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

21:41

Raj Bisram's Military Career

14 November 2021

You might know Raj Bisram best as a TV antiques expert, but he actually started his career by joining the military in the 70s. From becoming an...

Listen Now
1:03:50

The Rise of the Praetorian Guard

14 November 2021

From Gladiator to Rome Total War to I, Claudius, today the Cohortēs praetōriae are one of the most distinctive military units of Imperial Rome....

Listen Now
32:52

Stories of War with Max Hastings

14 November 2021

As the country remembers the sacrifice made by those men and women who have given their lives and health in serving the nation Dan is joined by...

Listen Now
36:17

Metal Detecting Medieval Treasure

13 November 2021

When Buffy and husband Ian Bailey went out with their metal detectors in Yorkshire, they thought they'd stumbled across a sheep's ear tag when they...

Listen Now
33:16

Searching for the Lost of World War One

12 November 2021

At the end of the First World War, around one million citizens of the British Empire had been lost, and the whereabouts of about half of these was...

Listen Now
59:14

How Catherine of Aragon Learnt to be Queen

12 November 2021

The Spanish infanta Catalina of Aragon was raised to be a Queen, betrothed at the age of three to the heir apparent of the English throne, Arthur...

Listen Now
56:22

The Last Witches in England

11 November 2021

In 1682, three impoverished women from Bideford in Devon were hanged, becoming the last people to be executed for witchcraft in England. The...

Listen Now
30:52

Ancient Globalisation? Life and Death at Ai Khanum

11 November 2021

For decades the discovery of Ai Khanum, ‘the City of Lady Moon’, in Eastern Afghanistan has fascinated archaeologists and historians alike:...

Listen Now
24:56

WW1 and its Aftermath with Sebastian Faulks

11 November 2021

Sebastian Faulks is a novelist who really needs no introduction, perhaps most famous for his novel Birdsong, he has written powerfully and poignantly...

Listen Now
30:00

WW1: Lost Wrecks of Jutland

10 November 2021

The Battle of Jutland was the decisive naval clash of the First World War, pitting the German High Seas Fleet against the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet...

Listen Now
39:55

Did Immigration Really Cause the Fall of Rome?

10 November 2021

Boris Johnson recently stated that the fall of Rome was caused by 'uncontrolled migration' and the image of a mighty empire bought to its knees by...

Listen Now
24:24

Vikings in North America

9 November 2021

Five centuries before Christopher Columbus set foot in America, the Vikings had already crossed the Atlantic. Using new dating techniques, scientists...

Listen Now
53:46

The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall

9 November 2021

The Berlin Wall was an icon of the Cold War and a physical embodiment of the divide between East and West. Its rise and fall was a microcosm of...

Listen Now
37:45

England: Devil-Land 1588-1688

8 November 2021

In the 17th century, England was known as "Devil-Land" - a diabolical country torn apart by seditious rebellion, religious extremism and royal...

Listen Now
35:06

The Berlin Wall & The Tunnels Beneath It

8 November 2021

On 9 November 1989, the commander of a Berlin Wall border crossing yielded to demands and allowed guards to open the checkpoints. By the end of...

Listen Now
32:33

Colonel Gaddafi and Libya

8 November 2021

Even after his overthrow and bloody death in 2011, Colonel Gaddafi still looms large over Libya but there is much more to the history of this...

Listen Now
47:22

The First Astronomers

7 November 2021

For thousands of years indigenous Australians, the longest living culture on Earth, have been fascinated by the stars. In this episode, Gamilaraay...

Listen Now
40:12

Bar Kokhba: Hadrian's Worst Nightmare

7 November 2021

In AD132 began the bloody struggle over who would rule a nation. The clash of two ancient cultures was fought between two strong-willed leaders,...

Listen Now
38:58

Hundred Years' War

6 November 2021

Over 100 years of conflict, two warring nations, five monarchs on either side and countless casualties in a dispute over claims to the throne: in...

Listen Now
45:22

Battle of Beecher Island

5 November 2021

September 1868, 3 years after the Civil War, saw an outnumbered United States Army patrol against six hundred Native warriors on the American...

Listen Now
44:45

The Gunpowder Plot

5 November 2021

On 5 November 1605, an audacious plan to decapitate the British state was foiled when Guy Fawkes and nearly a ton of gunpowder were discovered in an...

Listen Now