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
36:24
Food in the Ancient World
17 May 2022When we think of the modern Mediterranean, delicious and vibrant food is one of the first things that come to mind. But how much has the regional...
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42:07
Royal Sex
17 May 2022Why did kings and queens have spectators on their wedding night? Was sex always just for the love of their country and the want of an heir, or...
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30:02
What Did the Anglo-Saxons Eat?
17 May 2022Early medieval royals ate mostly meat, right? Wrong! A new study that’s made headlines around the world has shown that medieval kings were...
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23:59
HMS Black Joke
16 May 2022Please note that this episode contains mentions of racial trauma, slavery and violence.
The most feared ship in Britain’s West Africa...
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27:13
The Aluminium Trail: WW2 Pilots in the Himalayas
16 May 2022Robert ‘Bob’ Binzer wanted to be a pilot from a young age, and during the Second World War he got his wish. Bob was an aviator with the United...
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1:01:16
The English Civil War: Loyalty House
16 May 2022The Civil War was the most traumatic conflict in British history, pitting friends and family members against each other, tearing down the old...
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33:59
The Secret Plot to Kill the Government
15 May 2022On the night of February 23 1820, twenty-five impoverished craftsmen assembled in an obscure stable in Cato Street, London, with a plan to...
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42:58
The Origins of Homo Sapiens
15 May 2022What do we know about the earliest hominins to exist? With a story spanning one million years and counting, we're discovering more about how we...
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38:00
The Bicycle with Tim Harford
15 May 2022Invented in the mid-1800s, bicycles have had enduring popularity. Across cultures, they have been embraced, promising freedom and mobility at a...
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28:57
The Wars of the Roses: Dynastic War
14 May 2022Part one of this comprehensive trilogy covering the Wars of the Roses left the Yorkist lords attained and in exile. From this point, the 15th...
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43:06
Sex Toys
13 May 2022Hidden in bedside tables or proudly displayed on mantelpieces, wherever you keep them (if you do), sex toys have come a long way since the first...
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42:38
Post Traumatic Stress: A History of War Trauma
13 May 2022Whether talking about shell shock, war neurosis, combat trauma or PTSD; the impacts of war zones on those who fight in them or encounter them have...
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32:55
How to Survive in Medieval England
12 May 2022If you travelled back in time to the Medieval period this very second, do you think you would survive? The short answer is probably not. If you...
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36:03
The Founding of Jamestown
12 May 2022415 years ago this month, 104 English men and boys landed in North America and established a settlement they called Jamestown in...
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39:56
Climate Optimism with Lily Cole
12 May 2022Environmental activist and model Lily Cole is On Jimmy’s Farm to discuss how we can protect the planet we love, and the healing power of...
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41:37
The Birth of Physiology
12 May 2022The treatment of mental health has been rapidly growing and improving over the past few decades, but it actually goes back thousands of...
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30:00
Codebreaking at Bletchley Park
11 May 2022Bletchley Park, Britain's key decryption centre during WWI, is known for the success of breaking the Nazi Enigma codes - experts have suggested...
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32:12
Operation Pedestal with Sir Max Hastings
11 May 2022By the summer of 1942 Malta had been under siege by Axis forces for over a year and the situation on the island was bleak with food and fuel...
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37:03
Prozac
11 May 2022How — and why — did Prozac become the best-selling antidepressant of all time?
As it is Mental Health Awareness Week, we are...
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28:59
Mental Health in Victorian Britain
10 May 2022This week is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK so we’ve got a special episode exploring the surprising way Victorians approached mental...
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29:37
The First English Autobiographer: Margery Kempe
10 May 2022Margery Kempe was an English Christian mystic, known for writing "The Book of Margery Kempe", a work considered by some to be the first...
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