History Unzipped
Did Hitler only have one testicle? This juicy anatomical detail was included in the Nazi dictator's autopsy when it was finally revealed by the Soviets in 1968. Was the Fuehrer born that way? Did he suffer a nasty WW1 wound? Or does the secret lie with the famous British war anthem, "The Colonel Bogey March"?
info_outline Footnote: Scent of a FührerHistory Unzipped
Eva Braun put up with more than we think to be a Nazi dictator's consort. Hitler suffered from uncontrollable flatulence -- an ailment that poisoned the atmosphere at the Berghof and may have hastened the end of the war.
info_outline THE FASCINATING FASCIST WIFE: Interview with Nina BurleighHistory Unzipped
What does America's current First Lady, Melania Trump, have in common with the consorts of history's great dictators -- Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci, Eva Braun, Evita Peron. Imelda Marcos? Nina Burleigh, author of "The Trump Women: Part of the Deal" reveals all! A fascinating insight into everything that is screwed-up with US politics today.
info_outline Musical Interlude: Why Castrati Made Better LoversHistory Unzipped
In the 18th century, castrated Italian singers were sex symbols sought out by women across the courts of Europe. The most famous, Farinelli, lived like a rock start and has even had his own modern biopic. Learn why castrati were the bedroom idols of the era -- and listen to the only known recording of a castrato, made in the Vatican in 1902.
info_outline Footnote: Columbus Discovers the ClitorisHistory Unzipped
A survey of the forgotten milestones of modern love -- from the 1556 "discovery" of "the seat of a woman's delight" by Renaldo Columbus (no relation to Christopher) to the 18th century birth of "sex as we know it," the invention of pornography (1864), the first use of the word "homosexual" (1892), Virginia Woolf's vision that that the sexual revolution was nigh (1908)... and more!
info_outline THE SCIENCE OF LUST: Interview with Wednesday MartinHistory Unzipped
Female desire has been a battleground for thousands of years. Men have downplayed it since the ancient Greeks, demonized it in Puritan witchcraft trials and misinterpreted in the studies of Sigmund Freud. Wednesday Martin -- author of Primates of Park Avenue, Untrue and The Button, a history of women's most sensitive part, unravels the saga from the Agricultural Revolution to the Renaissance and the "clitoracy" movement today.
info_outline Footnote: Celebrity body partsHistory Unzipped
Jesus' foreskin isn't the only phallic relic -- the organs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Rasputin, Tutankhamun and John Dillinger have been on the market over the years. A rundown of celebrity body parts, including Galileo's finger, Einstein's brain, Beethoven's ear bones and Abe Lincoln's skull fragments -- as well as famous frauds like Joan of Arc's heart. Sic transit gloria mundi.
info_outline WHO STOLE JESUS' FORESKIN? Interview with David FarleyHistory Unzipped
Celebrity memorabilia is big business these days, but nothing quite compares to the Holy Foreskin, a portion of Jesus' most intimate anatomy revered by Christians since the Middle Ages. David Farley, author of "An Irreverent Curiosity" and star of a National Geographic TV special, "The Quest for the Holy Foreskin," is the world's leading expert on the sacred prepuce and its mysterious fate. The relic was stolen from a church in an Italian hill town in 1983. Was it by Satanists, neo-Nazis... or the Vatican?
info_outline Footnote: the Curse of Self-AbuseHistory Unzipped
How an obscure 1712 pamphlet called Onania began the war on masturbation in Georgian London. Over the next 200 years, the campaign against self-pleasure became an international phenomenon, and led to such oddities as the creation of Corn Flakes and Graham crackers in the US.
info_outline SEX AT DAWN: Interview with Chris RyanHistory Unzipped
Was Charles Darwin a player? Christopher Ryan, author of the New York Times bestseller 'Sex At Dawn,' discusses the Victorian triumph of views on sexual evolution and what they mean for us today. Discussed: Can new research on prehistory help explain modern scandals? What do we know about Darwin's erotic life? Who invented "key parties"? What is an "anaphrodisiac"? And -- are Republicans stuck in the Agricultural Revolution?
info_outlineHow an obscure 1712 pamphlet called Onania began the war on masturbation in Georgian London. Over the next 200 years, the campaign against self-pleasure became an international phenomenon, and led to such oddities as the creation of Corn Flakes and Graham crackers in the US.