Main content

Brett Westwood learns how fleas are entwined with disease, love, language and humour.

Throughout history, human fleas have been one of our closest companions; the irritating bedfellows of everyone from kings and queens to the poorest in society. Brett Westwood discovers how the flea has been a carrier of disease, causing suffering on an enormous scale. But, despite being a danger and a pest, their proximity has led to us to try to understand them and find humour in them.

The esteemed British naturalist Dame Miriam Rothschild was one of the world's leading experts on fleas and led an investigation into how they propel themselves to such speed and distance from their minuscule frame. As parasites, their ability to jump onto hosts to suck their blood led to fleas being charged with sexual energy in the 16th century. Poets wrote entertainingly intimate poems of their jealousy that the flea could jump onto areas of a beautiful woman that they themselves would be unable to reach.

The comedic role of the flea continued into the era of the flea circus when they pulled miniature metal chariots several times their weight and their role as performers didn't end there - leading on into early cinema and even tourism. They may have been often overlooked but fleas have had a stark impact on our lives.

Revised and shortened repeat.

Archive Producer: Andrew Dawes for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Audio in Bristol

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 6 Dec 2020 06:35

Theresa Howard

Theresa Howard is a Collections Manager at the in London and Head of Entomological Collections, Molecular Collections and Plants. With more than 32 years of curatorial, research and management experience within the Life Sciences Department, she has an excellent working knowledge of both how the collections function and the inherent problems associated with a collection of its size and variety.

Her particular collections and research interests are Siphonaptera, (fleas) and Culicidae (mosquitoes) and she has published widely on these topics. As a core member of the Collections Committee she is responsible for the overarching planning of the maintenance and development of the Natural History Museums Collections. 

Professor Judith Buchanan

Professor Judith Buchanan
Professor Judith Buchanan is Professor of Film and Literature at the University of York’s Department of English and Director of . She is an expert in the production and reception of silent cinema and in Shakespeare performance histories.

Through the creative work of Silents Now, she seeks to make silent films more than just documents of historical interest, but a source of pleasurable engagement for contemporary audiences also, thereby helping to ensure the preservation and ongoing life of a valuable but threatened part of our film heritage.

She is the author of, among other things, Shakespeare on Film and Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse and she is editor of The Writer on Film: Screening Literary Authorship.

Twitter:

Dr Tim Cockerill

Dr Tim Cockerill
 is a zoologist, circus performer, broadcaster and photographer. He specialises in communicating science and natural history to a wide range of audiences, with particular expertise in the smaller examples of animal life – especially insects and their relatives.

He is also a seasoned performer specialising in obscure and often dangerous circus and sideshow stunts.

Dr Kelvin Corlett

Dr Kelvin Corlett
Dr Kelvin Corlett is a lexicographer and senior assistant editor at the , which he joined shortly after completing a PhD in mathematics at the University of East Anglia. 

Specialising in scientific vocabulary, he is part of the editorial team currently working on the ongoing project to completely revise the OED.

Cheryl Whitehorn

Cheryl Whitehorn
Cheryl Whitehorn is Principal Scientific Officer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), specialising in the identification of medically important insects.

She has worked on mosquito control with the on the Cayman Islands and in Brazil and now teaches students at LSHTM the fundamentals of distinguishing one insect vector from another.

She contracted malaria whilst working on a malaria control programme in East Timor. The irony was not lost on her. She said in her defence that she was taking anti-malarial tablets but parasites don’t always read the labels.

Broadcasts

  • Tue 10 Nov 2015 11:00
  • Mon 16 Nov 2015 21:00
  • Sun 6 Dec 2020 06:35

Natural History Heroes

Natural History Heroes

Scientists celebrate the pioneers who inspired their work and lives.

Natural Histories Comedy

Humorous perspectives on life from the plants and animals in the series.

10 things we got wrong about dinosaurs

Dinosaur myths, misconceptions and mysteries.