Rachel David reviews Sean Martin’s ‘A Short History of Disease’

From hammerstones to biotechnology: Lizzie Norris looks at the engineering that has helped us to increase our lifespan and improve our quality of life.

Something different for you and your loved one as you prepare for Valentine’s Day? Come and hear how in the eighteenth century and earlier, just one night of love in the arms of Venus could lead to a lifetime with Mercury, a painful treatment for the dreaded pox or syphilis. Find out where this loathsome disease originated from in the sixteenth century and the variety of painful treatments available for it in the Georgian age when the cure could indeed often be worse than the disease itself.