It's Horrible Histories but for adults...
| Published date | 16 September 2023 |
| Publication title | Coventry Telegraph |
From the bacchanals of ancient Rome to La Voltas of Elizabethan Britain, the not-so prudish Victorians to sexual icons Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, sex always has been, and always will be, a central part of life and society.
In a new documentary series for Sky History, Amanda Holden and historian Dan Jones are taking a sexy trip through history, exploring how sex through the ages has shaped civilisations.
"I bill this as Horrible Histories for adults," says actress and presenter Amanda, 52, of Sex: A Bonkers History. "It's your best history lesson ever...
"It's really engaging, it's super interesting... Every day, I'd come home with a fun fact or something silly and say to my husband, or my 18-year-old: 'Oh my God, you'll never believe about Queen Victoria', or: 'This is what Cleopatra did'.
"It's stuff you just don't know about these people that you've seen in history books."
"Sex is a great way of looking at human history," adds Dan, 42.
"Because it's the one historical constant, it's the one thing you can be absolutely certain people have done ever since we evolved... and so it's a great way to connect lots of different interesting periods of history." Throughout the five-part series, Amanda and Dan will explore the salacious parts of history you've never before considered, from how to make the ancient Egyptian equivalent of Viagra and spermicide, to Anne Boleyn's sexual control over Henry VIII, to Georgian brothels, the Victorian BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism) scene, and the raunchy cartoons that motivated troops in the Second World War.
"Queen Victoria, what a girl!" says Amanda of one of her favourite facts from the series. "Isn't it brilliant that you can see this sort of woman, she's so austere and fierce-looking... and you know that she had a passionate love affair with her husband, and she literally chased him around the palace. I mean, it's just fun, isn't it?"
Taking a look beneath the sheets of these historical periods, we can begin to understand the realities of everyday life, beyond the conventions or stereotypes we might have learned from school history books.
"During the Regency period - I mean, I know everyone loves Bridgerton... when you look at that show, and you think: 'That's far-fetched, that wouldn't have happened, that wouldn't have happened', and to know that actually, it did," Amanda says. "No corsets and no ribbons and gussets stopped them from doing...
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