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

23:43

The Vikings Who Beat Columbus to America

4 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
32:00

When We Nearly Nuked the Moon

3 November 2021

In this archive episode, Vince Houghton joins Dan Snow to talk about some of the weirdest and craziest ideas put forward during the twentieth...

Listen Now
34:58

WWII's Battle for London

3 November 2021

At the start of the Second World War London was one of the largest and most important cities in the world, a centre of industry, finance and the...

Listen Now
39:20

The Origins Of Scotland

2 November 2021

The Medieval period saw the advancement of many countries, evolving to the provinces in Europe that we know today; Scotland is no different. In...

Listen Now
30:46

The History of Money

2 November 2021

It is said that money makes the world goes round and has done for millennia, but what exactly is money and where does it come from? To find out Dan...

Listen Now
58:02

Singing the News in Tudor England

1 November 2021

In an age before newspapers and mass media, how did the general public keep abreast of what was going on? How did they find out about the...

Listen Now
39:26

Mass Psychogenic Illness: Havana Syndrome

1 November 2021

‘Brain-fog’, dizziness, ringing in the ears, fatigue: everyday symptoms of attacks by a possibly extraordinary weapon. In 2016, a number of...

Listen Now
37:16

Why We're Wrong About George III

1 November 2021

George III ruled through an extraordinary period of revolutionary change, political upheaval, gigantic war and scientific, industrial and...

Listen Now
37:03

The Truth About the Roman Orgy (And More!)

31 October 2021

Was Ancient Rome truly as sexually liberated as we think? How did the Greeks feel about nude statues? And how did these ideas vary across the...

Listen Now
25:10

Ghost Stories: The History

30 October 2021

Ghosts have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the...

Listen Now
32:48

Did the Papacy Support the Norman Conquest?

30 October 2021

In October 1066, William the Conqueror led his army to victory over Harold Godwinson and his Anglo Saxon forces. This was to begin the Norman...

Listen Now
41:05

The Anglo-Arab Wars

29 October 2021

The half century between 1870 and 1920 was one of conflict between British colonialism and the people of the Middle East and North Africa. In this...

Listen Now
55:12

The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great

28 October 2021

In his lifetime King Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, forged one of the largest empires in ancient history. But it was...

Listen Now
39:59

The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

28 October 2021

In the Vatican Library, there survive 17 highly personal love letters, written in King Henry VIII's own hand to Anne Boleyn between 1527 and...

Listen Now
47:30

The End of the Severan Dynasty

28 October 2021

Following two assassinations and two executions, the title of Roman Emperor fell to Alexander Severus. He was one of the youngest to ever hold this...

Listen Now
22:15

The Truth About Hollywood Cowboys

27 October 2021

At the end of the American Civil War, thousands of African Americans ventured west to the frontier in a bid to achieve freedom and escape the...

Listen Now
25:04

Castro, Malcolm X & Khrushchev in Harlem

27 October 2021

For five decades the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro ran a communist state on the doorstep of the United States. But in September 1960, he...

Listen Now
24:58

Tank Standoff at Checkpoint Charlie

26 October 2021

For 16 hours between the 27 to 28 October 1961, the world held its breath as Soviet and US tanks faced each other down at Checkpoint Charlie in...

Listen Now
39:31

Eels in the Middle Ages: Meals & Money

26 October 2021

The European eel is now categorised as a critically endangered species, but 1000 years ago they flourished in abundance, and were an important aspect...

Listen Now
36:41

Richard III vs Henry VII

25 October 2021

We all think we know the story of Richard III and Henry VII, or do we? Richard III is often portrayed as a child-murdering usurper whose reign was...

Listen Now
56:46

Witches & Puritans

25 October 2021

On a remote Massachusetts plantation in 1651, an unpopular local brickmaker was blamed for a wave of animal ailments, children dying and vanishing...

Listen Now