From the dawn of time, humans have always sat. But why and where did sitting originate? Greg takes a tour of ancient seating from Egyptian thrones to Greek recliners. We hear about the horrors of Roman public lavatories and how to sit politely in Japan.

Yes, it's a strange kind of history. And that’s the way Public Historian Greg Jenner likes it. Because, he says, how we sit, where we sit, what we do when we sit and what happens as a result of all that sitting says a lot about humans past and present. 

This study means we can link a royal throne with a 2000-year-old toilet. It shows how the language and culture of sitting is deep seated in all of us. It sits listeners down in classrooms, parliaments, sports grounds, protests and in the penitentiary death chamber. 

So if you're sitting comfortably.... 

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From wedding ceremonies to national parliaments, seating plans always cause problems. In this episode, Greg considers the complex and controversial politics of posterior parking.

A cradle to grave (or rather high chair to rocking chair) history of seating, including royal sex chairs and a dead man who still sits inside his old university.

This one’s going to hurt, but it’s for your own good. Or for the good of society. This episode explores seated punishment and humiliation and the strange link between the dentist’s chair and the electric chair.

Greg travels from the music hall to the football stadium (via an Elizabethan mosh pit) to discover why sitting squashed together in crowds and congregations can either bind an audience together or create a dangerous friction.

Bicycles were liberating, racing cars exhilarating and steam ships shrunk the globe; revolutionary technology changed our lives by letting us sit at high speed.

From reclining chairs that hold your drink, to city benches that deter the homeless; this episode explores the history of sitting down comfortably and the power of imposing deliberate discomfort.