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Discovery: The Origin of Stuff: Bed

Magazines & Reviews

13/07/2020 GMT

The Origin of Stuff

BBC World Service - Discovery, The Origin of Stuff, BedSearch BBC

Katy Brand reveals how our attitudes to sleep, sex and status are played out in the bed.

Katy Brand reveals how the bed, past and present, has been shaped by our attitudes to sleep, sex, and status.

After a long journey, there’s nothing nicer for Katy than climbing into her own bed. It’s often the first major purchase we make when we grow up and leave home.

Its significance was not lost on our ancestors. The bed was often the place where societal attitudes to sleep, superstition, sex, and status were played out, sometimes in dramatic form.

So where did the bed come from, and what can this everyday object tell us about ourselves?

A sleeper in early modern times believed that sleep was akin to death, with the devil waiting to pounce after darkness. So bed-time rituals were performed at the bedside and wolves’ teeth were often hung around the sleeper’s neck. Iron daggers were dangled over the cradles of infants at night to prevent them from being changed into demon babies.

While we may have outgrown a fear of the devil, sleep expert and neuroscientist Prof Russell Foster fears the modern-day obsession that’s disrupting our sleep – our mobile devices. His advice? Prepare your bed for a good night’s sleep and defend it with a passion.

Also featuring resident public historian Greg Jenner, and Prof Sasha Handley, expert on Early Modern History and sleep during this time.

Producer: Beth Eastwood.

Picture: Bed, Credit: Igor Vershinsky/Getty Images

Discovery: The Origin of Stuff

Katy Brand explores the origins of stuff.

Katy Brand explores the life of the toothbrush. Despite its humble start as a tooth cleaning stick, she reveals how ingenuity and innovation have ensured its place in our lives.

What is the most personal item you own - one you don’t want anyone else using?
 
For Katy Brand it’s her toothbrush. So how did the toothbrush become one of life’s essentials?
 
With the help of public historian, Greg Jenner, Katy goes back to ancient times, when the toothbrush was merely a stick. But the brush, as we know it, only came into being much later when a convict spied a broom in his cell and had a bright idea.
 
But how has ingenuity and innovation shaped the toothbrush and ensured its place in our lives? And given most are plastic, how environmentally friendly is the toothbrush’s legacy?
 
Featuring designer and toothbrush collector, Sophie Thomas, and advocate for clean teeth, Peter Dyer, Chair of Hospital Dentists at the British Dental Association.

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