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
32:20
Sappho: The Poet from Lesbos
27 February 2022Famous throughout antiquity, yet retold only in fragments today - who is Sappho? Her poetry inspired generations, from Catullus to Byron, so...
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22:17
An Audacious Heist at the National Gallery
27 February 2022Please note that this episode contains spoilers from the film ‘The Duke’.
Kempton Bunton was a taxi driver who stole Goya’s portrait...
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32:14
1066: What Became Of The Anglo-Saxon Children?
26 February 20221066 is a year carved into the history of western Europe. It radically transformed the cultural, political and built landscape of England in a way...
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35:55
Crisis in Ukraine: Putin & NATO
25 February 2022Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. But why? What is NATO’s purpose, and why does it bother Vladimir Putin so much? In this episode of Warfare,...
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19:33
Crisis in Ukraine: Putin & NATO
25 February 2022Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. But why? What is NATO’s purpose, and why does it bother Vladimir Putin so much? In this episode of Warfare,...
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21:26
Ukraine and Russia: A Quick History
24 February 2022Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine. As European leaders gather and Ukraine makes preparations to defend itself, the world watches. In...
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40:53
Oliver Cromwell's Wife and Daughters
24 February 2022How can women be reinstated into the narrative of history when their presence is only faintly attested to in the remaining sources? How can...
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49:24
The Terracotta Army
24 February 2022Discovered by local farmers in 1974, the Terracotta Army is one of the most astounding archaeological finds on record. A piece of funerary art,...
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35:50
Green Football with Dale Vince
24 February 2022The chairman of the world’s greenest football club, Dale Vince, joins Jimmy on his farm today today. Forest Green Rovers is powered by renewable...
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28:16
The Fall of the Soviet Union
23 February 2022In August 1991 there was an attempted coup in the Soviet Union as communist hard-liners sought to re-establish the dominance of Soviet rule in...
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59:39
The Origins of London
23 February 2022London is today one of the greatest cities in the world, and the story of its origins is fittingly spectacular. Founded by the Romans as Londinium...
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0:45
ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #04
22 February 2022Dan updates us from Antarctica about whether the SS Agulhas II has managed to break free from the ice that had surrounded it.
If you'd like...
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33:33
Charlemagne
22 February 2022Charlemagne is labelled by many as the most ambitious ruler in Europe prior to Napoleon - but what do we really know about him? A 46 year long...
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19:49
ENDURANCE22: Searching for the Shipwreck
22 February 2022The search for the wreck of the sunken Endurance is well underway. Find out more about the submersibles, equipped with 4k cameras that can scan...
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40:45
Escaping Slavery in London
21 February 2022In 1655, White Londoners began advertising in newspapers to retrieve enslaved people who had escaped. Groundbreaking research is bringing to...
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34:34
The Boy Who Fought for the Nazis
21 February 2022At the end of the Second World War thousands of German children were sent to the frontlines in the largest mobilisation of underage combatants in...
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18:43
The Last Invasion of Britain
21 February 2022Popular knowledge may claim Hastings as the site of the last invasion of mainland Britain by Norman forces in 1066. True, this was the last...
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44:37
Eureka! Innovation in Ancient Greece
20 February 2022It's often thought that the ancient Greeks were devout in tradition, strict in their ways and beliefs. But how true is this? When it comes to...
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27:23
Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT+ Education
20 February 2022Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was a controversial amendment to the UK's Local Government Act 1986, enacted on 24 May 1988 and...
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42:00
The Rise & Fall of England's Richest Dynasty
19 February 2022Throughout Medieval history, figures like Joan of Arc, Henry VIII, and William the Conqueror are commonly forefront when many think of the middle...
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30:37
Crisis in Ukraine: Reporting the 2014 Revolution
18 February 2022With a 130,000 estimated Russian troops stationed at various points along the Ukrainian border - tensions are rising not only in eastern Europe,...
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