The History of High Heels
You're Dead to Me
09/17/21
•52m
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High heels have been around since as early as the 10th century. Today we see them as a cornerstone of footwear fashion, with models strutting their stuff on the catwalk in heels of varying colours and styles. But how has this impractical, even masochistic piece of design become so gender-specific and has it always been this way? Greg Jenner discusses the history of high-heeled shoes with Dr Elizabeth Semmelhack from the Bata Shoe Museum and with returning comedian Lauren Pattison.
See photos of the shoes discussed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09w4wgl/
Produced by Cornelius Mendez Script by Emma Nagouse, Harry Prance and Greg Jenner Research by Harry Prance
Previous Episode
Nell Gwyn
September 10, 2021
•51m
One of the original comedic rags to riches stories, Nell Gwyn. We're travelling back to 17th century England to delve into a celebrity of the Restoration era, one of the first actresses in comedy and a mistress to King Charles II all rolled into one!
Nell Gwyn's life is as eventful and comedic as her turns on the stage, and Greg Jenner and his guests have a lot of fun unpicking this incredible life story where politics meets the stage, and there is only one (or maybe several?) winner/s
Greg is joined by associate professor and writer of 'Prologues and Epilogues of Restoration Theatre: Gender and Comedy, Performance and Print', Diana Solomon, and flanked by Jess Knappett, comedian, actress, writer and producer, who you'll know from her hit sitcom Drifters as well as appearances on 8 out of 10 Cats, Inbetweeners and Taskmaster.
Produced by Cornelius Mendez Script by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Research by William Clayton
The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4
Next Episode
Medieval Science
September 24, 2021
•54m
There's a school of thought out there that, following the fall of the Roman Empire around Europe, there's a decline in knowledge, technologies, and economics. But is this true?
Greg Jenner and his guests look at a range of discoveries spanning a thousand of years, widely known as the Medieval period. How was knowledge and scientific findings shared across a world with its countless languages and regions before the internet? Looking at essential scholars of the time like Ibn Al Hytham, the 'father of modern optics', and the evolution of compasses and maps, this episode picks up some of the weird and wonderful advancements of the period that we still use today - Medieval Science.
Greg is joined by Dr Seb Falk, a historian of Medieval Science, an expert on astronomy and mathematics and the author of the book The Light Ages, which was voted Book of the Year 2020 by the The Times and The Telegraph. Alongside Dr Falk, we have the multi-award-winning comedian, writer, podcaster and filmmaker, Josie Long, who has alsp appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You and House of Games.
Research - Rosanna Evans Script- Emma Nagouse, Rosanna Evans and Gregg Jenner Project Manager - Siefe Miyo Edit Producer - Cornelius Mendez
The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4
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