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
Inside Downing Street with Gavin Barwell
14 December 2021British 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 NowDürer: The Great Renaissance Artist
13 December 2021Albrecht Dürer was the greatest German artist to come out of the Renaissance, whose high quality woodcuts revolutionised the potential of the...
Listen NowSitting Bull: the Life and Death of a Native American Chief
13 December 2021Sitting 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 NowHitler's American Gamble
13 December 2021The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 remains etched in public memory as the turning point of WW2. But in fact, it was Hitler’s...
Listen NowSonglines: Australia's Book of Genesis
12 December 2021What the Book of Genesis is to the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, songlines are to Indigenous Australians. Epic tales of desire,...
Listen NowThe Secrets of WW2's Women Soldiers
12 December 2021The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in 1938 it saw many thousands...
Listen NowHeralds & Heraldry
11 December 2021Heralds and Heraldry share many aspects of modern sport today, from colourful kits to large gatherings of cheering crowds. But what did it mean to...
Listen NowUSS Arizona at Pearl Harbor
10 December 2021When the USS Arizona was destroyed on 7 December 1941, it was the United States’ Navy’s single biggest loss of life. Producers Annette Hull...
Listen NowBattle of Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory
10 December 20212 December is a special date for those fascinated by Napoleon Bonaparte. Not only is this the date he crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804, but...
Listen NowTrue Crime on the Elizabethan Stage
9 December 2021The true crime genre - stories of actual murders and other crimes that are then fictionalised - is not a new phenomenon. More than four...
Listen NowHomosexuality & Ancient Greece
9 December 2021Frederick the Great, Marie Antoinette and Oscar Wilde. Each of them have talked about, or been talked about in terms of, Ancient Greek ideas of...
Listen NowMoscow 1941: Hitler's Nemesis with Jonathan Dimbleby
9 December 2021While the allies reeled from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and Hitler's declaration of war on the United States, a ferocious battle was...
Listen NowLife at Bletchley Park
8 December 2021Betty Webb was heavily involved with the work going on at Bletchley Park. While she was not part of the code-breaking team, her work was invaluable...
Listen NowInside North Korea
8 December 2021With closed borders, a totalitarian regime, electricity blackouts and widespread poverty, North Korea is a brutal place to survive; even...
Listen NowQueen Cynethryth of Mercia's Lost Abbey
7 December 2021Queen Cynethryth of Mercia was one of the most distinguished rulers of Anglo Saxon Britain. Wife to King Offa, ruler of the Mercians (the most...
Listen NowPearl Harbor: 80th Anniversary
7 December 2021On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise military strike upon the United States against the naval base at...
Listen NowThe Murder of Rizzio, Mary Queen of Scots' Favourite
6 December 2021On 9 March 1566, David Rizzio - close friend and private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots - was stabbed dozens of times in front of the pregnant...
Listen NowPearl Harbor: 80 Years Later
6 December 2021On 7 December 1941, Imperial Japan launched an attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. In this episode 80 years later, James speaks to Adrian...
Listen NowBarbados: The World's Newest Republic
6 December 2021November 30 2021, Bridgetown, fifty-five years since Barbados’ 1966 Independence, the Royal Standard flag representing the Queen was lowered and...
Listen NowThe Bronze Age Burials at Stonehenge
5 December 2021Today we’re talking all about science, Stonehenge and what we know about a massive migration into Britain at the start of the Bronze Age some...
Listen NowBand of Brothers
5 December 2021HBO's Band of Brothers remains one of the greatest mini-series ever made. 20 years after the award-winning series debuted, Dan speaks to...
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