The extraordinary history of everyday objects. The Tampon
Hailed as one of the top 50 inventions of the 20th century, the tampon actually dates back 2,500 years. The story of the tampon is one of commercial zeal v church, state and medical ignorance. 'Virgins are not, as a rule, capable of using them,' pronounced The Lancet as recently as 1945. Television adverts were banned, so trained teams of nurses took the message direct to the consumer. Now, in Britain, women use four million tampons every day. Producer Kate Broome
Series producer Peter Grimsdale * CEEFAX SUBTITLES