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
32:48
Emperor Frederick II: Scourge of the Papacy
23 July 2024One of the most important of Holy Roman Emperors, Frederick II was revered and reviled in equal measures. He was a scholar, an architect, a...
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32:26
Bidens Out: A History of What Could Happen Next
22 July 2024How unprecedented is Joe Biden's sudden withdrawal from the presidential race? He's given his endorsement to Kamala Harris to take his place, but...
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33:36
Secrets of the White House
22 July 2024How did a party in the White House end in mayhem? When did the West Wing become a hive of government? And how has the private life of the...
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29:42
The Mighty Ashanti: Rival to the British Empire
22 July 2024At the end of the 17th century, a small clan - the Akan - in West Africa began growing into what would later become the powerful Ashanti...
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54:21
Victorian Teen Who Murdered Her Baby Brother
22 July 2024In 1860 Britain was rocked by the brutal murder of 3-year-old Francis Kent inside his family home. Scotland Yard sent their finest but when a...
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39:53
Operation Valkyrie: The Attempted Assassination of Hitler
21 July 2024On the 80th anniversary of the 20th of July Plot, Dan explores the dramatic events when members of Germany's military and political elite...
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47:38
Neanderthal Britain
21 July 2024For more than 100,000 years, Neanderthals made their home in Ice Age Britain, right on the edge of the inhabitable world. But what evidence do we...
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41:22
US Presidents Who Escaped Assassination
19 July 2024Lincoln, FDR, Reagan, Clinton, Bush and now Trump. All have been targets of assassination attempts while in or running for office. Listen to this...
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46:40
The Medieval Tudors
19 July 2024We don't often use the word 'Tudor' on Gone Medieval but we can't ignore how the Tudors have a sensational medieval story.
Henry VII...
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47:55
Incest & Royalty: House of the Dragon & Beyond
19 July 2024With the House of the Dragon featuring *that* incest scene, we thought we'd look into the real history of sexual relations within...
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43:23
Sovereignty, the Constitution and 100 years of Citizenship: Native Rights
18 July 2024This podcast contains adult language.
What was the ‘Indian Citizenship Act’ of 1924? Why was it necessary? How did it happen? And why...
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47:39
Pyramid of the Sun
18 July 2024The Pyramid of the Sun is ancient America’s Great Pyramid of Giza. Built in the legendary city of Teotihuacán, and given its name by the...
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41:57
Spycraft: From the Elizabethans to the Restoration
18 July 2024The 16th and 17th centuries were a crucial time for spycraft, full of political intrigue and diplomatic subterfuge. Walsingham was known as a 'Spy...
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40:50
Real History of the Illuminati
18 July 2024There really was a secret society called the Illuminati that aimed to create a New World Order. This is true story of the Illuminati and how they...
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33:34
The Royal Marines
17 July 2024Members of this elite unit - formed in 1664 under Charles II - were present at the American Revolution, the Battle of Trafalgar, the Crimean War,...
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39:17
US Presidents Who Were Almost Assassinated
16 July 2024Lincoln, FDR, Reagan, Clinton, Bush and now Trump. All have been targets of assassination attempts while in or running for office. Dan is joined...
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40:27
Gaslighting to Woke: Origins of Modern Buzzwords
16 July 2024What does it mean to be 'woke'? What did the bluesman Leadbelly mean when he coined the phrase? And what does a story set in Victorian London have...
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1:03:12
The Murder of Thomas Becket
16 July 2024Today on Gone Medieval we arrive at one of the most consequential events in English history; the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas...
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36:28
The Rise of Presidential Power
15 July 2024Right from independence, a question has hovered over the government of the United States. How much power should the President have? Not too much,...
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37:14
The Death of Henry VIII
15 July 2024On 28 January 1547, King Henry VIII died at the age of 55. Just hours before his passing, his last will and testament had been read, stamped,...
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37:42
The Greatest Tea Race of the Victorian Age
14 July 20242/4. With towering masts and billowing sails, the Cutty Sark and the Thermopylae raced neck and neck through relentless waves to be the first to...
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