# The Truth About the Little Mermaid

An episode of [Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1612090432), 7 Apr 2026, 43 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/betwixt-the-sheets/e/69ce8578d2e95f51315c9f36/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=olfZo-HEcWx7Oby7RGY5sxlXq3_O7Kk-Qur416duKvw

What is a mermaid? Do sirens, selkies and Aquaman fit into this category? And how far back in history do they go? Kate is joined by Diane Purkiss to discuss the Little Mermaid, both the Disney and Hans Christian Anderson versions, and more! Professor Diane Purkiss is a Fellow and Tutor of English at Keble College, Oxford. She specialises in Renaissance and women's literature, witchcraft and the English Civil War. This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here. All music from Epidemic Sounds. Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast. Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards! UK & Ireland listeners please place your vote on the Spotify mobile app here: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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