad. And then you just go around the little pit villages, go down, you can actually go down the mines. I went there for my, I think it was my year two birthday and by like 20 of my classmates, we all went down the mines.

Yeah. That's the most Northern thing I've ever heard. I know. Just paying homage to my ancestors and stuff. That's amazing. Are there actors there? Yeah, they kind of like just volunteer. So I did my year 10 work experience there and I dressed up as like a povo.

I had like my hat on and I was making bread. I was making like little apple pies. Oh, look at that. What time period is it like stuck in then? So Edwardian was like the main one, that was the original one. And then you've got a 1940s farm. So we also did a year six school trip then, had to like dress up as evacuees. I loved it.

I remember doing something similar, but it was like for the Vikings. Maybe in like, and we had to went to like this Viking fort and we all had to kind of like make bread in the rain. Were you dressed up? Was my viking's up? Yeah, we all got dressed up as like vikings and had to like learn how to defend the fort. What?

It's really weird. Right, interesting. I think that was in Norfolk. Did you do anything like that? Oh, I've done many a thing, thank you for asking. So on the Isle of Wight, we have the braiding Roman villa. I love playing with some mosaic and tiles there. And then I'm obsessed with being an evacuee

in primary school. And I went into school, my mom made me a suitcase out of cardboard. Obviously I just hampered it up for the whole thing. And then they had a whole like sire, air raid sire, and everyone has to run out onto the school field and you know, panic, panic, panic panic get your gas masks out I love that day I feel like it was fun like when I was little I want to be an evacuee

I want to be one of them absolutely Red Cross nurse or an evacuee I was so terrified of being evacuated in like 2005. What's going on in the world? Watching Narnia too much. Well, we have to ask you, and I feel like this sums up a lot about a person. What is your favorite era, slash if you could time travel back to any period,

what would it be? Oh, Narnia was all shite any period, what would it be? Oh, none, it was all shite. Oh, what would it be? No. Just revisit like a- Just like a little day trip. Oh, I don't know. I like the Georgian era.

I'd love to like be Mary Antoinette for a day, like pre-B-headed. Just cause she had a good time, like shake cakes and dressed up really nice. So I liked that. I loved Versailles when I went, I absolutely loved it, like the dress, just like in the dresses or something.

I do like the Victorian era, I do a lot of videos on Victorians just because they're really easy to like take the piss out of. So I'd like to experience that as well. Just quickly on Mary Antoinette, I saw one of your videos about her son and his poo. Yeah, would you mind?

So anything you'd like to know specifically? It's surprising. Would you mind expanding for our audience? 20 marks. Okay, oh my God, take this back to GCSE. Yeah, so her son's shit inspired the nation. I forgot what it's called now. Oh God, it's by the dress colours. Kaka Delfan. Yeah. It was a nice fashion trend. To be fair, the colour's not bad. Yeah, but like a bit darker. Yeah, no, it was like a cool, dark yellow, wasn't it? Yeah. But I think

it looked quite nice. If you take out of context, it's all a cool my diary yellow, wasn't it? Yeah, but I think it looked quite nice If you take out of context, it's all right Obviously not too much of it because it's a bit like a bit dowdy color yours is nicer. Thank you We were also thinking about our um, what it what our favorite areas are and where we would like to go Who we'd like to go see where we would like to go visit. Or who we'd like to go see. Mr. H? Mr. Hercules?

For real? We were talking this morning and I used to be obsessed with Ancient Greece from its idea of what Hercules presents in the Disney film. I've never seen Hercules. Me neither. I feel like I can't comment on it. So good. I used to want to be a

Greek god. You are one. I am. I felt like I can't comment on this. So good. Is it? I used to want to be a Greek god. Right? You are one. I am. I felt like one. I was also reading this morning and like we were talking about how like sexuality in like back in like ancient Greece or ancient Rome, like is it true that like homosexuality obviously maybe wasn't a thing.

Yeah. But like they actually only shamed kind of like people who were receiving gay sex. That's crazy. Yeah, it's mad. So it didn't really matter on your gender. It was more like your social status. So in Latin, there's no word for like being gay or anything. So it was more like if you were a freeborn Roman, which meant that you weren't like a slave or anything, you were just, I don't know, rich and whatever. You could have sex with like your slave, you can have sex with anyone else, a prostitute, even if you had a wife or whatever. But as long as you weren't like, if you were the top, then that's great. But if you were the

one getting like bummed, then it's like, then it's not good. That was like, blast for me. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. It's crazy. but if you were the one getting like bummed then it's like then it's not good. That's for me. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. It's crazy. So it was fine so they could have like sex with any like boys especially from like 12 to 20 was like fine.

It was solid. It was a good one. Oh. Yeah. That was a shock. Yeah. Oh my god. And was it like to do with like dominance and things like that. I think yeah, it was stuff like that. Yeah. The whole like, if you were, if you were the one like

receiving it, you were seen as like feminine and like passive and stuff. Has almost kind of like trickled down into like society today in the way that like a little bit, yeah. Masculine gay men tend to have it a lot easier than feminine presenting queer men. Yeah. Like these ideas that like gender still play such a kind of like strong role in the way that people are perceived. Which is crazy. I know. It's interesting to look at the like different standards back then as well because

like we weren't reading we were looking at pictures of herculean, not pictures, statues. Like yeah statues and stuff like this. And it's a very small penis. Is that correct? Like a standard or like, because isn't like the statue of David, like the famous statue. Oh yeah, it's absolutely tiny. Yeah, I mean it's nice representation for those this long. But if you had a small penis, you were basically seen as smart and you weren't thinking with your dick in a sense. So if you had a long dick, you were sexual and you were like, I'll put it in anyway. But if you had a small one, you were dead clever.

Wow. That's nice to know. Yeah. Is it comforting for you? Yeah. That's so cute. I've never been called smart before. Yeah, it's not really stood the test of time.

No. What changed? Were there any other beauty standards that back then are so different to what they are now? Oh, the massive forehead trend. What's that? Do you know? No.

Oh, right, okay. Right, here we go. Right, in the medieval era, it was like this, like, fad. Basically, you would pluck, this was women, by the way, you'd like pluck back your hairline and you'd look like an egg and people would be like, wow. And like shave your eyebrows because they thought that the head was in like thirds.

So your eyes were like, like there. And then you'd have like a massive forehead and absolutely loved it. If you look at pictures, they're like, the forehead's fucking massive. Like if I had put my fringe back, it would look like that. Like and absolutely loved it. If you look at pictures, they're like, the forehead's fucking massive. But if I put my fringe back, it would look like that. Like on a scar, it's like. That's fucking wild.

And I also saw that they used to get, I mean, this is a different time, get mice and put them on their eyebrows. I saw that on Horrible Histories years ago. I remember watching that and being like that, it's so funny. That's gospel, is it not true? I don't know.

Like I need to like double check it. But when I did research it once, and apparently it's kind of funny. That's gospel, is it not true? I don't know, I need to double check it, but when I did research it once, and apparently it's kind of more satirical. Like you know when you'd see those like cartoons, like Georgian cartoons, I think it was more that. But I don't know, they might have done. Well it's fucking wild, because as well they used to brush their teeth with piss.

Yeah that was the Romans. That was the thing. And then also- Sorry, pissed by Iberian boys. What? Yeah, don't know why. Maybe like a spicy white boy, like, you know, piss. I don't know, but Iberian boys.

And does it work? You tried it. No. I don't know any Iberian men. I suppose it's better than the Tudors because they brush their teeth with like sugar paste. Oh my God, that's what I do. Yeah. because they brush their teeth with like sugar paste. Queen Elizabeth she had like no teeth, she still loved like sugar paste. Was that like not a sign of like wealth because you could afford?

A little bit yeah but then like imagine talking to someone they've got like vile breath. I have that every day. Perfect yeah I mean I think I'm kind of obsessed with reading about like, sounds fucking horrible, but like sex. Any particular day. But like not instead of that, but like,

I think about it often, but like Victorian hygiene or like general part, like historical hygiene. It's your Roman Empire. It's my Roman Empire. Historical hygiene and like, like they didn't brush their teeth and they didn't really have anything to wipe their arses, but they were banging a lot.

Oh. But they didn't like not wash, they'd like, you know, wash themselves in like a little basin kind of thing. Like Victorians and stuff. They especially towards the end. Yeah, yeah, they were bathing. Did they have like any contraception at all

or were they not really worried? Just pull out and cross your fingers. Oh my God. I don't know. They did have early condoms, I think it's a sheep's bladder condoms and stuff. They used to use them, especially in the Georgian era. But people didn't really,

there was obviously people that didn't like it as much and they thought that it would encourage their moral behavior such as sex, prostitutes, or just sex in general. So they're like, no contraception. If you get the clap, you get the clap. Really weird superstitions, didn't they? Like, especially we would like looking at like,

the sex positions that they would have. If you had sex on stairs, your baby would be born with a crooked back or if you weren't really present or invested in the sexual encounter that led to conception, your child would be ugly and spiritless. I guess that was me then. Sorry. My parents don't love each other.

And not to mention the child's gender would match whoever had the better orgasm during sex. What? Is this Tudor stuff? I don't know. It's just facts from Google. I've heard that for the Tudor times had like a little rule book, you can't have sex on Wednesdays, can't have sex on Fridays or Sundays, you have to do it in missionary. And there's

loads of just like random, oh, you can't have sex naked as well. I don't know, I'd like. But then it's like, how do you monitor that? Like, do you go into someone's room and go, it's Wednesday, why are you doing doggy? Like, you've got it in. Like. That's fucking wild. Do they have any stories or accounts of like,

the historical kings and queens, people having sex with them? Like, I've always been like, did Henry X stink? Probably. He had like this like minging ulcer on his leg. Big old gout. And then like his last, the last one, Catherine Parr would like tend to it. That's awful.

Because she was a trooper, big trooper, bless her. And yeah, I can't imagine it was pleasant. No. Having sex with them, like he was minging. Most of the Kings and Queens have been quite ugly, haven't they? Yeah. Really like...

I know, but if you get like a castle from like... That's true. You know... It's a nice horsey. They do kind of look the same facially, but is it like the style of painting back there? I think so, yeah. Yeah, a little bit. Not the incest.

Oh, it could be that as well. Yeah. Have you seen the Habsburgs? I love talking about them. Oh, it could be that as well. Yeah. Have you seen the Habsburgs? I love talking about them. It's like a royal family. They were mainly in Austria and all of that. There was one Charles, I think it's Charles the second of Spain.

My god. Bless him. Bless him though. I don't want to be a cow, but. What was up with him? Everything. It's just like generations of inbreeding and then he pops out and he's got like this massive

like chin protruding. Oh, nah. Oh my God. Oh, I'm like. Oh, poor guy. Yeah. Oh my God. Have you got a picture of him or something, Johnny?

Oh, that's him. Oh. I have seen that. Oh, brother. Oh, they get him with everyone, the cousins, the uncles. Like, oh yeah. No one was off limits with them. Why was it then? They just love their family. It's kind of like to keep it pure, keep it in the family.

Yeah, but a bit too much. I only know that from Game of Thrones. He looks like he's mewing. Yeah, the original mewer. Is there like any king or queen that stands out to you as being the friskiest? Just loved a good shag. A lot of them. I mean, surprisingly, Queen Victoria loved her cousin husband,

Albert. Cousin. Cousin, that's our term, I don't know if that's a real term. Cousin. I like it. Prince Albert, and she wrote on her diary. She didn't write anything explicit, like, you know. But she'd be like, oh, we didn't sleep all night.

It was really fun, like that kind of thing. Oh my God, kinky Vicky. She was a steamy, steamy gal. Wow. She sent him like portraits of like herself, but with her hair down, shoulders out, which is like sending nudes in those days. Like no one was seeing that. Like, a day or two.

Do you think anyone's seen them? Yeah, they're on Google. Wait, but how do you, how do we know about this? Did they just leak the diary? Yeah, you can read them online. Yeah, her diary's online. Well, obviously she's dead, so she's not going to be pissed off now. But like, from afar. Yeah, but Queen Victoria, she's stood by Albert. So she was the only like faithful afar. Yeah, but Queen Victoria, she stood by Albert. So she was the only like faithful one. Yeah, she was a good one.

I'm so curious to know what it was like in terms of dating back then. Like were people just instantly getting with each other and then marrying? Obviously we said about like the Tudors, they weren't allowed to have sex and stuff. But then we've got information about people having sex on like shop floors, in hair bales,

like scamming each other. Obviously people having sex on like shop floors, in the hair bales. Like scammers, obviously the povos, like not the like prim and proper ones, well they probably were, behind closed doors. But I think for Victorians, it was very, like you couldn't sit next to a man unless it was your male relative or that's like scandalous. If you were caught in someone, you had to have a chaperone and the man wasn't allowed to give you gifts unless it was sweets or like something like scandalous if you were caught in someone, you had to have a chaperone.

The man wasn't allowed to give you gifts unless it was sweets or like something because they didn't want to seem like, yeah, no. So I was like, that's not too bad. Like a little trinket. And sometimes I had to have that I accept gifts in front of like family members as well. So it didn't seem like you were being bought into marriage.

You could write each other letters, make eye contact. Yeah. I wouldn't do very well. But yeah. But they'd have like long engagements. Like it wasn't all the time that they'd just like be like, smash, let's get married. Okay.

They'd have some times that have been like a year of engagement and stuff like that. You could break it off maybe. So were they getting with family members back there nor was that less? I mean, you could get with your cousin, I suppose. I'm just thinking of like a Victorian, slightly posh people. But they've done it like, you know, how like a lot of the wealthy families would have kind of done it as a trade still, like, you know, you try and set

someone up with someone who had loads of money or loads of horses. Yeah. Would like the poor people try and do that as well. Like, go work, go marry the baker's son. But you couldn't really marry like upper social class. Like the servant wouldn't marry the master of the house. He'd get her pregnant, no bother, but like he wouldn't marry her or anything. My mom has a theory.

That's what happened to her great, great grandmother. No way. Yeah. What got pregnant and then he chucks her out. Oh, no way. That's her theory. I probably shouldn't be saying that. Yeah crazy. Because it's sad because like if you had a child at a wedlock like you were just like you know the horror of society like call the church elders like whoa and and sometimes you could don't not donate you could like give it up for adoption. And donate the child. It might be probably easier to just give it away

rather than bringing up a child at a wedlock. And that was in the Foundland Museum. Did you watch Hetty Feather, like Jacqueline Wilson? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you could be like her. Wow. And be brought up in the Foundland Museum. You'd be allowed to leave your kid like a little trinket,

but then you'd have like a new identity, the kid be brought up, they'd learn how to read, right? So, and then when they were 14, they'd be like shipped off to work as a scholar who made and then the cycle repeats. And for the dog. It's what happens in like Oliver Twist. Yeah.

Oh, that's so sad. But then they'd be shamed, the whole thing is like, they'd be shamed to be like, your mom was a slag. Don't do that. Like constantly and constantly to try and like break the cycle of it as well. So it's kind of sad. A little bit, but it's better than, you know, being in the workhouse, being out on the street. Yeah. And like, so like have bastard children always been like seen in that regard throughout history?

Like, or was it like something that like changed? Yeah, like the only insult was like you're a bastard and you'd be like, oh. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah, can we like, that's still a thing now. It truly is. Do you think? Yeah.

Born out of wedlock? No, it's not. You're crazy. I feel what a bastard means is that your parents are divorced sharp. It's just like, yeah, if you're born and your parents aren't married, is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Parents aren't married, ultimate sin. Even if they got married like a couple of years later?

Ooh, I don't know. I mean, you could sort of get married whilst you were pregnant and then you could sort of avoid the scandal, like cover it up a little bit. But let's avoid that. Have you ever done like your family tree or anything? Obviously down the mines, all of that, northeast. Right, yes. My mom's side, Sunderland.

All I know is from the war, it was either World War I or World War II, he shot himself in the foot to avoid going off into war. Oh my God. And I was like, I sort of understand that. I was living that. Proud. Talking of shooting yourself in the foot,

that old saying, there was a good TikTok trend or a couple of videos I saw a couple of months ago of like where phrases originated from. And I stopped myself from watching them because I was like, we need to play that on the pod. That sounds fun. So I think Bobby's got some for us. Amazing, I wouldn't be shy at this, but yeah.

So we've got some old phrases and we are going to guess what the hell they mean, where they originated from. So up first we have sleep tight. I do know this one. Then shush, Katie, you go. Oh no, because I feel dead thick. I wanna say like medieval time, like sleeping tight, avoiding bugs getting in.

That, is that right? Maybe that is right. Can I say what I think it is? Oh, yeah. So I think it's like goes back to like the Tudor period where string used to be used to hold mattresses up. And then before you went to sleep, you'd have to tighten the string and the rope

so that your bed didn't sag. Like a hammock? I think so, like yeah so like they'd say sleep tight because they're tight in the ropes to make sure that your mattress was firm because you wouldn't have the wooden slats to support your mattress you'd have rope. So poor. So poor. Because I went that because in my little small town of Weir there was the great bed of Weir. Sorry what? Tell me more. It's like this giant bed and it's like... Where? In where? What were you talking about the other week? A water bed in the middle of the

club there? No, that's something different. Oh sorry. Great bed of where? I think it was like King Henry the Apes had this massive bed. Great bed of where? Where is it? In where? In the street! In the street? No, in this little museum. Oh. It's an extremely large oak four-poster bed carved with, yeah, boring, boring, boring. Built in 1590. We were always told it was King Henry the Apes' bed. I think that's wrong.

No way. No, it is a great bed of where? Look, it's one of the Viennese greatest treasures. Oh! Like just for him or like with a wife? I'm trying to find it now. Can you believe it? Didn't he have lots of beds? He must have done, but like when he travelled... It's just... ...attraction in...

He had four poster beds! I know! Most likely the tourist attraction for an in-in-wear Hertfordshire. Brilliant. Oh, yeah, maybe it wasn't King Henry's. That's embarrassing. What an amazing, amazing accolade. But did I get it right? You actually did. In 18th and 19th century, mattresses were held on bed frames with woven rope design and regularly needed to be tightened.

Long. So long. Thank you, great bed of wear. Well done, Billy. Right, you go next. My one. Okay, the bed of wear. Well done, Billy. Right, you go next. My one. Okay, the word hungover. Oh, oh, I think I know none of these. How about I just start?

I think I'm trying to pull this from the depths of my brain, hungover. Do you want to? Oh, I know it, I know it, I know it. Okay, well you don't get to say it. Oh, sorry. He gets the gist. I don't know. I want to just. Okay, well you don't get to say it. Oh, sorry. He gets the guess. I don't know.

I want to just say Victoria. No, is it? It is Victorian. Okay, right, that's all I've got. I'm sorry. I think it's because people couldn't afford beds and they'd get really drunk and then they'd like hang over. Yeah, I've seen that online, but I don't know if it's one of those, like probably.

I think you're on the right tracks. Yeah. During the Victorian times, the lowest form of accommodation was access to a rope that you could hang over to sleep after being drunk. Oh my God. How is that coming? I'm obsessed with hearing

about medieval sleeping arrangements. The whole thing of like- They all shared the bed. They shared the bed, they loved being warm together, but there's also rules that you couldn't touch each other and they go top to tail. And then also you'd have like sleeping things when you sleep from one period.

How do you sleep from one piece of rope? Easy. Just for yourself. Easy enough. What? Day in the life of the Prince of Orange and Lauren. This is how I sleep. I love that.

Night guys. That is hard. Who are they paying for that as well? No, you actually gotta pay someone to sleep like that. Yeah. They used to sleep in two different periods. Do you know that? So you go to sleep from 11 till 1.

You'd be up for another hour and then you go back to sleep again. Why? I actually did it before. Oh, did you? No, I didn't know that. I mean, I do that. Oh, you did? Okay.

I wake up at 1 every day. I think it was before the industrial revolution and stuff. So obviously we'll get like artificial street light from all of that. But they just wake up, then do a little task in between the two sleeps. So you could shag someone, shank someone. Oh, wow.

Pray or something. Of course. Yeah. That's the best. Shag, skank and pray. Skank. Skank. What did you just, what did I say? Shank. Shank. Oh, skank, sorry. Shag a skank. Shag a skank and pray. Um, skank. What did you just say?

Shank. Shag is skank. No, that's stanky. Has that got anything to do with the witching hour? My mum always told me about the witching hour. If I would be still awake as a child around midnight, it's witching hour. That's traumatizing. Oh my god. I think that's just storytelling. That's traumatizing. Oh my god. I think that's just like storytelling.

She's mentally ill. Okay, next! Die Hard. Ooh. I'm guessing not from the movie. Bruce Willis coined this term. Um, die hard. Was it when...

Die with an erection? Yeah. No. I think it is when someone would die really hard. No, not like that, like you fall on something and hit your head in the worst way. Yeah. Maybe. Something hard killed them. Is that on concrete? Right, okay, is that the final answer? Yeah. Maybe. Right, okay. And refers to someone with a strong dedication to a particular set of beliefs, but was used to refer to condoned men who struggled the longest while being executed by hanging. Oh, oh, my God.

And they're here like, I'm a diehard Nicki Minaj fan. Oh, God. Oh, that's sad, isn't it? I think about that one a bit differently. Bit morbid anyway. Wow, okay, right, next up we've got Saved by the Bell. That was a programme wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I didn't watch it though.

Is it something to do with like, evacuations or like, World War 2 alarms going off? That's called a siren firstly. Was it because someone was trying to be, someone was shooting at someone but a bell got in the way and they were saved by the bell? I'm going with that one. Katie, do you like a goat? I'm going with that one. All I can think about is their program.

So like that's, I can't think of anything else now. Slightly off the time, so this is during the 1800s. People were often buried alive. So coffins. Yes, I knew it. So coffins were fitted with a string and a bell so that they could, so people could ring it if they turned out to be alive.

People thought Alexander the Great was buried alive. Why, why? Cause apparently, well, it's like ancient sources. So you have to take it with a pinch of salt. Cause it's probably old bollocks. And apparently when they found his body, like seven days later after he died, he was still intact that he hadn't decomposed.

So he might've had a fit and then he couldn't have like moved. Oh my God. But yeah, he still died. Cause obviously he's not around. So, you know. Yeah. Bell of all.

Yeah. Oh, that's awful. I'd hate to be buried alive. Freaked me out. Worst fear. It's good that they had a bell though. Not that. A bell?

A bell, like to ring. It's good that they had one. Yeah, it's good that they had one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm glad. But I feel like at that point, like, would there anyone be around? Everyone's all gone home from my funeral and I'm like, let me out! It may be Mary Shelley,

cause she used to love going round the grave. She lost her virginity on her mom's grave. Like Frankenstein's mom? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As in the author, wait, the author or the? Mary Shelley lost her virginity to some lad on her mom's grave, cause it was the only time they could have like private,

alone, sexy times. That's revamp. I'm sure there was somewhere else in the world they could have. Another grave? It was just that time they could have like private alone, sexy times. That's revamp. I'm sure there was somewhere else in the world they could have. Another grave. Just that specific grave. Oh my God, is that what Seltber was inspired by? Yeah.

Oh. So she might have heard it, you know. She could have heard it. She almost had sex with her mom. Oh my God, that was a threesome. A menagerie. Yeah, yeah. I just realized what he said, yeah, yeah.

I don't want to watch Frankenstein ever again. You don't watch Frankenstein again. I watch all the time. It's one of my favourites. Okay. Okay, next one. Daylight robbery. Daylight robbery.

Is it quite literal? Yeah. Yeah, kind of, yeah. Being robbed in the middle of the day? No. No? Not that literal. Oh, it's not to do with that.

Well, sort of. Sorry, I'm gonna stop because I'm just not. So that's rubbed in broad daylight. Wait, was it daylight robbery? Daylight robbery. Daylight robbery. Oh, I think I do know this one, but I can't think of it. Something for my towns.

Is it something to do with time? No, no, no. Is it because their doors didn't have locks? No, but yes, but no. Well, let's just tell us then. Okay, right. Originated from William III introducing a window tax. So sort of like houses.

Oh, of course. That's what I mean. Yeah, because my dad has told me that before. Nice. It's like, yeah, they used to like, because it was the glass that was expensive. And then that's why people have like, if you look in London, there's loads of buildings that have like... Oh that's what yeah that's like Georgian era yeah the tax window tax and stuff but then if you were like Povvo and you were living with like loads of people and you didn't have any windows you've got no ventilation so it's like not good and they look

kind of like shit yeah if you like have like a bricked window and stuff um But yeah that was a stupid tax I can't lie. That is crazy. Thank god they forgot about it. The shard would be fucked. Okay we've got, give you the cold shoulder. Is there a time period for it? 1800s. Were we not meant to guess that?

Oh. No, I guess it's Victorian. No. Cold shoulder. Cold shoulder. Someone got like frostbite on their shoulder and they do want to talk to someone. No. Okay. Oh, that is actually kind of it.

Let me tell you. When you are no longer welcome at a dinner party, the host might serve you cold meat from the beef or pork shoulder. That's basically what I said. Yeah. No, halfway there. That's quite bitchy that, to be honest. Yeah.

It's the same with your chest. Literally. Don't like to say. Just turn me the fuck off. Give me a cold Big Mac. Mic wave. Cold Big Mac. I'm gonna start doing that.

People were so petty back then, weren't they? No, 100%. But it was all like in a classy way. Do you know what I mean? Like in Victorian times. Yeah. Can't like, I don't know, like just be so polite and use like big words and stuff.

Yeah. Like just like, you know. Yeah, just. Get someone in a headlock. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Just battle it out. Yeah, that's the thing, battle. I'd love to go back to like Coliseum days or something,

or like gladiator. I think it helped that they didn't have phones and stuff or like something else to go to. So that was literally the drama. Yeah, the Coliseum. Let's just have it out here. Yeah, they'd have like plays as well, but the plays were like hours long

of just two people talking with a mask on. That was more like Greek though. Yeah, you'd be more chitless. But like you've got no else to do. That's pretty much what we're doing here. Yeah. Brilliant. So I've actually got a game.

If you wanna play it, you don't have to. If you don't want to, no. Yes, we love games. We love games. We love games. Like a question and answer game. So I'll give you some options. You have to.

Are we against each other or with each other? Against each other. Yeah, I'm very competitive. Right, he is ready for the first one. You have to. Are we against each other or with each other? Against each other. Yeah, I'm very competitive. Right, he is ready for the first one. I'm ready. Ready, Rachel. Okay. Which of these objects might be used by a knocker upper?

And I'm not gonna tell you what a knocker upper is because then it's too obvious. One, a pea shooter. Two, a whisk. Three, a massive peen. Or four, a mop. A, a massive peen. Or four, a mop. A knocker-upper. Yeah.

Oh, this is hard. I'm forgetting everything you just said. Right. Oh, I'm so nervous. Right. A knocker-upper. Knocker-upper. A pea shooter.

A whisk. What's a pea shooter? You're not allowed to ask questions. Yeah, no questions. A massive penis. Or a mop. A massive penis or a mop? A massive penis. Yeah, oh, is that your answer? That's my answer.

No, wait, a knocker upper. Maybe a mop because they're gonna help them knock up the house into good shape. Is that the final answer? Yeah. You're using wrong. Oh, no. So a knocker upper.

The answer's a pea shooter. So basically a knocker upper, it's the answer's a P shooter. So basically a knocker upper. So before you have an alarm clock, what do you use? Nothing. You hire someone and you pay them to like wake you up at a certain time and then they'll like lob something at your window to wake you up, get you down the mines. Was it actual petty poise, P's?

It's saying P shooter, so I can't argue with the horrible histories page, you know. For you at the window. You don't know what P's. It's saying P's shooter so I can't argue with the horrible history page. You look like one. For you at the window. You don't know what P's look like. You've never had a vegetable in your life. Right. Don't want to be breaking glass.

That's interesting. Sometimes they just give you a tap on the window though as well. I thought I looked like someone who got people pregnant. That's why I did the curveball. That's clever. You bamboozled me. Right. I know.

Did you just believe that too much of what was bad for you? Baths, sleep, food or naps? I'm gonna take a leaf out of Lauren's book and say baths. Yeah. I'm saying baths as well. Cause I think it's a thing that they, they thought it gets too much bad things into your skin. So they'd rather stink like shit.

And poo. Yeah, that's true. They used to poo in plant pots, didn't they? Sorry. Can you expand please? This is another horrible history. I swear, it's just like, if you go into any of the palaces around those times, they'd just be like shitty

in all the plant pots. They still poo in plant pots. Okay, right. Yes and no. Right, so in Versailles, there's like this reputation that they just like shut everywhere and everything. But no, they did have like, the rich people did have like those like, you know those seats that look like toilets, like those toilet seat things or like a chamber pot.

So they would have those and use them. And then there's evidence of like servants like pissing in the corners and stuff and they would get told and use them. And then there's evidence of like servants like pissing in the corners and stuff and they would get told off for it. So you could do it, but you just get nacked for it. And I guess some people did, but it wasn't like all the time you turn a corner, someone's having like liquid shit, you know?

Like it wasn't- It was diuretic. Yeah, not again. It's like dangers. Yeah. I think some people still do that though, because when it was at Brighton Pride Pride someone took a poo behind the DJ deck Oh my god, you panicked me then because you looked at me and pointed and I was like is this something I've forgotten?

Right, I won't be naming it Did people watch them like just apparently yeah this guy on tiktok did a deet like Did a dj is a DJ. And he was just like, shout out to the girl who decided to take it down. It was a girl, oh. Oh no. Oh my God.

How regal. Yeah. What's the last thing? A blonde girl named Lauren. Oh. In 1190, Thomas Butcher made his money as a human what? Centipede, toilet, chair or boat. Oh my god.

I'm going to go with toilet. I'll say a chair. Really? You take the first one. Maybe it's just kind. Is it on my lap? Right, I wish it was chair but it was actually toilet so he carried around a bucket in public to let people use as a toilet charger, like a penny, I don't know. How many points do I get for that?

Ten, ten points. You know toilets and poos and everything. It's because I'm friends with you. Would he empty it though? Like would it just be like... Maybe kept it. From yesterday, just have a table. And that's the thing as well,

because he didn't have like sewage systems, so where was it going anyway? On the street. On the street. That's nasty. I suppose you get used to it, it's like nose blindness. It's like here, we're used to the smell

around here at the moment. Yeah. Pretty much the same thing. No, that's just you. It's coming off your own clothes used to the smell around here at the moment. Yeah. Pretty much the same thing. No, that's just you. It's coming off your own clothes. I'm talking about the street, not me, my eyes are me. Okay, you can turn it around. Are you used to this funk?

No, they had Posey, didn't they? Because it was like a pocket full of Posey where they'd like put it under their nose to detract from the smell of shit. Yeah. I love that fact. It's nice, perfumes and stuff, but then you're not showering, so it's like B.O. perfume,

and nice little must. Yeah. Something tells me it wasn't a little must. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of must. Especially when you're wearing like big dresses and like outfits.

I wonder if B.O. smelt the same back then. Genuine question. I think it was a lot worse, surely. Yeah, but like what were they eating? Um, do you think the diets weren't like bad? Like bread? No that's what I mean maybe they wasn't like... Half of them are malnourished anyway so it was like a bit of meat, pork chop, I don't know. I think they're not washing for a couple of days that's going to do it. But then they're eating stuff like pheasants, partridge, whale. I don't know. I watch people do that. I was like, catch a whale! Was that swimming in the Thames? What did Tudors hang by their beds to stop insects from biting them?

Meat, lavender, or poo? Poo is a theme to all of these questions. I'm so sorry. Well, then maybe you just told us the answer. Is it number three, poo? My mum puts lavender up to stop the bugs coming in for like moths. Does it work? Apparently so, but we don't really have moths anyway.

That's because you've got that there though. Yeah, little bag of lavender. So part of me thinks it's that, but the poo theme has kind of... That does make sense. Lavender does make sense. Yeah. I don't know what to tell them though. See the flower and they're like, actually I'll leave it.

It's such a strong smell. Oh, okay. It's supposed to stop spiders. Apparently, yeah, it stops spiders and stuff. No worries guys. That is a very scary looking flower. I'll leave you a lovely dress. Is it poo?

No, it's not. It's a little bit of a flower. It's a little bit of a flower. It's a little bit of a flower. It's a little bit of a flower. It's a little bit of a flower. It's a little bit of a flower. Yeah, stop spiders and stuff. Yeah. No worries guys. That is a very scary looking flower. I'll leave you a lovely dress. Is it poo? Yeah. Oh my God.

Yeah. I think lavender would have worked nice. Oh, a hundred percent. But it's just like, where do you think of these things like, like to the people, like why? Why? That's all I've got to say, like why? Rumors, isn't it?

Dirty vicious rumours. And there was no one else to fact check it. So you must have heard something. I think it's hearsay. So they don't have Google? No, no, perhaps not. They had, you said there was a yellow pages though for prostitutes. Okay, here we go.

They didn't quite have a search engine, but they did have that. They did. It was called Harris's List of Covent Garden ladies. So whenever I go to Covent Garden, I'm just like, and it was like in like a dictionary, not dictionary, but like, do you know what I mean? Like a yellow pages. And it would just have descriptions of them,

of like all the women, like the age, sort of the name, but then they'd like blank out a few like letters of the names trying like anonymity, but then it has the full address as well. They brutal, was it like? Some were actually like horrible. I remember reading one and it was about, oh, she's all right if you ignore the fact

that she's got a hunchback. She's class, like she's just a good time gal. Yeah. Uh-huh. And it's just like, oh, that's not, I mean, you know. I don't want to read that about myself. No, it's brutal. It's brutal. It's brutal.

Uh-huh, mum was like, oh, she's got nice teeth. Oh. That's good. So is that it, or? I mean, I suppose in those days, it's like, oh, amazing. She's just got five teeth. What would it say about you, do you think? Gorgeous, magnificent, yeah, amazing, right?

No, joking. Mum would say, um, had hairline, overweight, but nice smile. joking. No, joking. Mom would say, had hairline, overweight, but nice smile. That's all you need. Full set teeth. Full set teeth. Doesn't wash his teeth with piss. Oh yeah, exactly. I thought you was gonna end it at doesn't wash his teeth.

Period. Yeah. I thought you said wash, not brush. Yeah. Brilliant. But then people use them for like pornography. It was like their stash as well, like secret stash under the bed.

You just read it. Oh really? Yeah, men would read it. Yeah, the men would read it. I mean, they've got no, I also got no telly or anything. So you just- Fan fiction. You should not read fan fiction.

That's just like that. But not descriptions. I need some plot at least. Yeah, Harry Styles needs to be in something. Harry Styles, where does he live? Hampstead, brown hair, can sing. That'd be enough. That's crazy, that's what they used to use.

Then they got banned, because it started to be like after the Georgia period, they started to get like, have like a stick up their arse and they're like, oh, we can't be having that. So they got banned and the publishers got like bollocked for it, you know? So bring it back. Yeah. Yeah.

It's basically Grindr. Yeah. Yes, it's all together. Yeah. It's basically Grindr. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. No pics. No pics. And you don't share your locations obviously in the book, which is a bit safer. You had your whole location, postcode, everything. Oh, they did? Door number. Well, I don't know, post codes, but like door number, everything. That's terrifying. It's like, how else do you find them though? Cause you can't really like, you know. Yeah. Just look for the lady with the hunchback. Yeah. Hunchback, corner number four.

I feel like I've got so much information in my head. It's gonna be nightless tonight. I feel like I might write a book. Yeah. No, you're talking of books. Yeah. You are bringing one out. Can you tell our audience about it?

Oh God. Okay. It is a book. Yes. Yeah. So that's good. And it's about, I'm so bad at selling stuff. Not full of prostitutes.

Well. Babes and dresses. No, no. Cementries might. I don't want to spoil it. It's 365 days of historical facts. So like January 1st, and if Cleves came generous, it's sort of kind of like that.

I love that. Yeah. So if you're looking for something intellectual, don't bother. Like don't, don't be buying it. I'm not looking for that. No, so if you're looking for something intellectual, don't bother. Like don't, don't be lying. I'm not looking for that. No, hello, ding dong. Don't bother. But it's just kind of like my TikTok content,

but in short form. Cause sometimes even when I read history books and they're like really meaty and heavy, I'm just like, I'm bored and I love history. So it's like little like facts, like little like fun little bites of facts. Digestible. Yeah, that's the word digestible. I love history. So it's like little like facts, like little like fun little bites of facts every day. Yeah, that's the word digestible. I love that.

Yeah. How do you find like, so you're taking you've got like facts for every single day. Yeah, some are hard to find facts for cause like some like now happens and I'm just like, oh, right, this is great. What was the hardest? May 11th.

Oh. It's like, May 11th. Do you remember what happened then? No, nothing. I just write it and then I'm like, sometimes I'll just like whack it out and I'm like, I haven't read it back. It's not gone. That's a lot of research though. Every day.

But some are fun. Some like, I love Henry VIII ones, like slacking him off because it's easy. Easy to see that. But yeah, no, I've enjoyed writing it. It's been stressful, but it's been fun at the same time. I don't wanna give too much away. What's the name of it? It's just like the history gossip was Anne of Cleves and Minga

in like 365 other historical curiosities. So that's what it's called. Okay. So it's a book. It's a book. Buy it or don't. Watch this space. Yeah. When can we expect to see that out? Hopefully November 7th.

Amazing. It's exciting. Watch and keep an eye on your TikTok. Yeah, cause I'll be plugging it all the time. You'll be sick of seeing it. But yeah. Oh, brilliant. Thank you so much for having us today.

Thank you. I thought we were fucking facts. I'm so sorry if we've dumbed you down a bit. No, I've loved it. Thank you. We made you look clever, haven't we? Yeah, actually. Clever, is that even a bit. No, I've loved it. Thank you. We made you look clever, haven't we? Yeah, actually. Clever, is that even a word?

No, exactly. You can check out all of Katie's socials at The History Gossip. Please do look at our videos. They're really fucking funny. I'm obsessed. Ah, feast on my ego. Thank you. And we've loved having you on. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Thank you so much Katie. And we'll see you all next week.

Goodbye. Thank you so much, Katie. Woo! And we'll see you all next week. Goodbye! Bye!