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
47:44
Henry III: England's Longest Reigning King
2 April 2022In 1216, at the adolescent age of nine, Henry became King Henry III of England. With his father, King John passing, right amid the First Barons’...
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36:23
The Falklands War: Why Was There A Conflict?
1 April 2022April 2022 marks 40 years since the beginning of the Falklands War - but how and why did these small islands in the South Atlantic become the...
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29:53
The Enclosures
31 March 2022The enclosure of the commons was a centuries-long process. Gradually, through a combination of legal degrees and private acts, the land across...
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31:54
François I, King of France
31 March 2022François I of France not only introduced the Renaissance to France, he became the perfect Renaissance king - an inspiring military leader, a...
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34:29
Starting a Farm with Lynbreck Croft's Lynn & Sandra
31 March 2022Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer left their friends, family and jobs in England to travel north to Scotland to find a small piece of land they could...
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54:06
Dogs in Ancient Greece
31 March 2022Man's best friend has been at our side for thousands of years. Ancient Greece was no exception, and although some of the types of dog that were...
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41:48
The Real Cyrano de Bergerac
30 March 2022One of the world's much loved stage and screen characters has just returned to the cinema in a new film version starring Peter Dinklage. But...
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43:35
Breakfast Cereal
30 March 2022Kellogg's Cornflakes are arguably the most iconic breakfast cereal, and for good reason. It was this product that launched breakfast cereal as we...
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29:37
Winston Churchill: From Failures to Finest Hour
30 March 2022Whilst Churchill is best remembered for his achievements during the dark days of the Second World War, much of the rest of his career had much...
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33:26
Benjamin Franklin with Ken Burns
29 March 2022Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a scientist, inventor, writer and diplomat. As one of the leading figures of early American history, Franklin...
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38:10
Raiding & Trading in Viking Britain
29 March 2022Several large kingdoms were formed in the Viking-Age period, the best known settlements being in Ireland and York. Dublin became a thriving hub...
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26:12
The Demerara Uprising and Britain’s Legacy of Slavery
28 March 2022The Demerara Rebellion of 1823 was an uprising of over ten thousand enslaved people in the Crown colony of Demerara-Essequibo (now part of Guyana)...
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29:11
Anne Boleyn's Early Life
28 March 2022March 2022 marks the 500th anniversary of Anne Boleyn's first recorded appearance at the English court. To celebrate, Hever Castle - Anne's...
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26:14
Rethinking the Second World War
28 March 2022Did build up to World War Two only begin in the 20th century, or was the century of violent imperial expansion before 1939 the ultimate cause of...
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27:57
Destroying a Nazi Stronghold: The St Nazaire Raid
27 March 2022On 28 March 1942, in the darkest months of World War Two, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack...
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55:26
The Legacy of Julius Caesar's Assassination
27 March 2022The legacies of the Ides of March stretch from that very afternoon on March 14th 44BC to the modern day. From Roman times to the Medieval period,...
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29:31
The Atomic Bomb
27 March 2022In a world at war, and with no end in sight, the atomic bomb was positioned to be the one weapon that could end the conflict for good.
In...
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25:16
The Wonder of Stonehenge
27 March 2022Towering above the Wiltshire countryside, Stonehenge is perhaps the world's most awe-inspiring ancient stone circle. Shrouded in layers of...
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27:03
Findling Lost Medieval Manuscripts
26 March 2022A gap in knowledge - both of stories and artefacts - provides a frustrating block when looking into the past. But, a new report, based on the use...
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39:13
The French in Vietnam
25 March 2022The conflict we know today as the Vietnam War–involving the United States and the Viet Cong–was actually the second of the Indochina Wars, the...
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31:09
200 Years of British-Russian Relations
25 March 2022Russia and the UK have very different political structures and ambitions, from their alliance at the Battle of Navarino in 1827 to the historic...
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