Academics
The remarkable stories of the world's most famous body parts. Louis XIV's rear end inspired the British National Anthem. Queen Victoria's armpit led to the development of antiseptics. Robert Jenkin's ear started a war. All too often, historical figures feel distant and abstract; more myth and legend than real flesh and blood. These stories of bodies and its parts remind us that history's most-loved, and most-hated, were real breathing creatures who inhabited organs and limbs just like us - until they're cut off that is. Medical historian Dr Suzie Edge investigates over 40 cases of how we've used, abused, dug up, displayed, experimented on, and worshipped body parts, including why Percy Shelley's heart refused to burn; how Yao Niang's toes started a 1000 year long ritual; why a giant's bones are making us rethink medical ethics; and the strange case of Hitler's right testicle.
Suzie Edge trained as a biologist before becoming a medical doctor, to spend more time talking to people, rather than just bugs in test tubes. She's worked as a doctor in infectious diseases, haematology, and trauma and orthopaedic surgery. She has also completed a MLitt in Modern History to feed her fascination for the history of the human body and medicine. She loves discovering the real historical stories of how we have treated our human bodies in life and in death. She has over 7.6 million likes and 380,000 followers on TikTok, who love tuning into her stories of gruesome and fascinating medical history. She has been nominated for BookTok Author of the Year 2023.
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