Tudor life with Ruth Goodman

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. Fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. When we think of the Tudor period, we're all familiar with the kings, the queens, the beheadings. But what about the people who didn't make it into the history books? What did ordinary Tudors eat and drink on a daily basis, for example?

How did they keep themselves clean without baths and showers? And what surprising beliefs did they hold about sex, religion and childhood? Well, in this episode, the social historian and broadcaster Ruth Goodman joins Rachel Dinning to discuss what day-to-day existence was really like for most people in the 16th century. Ruth is the presenter of a new History Extra Academy exploring the subject in much more detail. Episodes 1 to 3 are out now, available in the History Extra app.

And if you head to the description of this episode, you can find a link to download the app and start watching now. So welcome Ruth to the History Extra podcast. It's great to have you on today. Today we're talking about the Tudors and you've spent so much time living and breathing Tudor history, quite literally in some cases. So my first question I want to ask you today is what drew you to this topic of history and looking at ordinary people, not just the big events, not just the monarchs, looking at ordinary lives in the 16th century?

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