History of Underwear: from shirts and stays to bras and briefs
You're Dead to Me

History of Underwear: from shirts and stays to bras and briefs

B2Upper-intermediateAugust 28, 20261 hr
  • Interview
  • History

Greg Jenner is joined in western Europe by historian Dr Serena Dyer and comedian and actor Vic Michaelis to learn all about the hidden history of underwear. For as long as people have been wearing clothes, they have been wearing garments under them – Romans at Hadrian’s Wall were sent underpants, and even Ötzi the Iceman was discovered wearing a form of undergarment. But what were people wearing before the invention of underwires and elastic, so essential to our modern conceptions of underwear? This episode traces the history of our underthings in western Europe and the USA from the medie...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 1 of 12 · 0:00

.

If you're not home, you can't be home.

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B27:17
  • B212:29
  • B221:52
  • C123:39
  • B234:00
  • C142:43
  • B249:06
  • C156:10

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 56%A2 29%B1 10%B2 4%C1 1%
  • 95% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 188 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 230 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If you're not home, you can't be home. You can't be home without a project. I'm sorry.

0:36

I'm not going to be able to do anything. I'm not going to be able to do anything. No, sorry. I'm going to be able to do something to help you.

0:44

I'm going to be able to help you. Yes. I'm going to be able to help you. I'm going to be able to help you.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (60 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy