Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How drugged up were 18th century Londoners?
Dr Kate Lister explores drugs, booze and celebrities of the Georgian age navigating the astronomical impact of gin in the 18th century, who was drinking it and how they were making it (spoiler alert, it was strong, drunk in a pint sized jar and sometimes flavoured with urine!). She looks into how they tried to quell the gin craze after 50 years of gin madness in 1751 and how they promoted the obviously healthy drink of beer as an alternative!
After Kate tries gin she explores the history of a drug commonly associated with the Georgians, opium, before trying a Georgian pleasure still available (and legal) today, Snuff! After all that booze and tobacco we follow Kate to bath for a more sobering hit of some of Jane Austen’s favourite tipple, the Pump rooms famous spa water, before exploring a group of people even Lady Whistledown herself would have loved, the diamonds of the sex work trade, the influencers of their age, the Courtesans. Finally Kate tries to figure out why everyone was so obsessed with the regency’s most famous bad boy, Lord Byron, was he really mad, bad and dangerous to know?
All of this will help to unearth the real lives of the people stomping the streets, pubs and back alleys of these lavish Georgian cities. No stone is left unturned in the quest to reveal the real lives of Georgian society!
You can now become a History Hit member right here on YouTube! Join for access to a new exclusive documentary every week, and access to over 160+ of our documentaries presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Eleanor Janega, Tristan Hughes, Mary Beard, Matt Lewis and more.
Get an exclusive release every week by signing up here: youtube.com/channel/UCZwU2G-KVl-P-O-B35chZOQ/join
#realbridgerton #georgianhistory #gincraze
How drugged up were 18th century Londoners?
Dr Kate Lister explores drugs, booze and celebrities of the Georgian age navigating the astronomical impact of gin in the 18th century, who was drinking it and how they were making it (spoiler alert, it was strong, drunk in a pint sized jar and sometimes flavoured with urine!). She looks into how they tried to quell the gin craze after 50 years of gin madness in 1751 and how they promoted the obviously healthy drink of beer as an alternative!
After Kate tries gin she explores the history of a drug commonly associated with the Georgians, opium, before trying a Georgian pleasure still available (and legal) today, Snuff! After all that booze and tobacco we follow Kate to bath for a more sobering hit of some of Jane Austen’s favourite tipple, the Pump rooms famous spa water, before exploring a group of people even Lady Whistledown herself would have loved, the diamonds of the sex work trade, the influencers of their age, the Courtesans. Finally Kate tries to figure out why everyone was so obsessed with the regency’s most famous bad boy, Lord Byron, was he really mad, bad and dangerous to know?
All of this will help to unearth the real lives of the people stomping the streets, pubs and back alleys of these lavish Georgian cities. No stone is left unturned in the quest to reveal the real lives of Georgian society!
You can now become a History Hit member right here on YouTube! Join for access to a new exclusive documentary every week, and access to over 160+ of our documentaries presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Eleanor Janega, Tristan Hughes, Mary Beard, Matt Lewis and more.
Get an exclusive release every week by signing up here: youtube.com/channel/UCZwU2G-KVl-P-O-B35chZOQ/join
#realbridgerton #georgianhistory #gincraze
