Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Henry ‘Chips’ Channon documented British High Society in eye-watering detail. His diaries are gossipy, sometimes vile, rude but always honest. Even after his death, his diaries struck fear into the British upper classes and it is only recently that they have been able to be published in all their glory. Chips' friendships with figures such as Neville Chamberlain and Edward VIII mean that his diaries provide an unparalleled window into the lives of the powerful. Journalist and author Simon Heffer took on the mammoth task of bringing the diaries to life and sorting through the 1.8 million words that make up the diaries. Simon joins Dan to discuss the life of Chips Channon, how his diaries puncture some of our national myths and why it was 60 years before the diaries could be published.
We put man on the moon, before we invented a wheeled suitcase.
So, why did it take so long? Well, the research of today’s guest suggests entrenched, gendered attitudes made the embrace of this idea even slower.
Who had the very first boob job? Why were women injecting liquid paraffin into their chests? And, how has the procedure developed over time?
Kate is joined Betwixt the Sheets by Professor Ruth Holliday and cosmetic surgeon Professor Vikram Devaraj to find out the bumpy history of breast augmenta...
415 years ago this month, 104 English men and boys landed in North America and established a settlement they called Jamestown in Virginia. Over the course of the 17th Century, a third of a million people left England for the "New World". But in Virginia, it all started from very small beginnings ...
