Public vs private: history behind closed doors

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. What's the difference between private and public life? And where should we draw the line between the two? Over the centuries, these boundaries have often been blurred, as Tiffany Jenkins explores in her book, Strangers and Intimates. In this episode, she speaks to Lauren Good about everything from the rigid separation of the public and private spheres in ancient Athens to the privacy busting spectacle of Big Brother.

Lauren began by asking Tiffany to give an overview of what she explores in the book. I was always very interested in privacy and secrecy. I thought both were important, and I was very struck with the contemporary discussions about privacy. They're often very tech focused.

Many books in the last decade talking about social media, but I thought privacy would obviously have a longer history. It didn't just come from nowhere. It's not a natural thing. Additionally, a lot of other books, 19th century focus, talk about the valuation of privacy in America and Britain with a very famous article called The Right to Privacy. But my question with that was

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