Special Episode: Daniel Dunglas Home

Special Episode: Daniel Dunglas Home

From Bad Gays by Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller

April 2, 2026 · 1h 18m · Season 9 · Episode 135

About this episode

This episode explores the life of Daniel Dunglas Home, a significant medium in 19th century Spiritualism, through an interview with academic Avery Curran.

Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Daniel Dunglas Home always knew he wasn't like the other boys. Not because he was gay, but because, while they were out on the sports field playing rugby, he was communicating with the dead. Despite being a huge celebrity in Victorian England, today Home is almost unknown. In this special episode, academic and novelist Avery Curran talks to Huw about one of the most significant mediums of 19th century Spiritualism, and what his life and reputation can tell us about gender and sexuality in high society at the time. ----more---- SOURCES: Heyday of a Wizard - Jean Burton The First Psychic - Peter Lamont Experiences in Spiritualism with DD Home - Viscount Adare ‘Very hot indeed’: Intimacy between men in Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D. D. Home - Avery Curran, Journal of Victorian Culture Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

People in this episode

Host: Huw

Guest: Avery Curran

Topics covered

  • Spiritualism
  • Victorian England
  • Gender
  • Sexuality
  • Mediumship

Keywords

  • Daniel Dunglas Home
  • 19th century
  • high society
  • intimacy between men
  • Spiritualism

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Arpeggia Colorix

Books & works: Extra Bad Gays, Heyday of a Wizard

Places: England

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