logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2025
38m 25s

Dr. Brinkley's Miracle Cure For Impotenc...

Pushkin Industries
About this episode

Cautionary Conversation: In the 1920s, a conman convinced America that goat testicles were the secret to male virility. Tim Harford and Dr Kate Lister (Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society) dive into the bizarre and grisly tale of "Doctor" John Brinkley. This snake oil salesman mobilised the power of radio marketing to build an empire on goat gland transplants and other quack "cures". And Brinkley might have got away with it, were it not for his nemesis: the tenacious Dr. Morris Fishbein.

Find Betwixt the Sheets here: https://podfollow.com/betwixt-the-sheets-the-history-of-sex-scandal-society

For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Aug 22
Paradise Poisoned: How Utopias Fall Apart
Dore Strauch and Friedrich Ritter make an unconventional couple, united by their contempt for shoes, root vegetables and, above all, society. In 1929 they leave Germany and begin anew on the deserted Galapagos island of Floreana. At first, it feels like a paradise, but soon crack ... Show More
41 m
Aug 15
"Genius Still Unrecognised" - The Worst Poet in the World
William McGonagall's poems are something else. The jarring meter, the banal imagery, the awkward rhymes: they made him a laughing stock in 19th Century Scotland and are still derided to this day. How does someone get that bad at poetry? Or have we been misunderstanding McGonagall ... Show More
40m 3s
Aug 8
Office Hell: The Demise of the Playful Workspace (Classic)
In the early 90s, cutting-edge advertising agency Chiat/Day announced a radical plan, aimed at giving the company a jolt of creative renewal. They would sweep away corner offices and cubicles and replace them with zany open spaces, as well as innovative portable computers and pho ... Show More
38m 40s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2025
History's Worst F*ckboys: Casanova
Can you imagine being SO smooth-talking and seductive your surname becomes an actual noun in the dictionary to describe someone who has a reputation for being an expert at in the sack? Well today we’re going to be talking about a man who was just that…Giacamo Casanova. But is his ... Show More
28m 41s
Apr 2025
166: The Shocking Sex Scandals Behind This Infamous Dictator
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Julius Caesar...military genius, fashion icon, drama queen, and oh yeah—murdered by 60 of his coworkers. We've all heard the name before. Maybe you think of togas, Caesar salads (not from him btw), or that phrase "Beware the Ides of March." Whatever t ... Show More
1h 7m
Aug 2024
Featuring: Betwixt the Sheets Podcast
This taster episode is taken from the Betwixt the Sheets podcast, created by our friends over at History Hit. Betwixt the Sheets looks into the history of sex, scandal and the weirdest, most fascinating areas of society - from the history of cosmetic surgery, to the Profumo Affai ... Show More
55m 10s
Jul 2024
The Dark History of Bearded Ladies & the Victorian Freak Show
What would it have really been like to visit a Victorian freak show? Were "freak performers" exploited, or empowered in a world that would likely have otherwise rejected them? And has the Victorian freak show ever really gone away? Joining Kate today is John Woolf, author of The ... Show More
39 m
Nov 2024
Practical Magic: Spells, Prayers & Cunning Folk
Long before witch trials, magic was the domain of ‘cunning folk’ who were part of the fabric of medieval and early modern life.  Their charms, filters and spells - for personal advancement, aiding fertility, predicting the future, even exacting revenge - offered people solutions ... Show More
33m 59s
Aug 2024
Corpse Medicine: Eating Egyptian Mummies
A skull a day! People ate people in the name of medicine across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Charles II kept powdered skull in a bag on his belt and mummified corpses were the greatest cure of all... but why? Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney visit the apothecary with g ... Show More
35m 20s
Oct 2024
Orgasms & Skincare According to a Medieval Nun
Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century nun, was a certified genius and a true polymath. From her many side hustles to her skincare recommendations, she wrote about everything from what happens when the world ends to what the female orgasm feels like. Why would a celibate nun know ... Show More
38m 4s
Apr 2025
History's Worst F*ckboys: Emperor Caligula
Have you ever heard of the Emperor who made his horse a senator? Seems like a top bloke, right? Today on Betwixt the Sheets we’re going to meet (possibly) the most debauched Roman Emperor. From stealing brides from their wedding days to an unhealthy obsession with his sister, who ... Show More
46m 2s
Jan 2025
Medieval Sex Myths
From medieval d*ck pics to sex with monks, how did people in medieval times think about sex and sexuality? It was a period that spanned roughly 1,000 years and even though views on sex were largely shaped by the dominant Christian faith, whether this filtered down to every day ex ... Show More
46m 4s