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
32:16
River Kings: Epic Stories of the Viking Age
17 February 2022To mark the US release of our very own Dr Cat Jarman’s incredible book River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk...
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39:59
Veganism with BOSH!
17 February 2022You wouldn't think Jimmy, a livestock farmer, and bestselling vegan authors, Henry Firth and Ian Theasby (aka the BOSH! guys), would have much in...
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20:37
Hitler's Atlantic Wall
16 February 2022The Atlantic Wall is one of the biggest construction projects in history a line of formidable defences stretching from the Pyrenees to the...
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25:20
ENDURANCE22: Arrival in Antarctica
16 February 2022Icebergs, albatrosses and growlers- the team have crossed the Antarctic circle! In the first of our episodes recorded from Antarctica, Dan takes...
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33:00
The Search for Alfred the Great's Tomb
15 February 2022Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) is without a doubt one of the best-known and most admired kings of early medieval England. We know quite a lot about...
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46:54
The Fall of Singapore: 80th Anniversary
15 February 2022The Fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army took place in the South-East Asian theatre of the Pacific War, with fighting in Singapore lasting...
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3:28
ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #02
14 February 2022Dan gives a quick update on the expedition's progress towards Antarctica from a rather wet and windy deck as the crew prepare for a storm to...
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37:49
The Glencoe Massacre
14 February 2022In the early hours of 13 February 1692, in the rugged and beautiful mountains of Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands, some 30 members and associates...
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57:50
The Last Emperor of Mexico
14 February 2022Abraham Lincoln, Stag-do-esque antics, and forbidden overnight stays within the Vatican - the tale of the Last Emperor of Mexico sounds more like...
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25:10
Dear John, The Wartime Breakup Letter
14 February 2022Writing letters to a spouse or sweetheart deployed overseas was portrayed as a patriotic duty, a means to boost the morale of the fighting man....
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31:32
The Truth About Saint Valentine
13 February 2022St. Valentine of Rome, patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy, among many other things. But who exactly is the real St Valentine, and how has the...
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41:34
Rival Queens: Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots
13 February 2022Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots were cousins who never met - but their fates were intertwined. As their nations were engulfed in religious...
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34:38
Medieval Romance
12 February 2022Valentine's Day has become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love across the world. With the oldest...
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40:43
Hostages of Saddam Hussein: Flight 149
11 February 2022Imagine jetting off on holiday only to land in a warzone and get taken hostage by Saddam Hussein. It might sound far-fetched, but in 1990 that's...
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1:54
ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #01
11 February 2022A little update from Dan on where he is and how the journey to Antarctica is going!
If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history...
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47:19
Kateryn Parr: Henry VIII's Sixth Queen
10 February 2022Kateryn Parr - as she herself wrote her name - is often portrayed as a colourless, prudish figure, known mainly for surviving her marriage to King...
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41:42
The Largest Roman Palace North of the Alps
10 February 2022Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex was first constructed just three decades after the empire’s legions conquered Britain in the first...
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38:35
Eating Insects with Dr Sarah Beynon
10 February 2022Around two billion people around the world already eat insects on a regular basis - so why do so many feel squeamish at the the thought of...
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20:12
ENDURANCE22: The Man Who Filmed the Expedition
10 February 2022The extraordinary story of Shackleton's doomed Trans-Antarctic expedition has captured audiences for over 100 years. It's not just because it's a...
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29:20
Britain and China in the Opium Wars
9 February 2022In this episode from the History Hit archive, Dan Snow speaks to British military historian Mark Simner about the Opium Wars, events that are rarely...
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38:50
Understanding Medieval Women Through Crime
8 February 2022Justice; the principle that people receive that which they deserve. But what did this mean for women when dealing with Medieval Law? In today's...
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