The Essay

Jonathan Sawday continues his exploration of Restoration Britain. In this essay, how Charles II's return brought a resurrection of the king's bodily powers like his healing "touch". Jonathan Sawday uses this event to tell the story of how the body returned to public life in so many forms - women on stage, sexualised poetry, the return of fashion, the first attempts at surgery - it symbolised a pushing aside of the Godly people who had ruled under Cromwell. Producer: Hannah Godfrey and Matthew Dodd.