Here for the History

When you find a coin down the back of the sofa, have you ever wondered where it came from? Do you know your farthings from your pennies? Your guineas from your pounds?
From ancient Lydia and Roman Britain to the founding of the Royal Mint and Decimalisation Day — Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson tell the story of how Brits started using coins and banknotes.
Key Sources:
Economica, Victoria Bateman.
Britain’s First Coins, Chris Rudd.
The Big Reset: War on Gold and the Financial Endgame, Willem Middelkoop.
Royal Mint Museum website.
Bank of England website.

British people have terrible teeth. That’s the stereotype - but is it true? And what’s the story behind it?
Ben Henderson and Alice Loxton explore how Brits got a reputation for bad teeth thanks to our love of sugar, and we see how British and American teeth took wildly different paths after the Second World War.
Key Sources:
June Thomas - Journalist.
The Bad-Mouthing of British Teeth - Decoder Ring podcast.
Drills, Dentures and Dentistry: An Oral History - BBC Four.
Dr Irwin Smigel - The Times.
Austin Powers bites back: a cross sectional comparison of US and English national oral health surveys - British Medical Journal.

Have you ever stopped to think about the technological marvel that is the modern toilet?
Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson chart a course from a Roman fort in Northumberland via Victorian London to a council flat in 20th century Glasgow. All to find out - when did we get flushing loos? And what happened to all that waste?
Does it surprise you how recently these things became the norm? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to hit like, hype and subscribe if you’re Here for the History.
Key Sources
Conversations with Dr Stephen Halliday and Lee Jackson

Do you ever feel like work is taking over your life? Well, society didn’t always place so much value on work ethic.
Ben Henderson and Alice Loxton uncover the surprising history behind our modern obsession with hard work.
First, medieval marriage reforms transformed people’s relationship with work. Then, monastic orders and the Protestant Reformation framed hard work as sacred. Finally, the industrial revolution kickstarted our modern fixation on productivity.
Key Sources:
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous - Prof Joseph Henrich.
Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism - E. P. Thompson.
Blood, Sweat and Tears: The Evolution of Work - Richard Donkin.
The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism - Prof Richard Sennett.
Slavery, Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution - Prof Maxine Berg & Prof Pat Hudson.

For centuries leaving the house without a hat would be like leaving the house without your phone or keys - you simply wouldn’t do it. But these days, headwear is an optional add on - a fashion choice, a weather protector, or found on the head of a wedding guest.
Alice and Ben look under the brim of history to find out what on earth happened to the ubiquity of the hat?
We’ll cover a parent’s desperate tactic to keep a son out of trouble, there are highwaymen, practical jokes, and a British supermodel.
Key Sources:
The Cultural, Social, and Ideological Role of the Hat in Early Modern England - Professor Bernard Capp
Dress for Deference and Dissent: Hats and the decline of Hat Honour - Professor Penelope J. Corfield
Hats - Fiona Clark