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
39:29
Defending a Castle
1 November 2024Gone Medieval continues to explore the life cycle of castles, today considering the role for which they were explicitly designed - as fortresses...
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43:06
What Made You Ugly In The Ancient World?
1 November 2024When we think about Greek and Roman beauty, we think of marble statues of huge men with tiny...feet.
But what did it mean to be a beautiful...
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46:49
Will This Be America's Closest Election Ever?
1 November 2024The 2024 US Presidential election is just around the corner, and it seems like the result is balanced on a knife's edge. As the polls continue to...
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54:35
New York Morgue's Dark Secrets
31 October 2024The unclaimed dead of New York City's streets and rivers were brought to the New York Morgue in the second half of the nineteenth century. This...
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33:49
The King's Witch Trial: North Berwick Witches
31 October 2024Maddy and Anthony have a new TV documentary out all about King James VI of Scotland's witch hunts, available on History Hit TV.
When James...
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40:41
The Brutal Basque Witch Hunt
31 October 2024In 1609, some 80 people were executed for witchcraft in France's Basque region. It inspired a final push to eradicate witches by the Spanish...
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58:51
Dead Sea Scrolls: The Copper Scroll
31 October 2024When they were discovered in the Qumran Caves in the mid-20th century, the Dead Sea Scrolls revolutionised our understanding of biblical history....
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28:21
The Secret Origins of the SAS
30 October 2024In 1974, a pioneer of the SAS and master of military deception, Dudley Clarke, passed away. His death went almost entirely unnoticed by the...
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39:05
Medieval Writers, Extraordinary Women
29 October 2024**This episode contains some strong language**
Few women had the luxury of writing down their thoughts and feelings during medieval times....
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43:00
Inside the Witch Trials: Salem | Fear In A New World
29 October 2024We often think of the witch trials as something in the deep and distant past.
But, as we'll hear in today's episode, the attitudes and...
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44:09
Elections Explained: The Man Who's Lost The Most
28 October 2024What causes a person to lose the Presidential election?
Henry Clay ran for the Presidency 3 times, and for nomination by his party 5 times,...
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43:09
Titanic: The Doomed Ship (Part 1)
28 October 2024Part 1/2. Come on board the White Star Line's latest marvel, the splendour of the sea, the Titanic. Today we begin the story of the most ill-fated...
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25:11
Africans in 17th Century England
28 October 2024In the 1640s, Black communities existed in London and in most of England's port cities, communities from which men would fight and die throughout...
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39:47
2. Wars of the Roses: Rise of the Tudors
28 October 2024In the second episode of our Wars of the Roses series, Edward IV secures the English throne after his victory at the bloody Battle of Towton. But...
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1:07:51
Pyrrhus: Warlord of Ancient Greece
27 October 2024It’s 279 BC. On a large plain in Southern Italy near the town of Asculum, a famous Greek warlord likened to Alexander the Great faces down the...
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37:25
18th Century Dating: From Booty Calls to 'Bundling'
25 October 2024What was life like as a single person in the 18th century? What if you became pregnant out of wedlock?
In today's episode, Kate talks to...
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39:25
Old Sarum: Stronghold of Norman England
25 October 2024Old Sarum was the earliest settlement of Salisbury in Wlitshire. While there are indications of a prehistoric settlement on the...
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49:58
1. Wars of the Roses: England Divided
24 October 2024This is the first episode in a two-part series on the brutal, three-decade-long civil war that tore England in two. Today, we explore the complex...
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51:25
The Doolittle Raid: WW2 Bombing of Japan
24 October 2024If somebody asked you to go on a dangerous mission, no other details, would you volunteer?
Well, in 1942, that's exactly what 120 crewmen of...
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49:27
Irish Origins of Halloween
24 October 2024Pumpkins, trick or treating and ghost stories are what we associate with Halloween, but what about turnips, fairies and a fortune-telling cake?...
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40:19
The Tudor World at Hampton Court
24 October 2024The oldest surviving part of Hampton Court Palace is a series of chambers and closets built in the 1520s for Henry VIII's chief advisor and Lord...
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