History Podcasts
The History Hit network gives you access to a growing range of podcasts presented by and featuring historians at the forefront of research and debate.
Scroll down to listen to the most recent episodes from our network.
Dan Snow’s History Hit explores the deep history behind today’s headlines – giving you the context to understand what is going on today. Everything has a history, every challenge made easier by understanding its nature, its genesis. In a world of fast opinions, we put historians into the debate, women and men who bring real knowledge built over careers spent researching.
The Ancients, hosted by historian Tristan Hughes, is dedicated to discussing our distant past. Historians and archaeologists join Tristan to discuss specific themes from antiquity, from Neolithic Britain to the Fall of Rome.
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb presents Not Just the Tudors. Together with expert interviewees, she covers the sweeping range of the early modern period: everything from the Aztecs to witches, Velázquez to Shakespeare, Mughal India to the Mayflower.
Gone Medieval is hosted by historians Matt Lewis and Eleanor Janega, who shine a light on one of the most fascinating yet misunderstood periods of history: the Middle Ages. In each episode, experts lead listeners beneath the skin of captivating stories to uncover new insights.
In Betwixt the Sheets join historian, Kate Lister as she unashamedly roots around the topics which seem to have been skipped in history class. Everything from landmark LGBTQ+ court cases, to political scandal, to downright bizarre medieval cures for impotence.
In American History Hit, join Don Wildman twice a week for your hit of American history, as he explores the past to help us understand the United States of today. We’ll hear how codebreakers uncovered secret Japanese plans for the Battle of Midway, visit Chief Powhatan as he prepares for war with the British, see Walt Disney accuse his former colleagues of being communists, and uncover the dark history that lies beneath Central Park.
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal joined History Hit’s award-winning podcast network in October 2023, hosted by actor, writer and historian Anthony Delaney and writer, broadcaster, historian Maddy Pelling. Together, the duo unpick history’s spookiest, strangest and most sinister stories – from the disappearance of HMS Terror to the origins of Halloween.
War historian and broadcaster James Rogers hosts our Warfare podcast, which opens up fascinating new perspectives on how conflict has shaped and changed our world. James teams up with fellow historians, veterans, and experts to reveal astonishing new histories of inspirational leadership, breakthrough technologies, and era defining battles.
Patented, hosted by Dallas Campbell, dives into stories of flukey discoveries, erased individuals and murky marketing ploys with the help of experts, scientists and historians.
Click on any of the listings below to listen to the most recent episodes from our network.
All Podcasts
49:32
Ice Age America
21 November 2024A group of hunter-gatherers encounter diverse habitats full of creatures they’ve never seen before. A land of opportunity, but also...
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52:14
Ghosts of the Deep South
21 November 2024The Deep South is a haunted landscape where dark tourism thrives, supplying spine-tingling thrills to eager visitors. But is there a darker truth...
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33:59
Practical Magic: Spells, Prayers & Cunning Folk
21 November 2024Long before witch trials, magic was the domain of ‘cunning folk’ who were part of the fabric of medieval and early modern life. Their...
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34:50
Gladiator Women of Ancient Rome
19 November 2024Evidence shows us that women gladiators fought in front of baying crowds in Ancient Rome.
Who were these women? How would these fights have...
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36:41
Joan of Arc's Signature & Other Medieval Marvels
19 November 2024Dr. Eleanor Janega can hardly contain her excitement. She’s just seen Joan of Arc’s actual signature on show in the Medieval Women: In Their...
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42:04
The True Story of London's Blitz
19 November 2024Dan explores stories of London's Blitz, beyond the stiff-upper-lip stereotypes and discovers an unexpected world of crime, sexual revolution and...
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42:58
The Spanish-American War
18 November 2024In April 1898 the United States declared war on Spain. By the end of the war that December, the Spanish had lost their centuries-old colonial...
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46:53
English Village Sacrificed to Plague (Part 1)
18 November 2024(Part 1/2) They could've run, but they stayed. In 1665 plague arrived in the idyllic English village of Eyam. What followed was a story of...
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39:26
Leonardo da Vinci with Ken Burns
18 November 2024Leonardo da Vinci was a man like no other. A restless visionary and polymath, his paintings are some of the best known of all works of...
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29:40
Gladiators: The Praetorian Guard
18 November 2024The true nexus of power in the Roman Empire wasn't in the Emperor's box but in the shadowy ranks of the Praetorian Guard. First established in 27...
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56:48
Emperor Macrinus: Usurper of Rome
17 November 2024Denzel Washington stars as Emperor Macrinus in the epic new movie Gladiator II, but who exactly was this shadowy ruler of Rome?
Join...
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51:35
Mythbusting Medieval Buildings
15 November 2024What is a leper squint? Are the marks scratched into the exterior walls of churches from damned souls trying to claw their way in?
Join Matt...
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36:17
Catherine of Aragon | Secret Lives of the Six Wives
15 November 2024We know the fates of Henry VIII's wives, but what were these iconic women really like?
In the first episode of this limited series, Secret...
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40:58
Gladiators: The Real Spartacus
15 November 2024Spartacus is probably the most famous gladiator in history but how much of his legend is actually true? Dan is joined by Dr Rhiannon Evans, from...
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40:26
A CIA Man in China: 20 Years Imprisoned
14 November 2024This is the story of America's longest held prisoner of war. John 'Jack' Downey, an American CIA operative, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 21...
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38:50
Witchfinder General
14 November 2024In the aftermath of the Civil War, a remote corner of Essex witnessed the most brutally devastating witch-hunt in English history. A dangerous...
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37:44
Queen Victoria's Funeral & the Cult of Death
14 November 2024Queen Victoria was synonymous with grief and the Victorian cult of death. Yet her own funeral wasn't that at all. Today Dan O'Brien explains to...
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54:35
Caracalla & Geta: The Real Emperors of Gladiator II
14 November 2024The new Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II features two of Rome's most villainous emperors - the brothers Caracalla and Geta.
And in today's...
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47:54
Gladiators: Myths vs Reality
13 November 2024Join Dan at Rome's Colosseum as he separates fact from fiction in the world of the gladiators. He traces the origins of gladiatorial fighting from...
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49:24
El Cid: Spain's Medieval Mercenary
12 November 2024Rodrigo Díaz - known as el Cid - lived a violently colourful life in 11th Century Spain. By turns an ambitious military leader, exile and brutal...
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44:35
Gladiators' Sex Lives
12 November 2024Who really were the gladiators of Ancient Rome?
With them once again hitting the big screens this month, we wanted to take you back a couple...
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