Drag is an art form that's seen a great deal of success – and a little controversy – in recent years. Yet, as Jacob Bloomfield argues in his recent book, Drag: A British History, it's also entertained British audiences for decades, stretching back to the music halls of the Victorian era and revue shows of the Second World War. Matt Elton caught up with Jacob to find out more.
(Ad) Jacob Bloomfield is the author of Drag: A British History (University of California Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drag-British-History-Berkeley-Studies/dp/0520393325/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Back in the USSR: the Soviet Sixties
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: everything you wanted to know
Dinosaurs: a Victorian obsession
Tiger Tamer | 6. battling against Bovril
How was Elizabeth I shaped by her childhood?
Joan of Arc: life of the week
Leftovers: how our ancestors battled food waste
WW1's eastern front: everything you wanted to know
Eric 'Winkle' Brown: Britain's most extraordinary pilot
Tiger Tamer | 5. crazy about wheelbarrows
Will the real Jesus please stand up?
Mary Wollstonecraft: life of the week
An obscenity trial that shocked Victorian Britain
The Capetians: everything you wanted to know
Lothar II vs Theutberga: a marriage scandal that shook the ninth century
Tiger Tamer | 4. celebrity pedestrian
A political earthquake: Britain's first Labour government
James VI and I: life of the week
From Russia to Texas: the search for a Jewish homeland
British Redcoats: everything you wanted to know
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Dan Snow’s History Hit
Gone Medieval
Not Just the Tudors
History Daily
The Ancients