History Podcasts | History Hit

 

 

History Hit 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

46:45

The Founding of the SAS

22 December 2021

It's a special forces unit known largely for its secrecy, but Damien Lewis is on a mission of his own, to uncover everything about its beginnings....

Listen Now
56:11

King Herod

22 December 2021

Thanks largely to his feature in the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod ‘the Great’ of Judaea is one of the infamous figures from the whole of...

Listen Now
19:56

Viking Midwinter Solstice

21 December 2021

For many of us, our Christmas traditions have been passed down generations. Whether we realise it or not. But where could some of these traditions...

Listen Now
37:01

The Parthenon Marbles

21 December 2021

The permanent home of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, has been the subject of a heated, decades-long debate. Currently...

Listen Now
38:47

Witches of Iceland

20 December 2021

In Iceland in the 17th century, witchcraft accusations, trials and convictions occurred later than in the rest of Europe. But also unusual...

Listen Now
35:25

Tanks of WWII with James Holland

20 December 2021

Anything that James Holland doesn't know about tanks isn't worth knowing. And in this episode, the greats are warring against eachother as he counts...

Listen Now
32:24

God's Changing Body Through History

20 December 2021

While many traditions regard God to be incorporeal, some three thousand years ago in the Southwest Asian lands, a group of people worshipped a...

Listen Now
56:27

King Herod

19 December 2021

Thanks largely to his feature in the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod ‘the Great’ of Judaea is one of the most infamous figures from the whole of...

Listen Now
32:56

The Battle of Agincourt Explained

19 December 2021

The Battle of Agincourt looms large in the English historical and cultural imagination, this explainer wades through the mythology to help...

Listen Now
45:51

Medieval Perceptions of Gender

18 December 2021

Nonconforming beyond the limitations of what's typically expected of men and women has been happening for many centuries. A part of history and...

Listen Now
43:47

The Ministry of Information: Snoopers, Spies and Censoring in WWII

17 December 2021

Despite its Orwellian sounding name - the Ministry of Information was not something from a dystopian novel, but instead a government department that...

Listen Now
30:06

The Unlikely Fate of the Wright Brothers

17 December 2021

On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. The Wright Brothers took the...

Listen Now
32:01

Tudor Box Set Binge

16 December 2021

If you are planning your television viewing over the holidays, especially if you are looking forward to bingeing on the best Tudor dramas and...

Listen Now
45:25

How to Party Like a Roman

16 December 2021

Contrary to popular belief, parties in Ancient Rome were not all depraved wine-fuelled orgies. In fact, Roman get-togethers were relatively tame...

Listen Now
48:54

Black Tudors: England's Other Countrymen

16 December 2021

Our image of the Tudor era remains overwhelmingly white. But the black presence in England was much greater than has previously been recognised, and...

Listen Now
21:46

Seducing and Killing Nazis

15 December 2021

During the Second World War the Netherlands fell to advancing German forces in just a few hours. The Dutch found themselves under Nazi occupation....

Listen Now
28:46

Uncovered: South America's Biggest Slave Uprising

15 December 2021

On February 27 1763, thousands of enslaved people in the Dutch colony of Berbice—in present-day Guyana—launched a huge uprising against their...

Listen Now
43:28

Building Medieval Churches

14 December 2021

What is a perpendicular church? In this episode, Cat is on location! Invited by expert stonemason Andrew Ziminski to a spectacular perpendicular...

Listen Now
29:22

Inside Downing Street with Gavin Barwell

14 December 2021

British politician Gavin Barwell served as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May from June 2017 to July 2019, one of the most turbulent...

Listen Now
38:53

Dürer: The Great Renaissance Artist

13 December 2021

Albrecht Dürer was the greatest German artist to come out of the Renaissance, whose high quality woodcuts revolutionised the potential of the...

Listen Now
48:50

Sitting Bull: the Life and Death of a Native American Chief

13 December 2021

Sitting Bull, best known for his initiative and victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn, is a greatly revered Native American Chief. But he was more...

Listen Now