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

46:48

Al Qaeda

6 October 2021

Their attacks of 11 September 2001 sparked a War on Terror which echoes loudly to this day, but where did Al Qaeda come from, how did their...

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39:58

Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar

6 October 2021

On 21 October 1805, the British Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, emerged victorious over the combined French and Spanish fleets....

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25:24

Britain and the Slave Trade

5 October 2021

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain was a key player in the transportation of millions of enslaved Africans to the colonies....

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26:48

Early Medieval Burials

5 October 2021

How we bury the dead has changed drastically throughout history, from grave goods to bed burials. But just how drastic are the changes in burial...

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26:08

The Winter of Discontent

4 October 2021

In the bitter winter of 1978-1979 petrol ran short, panic buying was rife, rubbish piled up in the streets and bodies went unburied as a wave of...

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50:40

Lady Jane Grey

4 October 2021

On a cold February morning in 1554, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for high treason. Named as King Edward VI as his successor, Queen Jane had reigned...

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43:43

WW2: War Reporters in the Pacific Theatre

4 October 2021

The Second World War was the first time that many on the home front in the United States were able to see and hear war in action. In this episode,...

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42:13

William Wallace

3 October 2021

William Wallace is a legendary figure in Scottish history as one of the leaders of the First War of Scottish Independence. He led the Scots to a...

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55:55

The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great

3 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...

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39:17

James Holland on The Sherwood Rangers: Legendary Tank Regiment

2 October 2021

Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry was one of the best tank regiments of the Second World War and was at the speartip of the British Army from the North...

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36:17

Richard III

2 October 2021

Richard III of England is one of medieval history's most controversial figures. He is known to many as a tyrant, a sleazy, greedy king who even...

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42:25

WW2: Czech Resistance

1 October 2021

Though excluded from decisions on their occupation in the Munich Agreement in 1938, the citizens of the new country of Czechoslovakia were by no...

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36:05

Æthelred the Unready

30 September 2021

His 38 years as king make him one of the longest-ruling monarchs in English history, and yet he is remembered as unsuccessful, naive and overly harsh...

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39:58

Sir Thomas More

30 September 2021

Who was Thomas More - Knight, Chancellor and Martyr? His life is paradoxical, with More regarded as both saint and persecutor, Humanist...

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28:36

The Oldest Human Footprints in North America

30 September 2021

This week our understanding of when humans first inhabited the North American continent has been turned on its head … by a set of c.22,000 year...

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24:34

Bond, The Secret Service & Exporting Britain's Influence

29 September 2021

James Bond is a character that has come to define a certain kind of Britishness but what, if any, role does 007 play in the real world of...

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26:56

Drones: A History

29 September 2021

Although the use of drones has become well established and publicised in recent years, the history of unmanned aircraft stretches all the way back to...

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25:11

James Bond

28 September 2021

James Bond is one of the most successful films and book franchises of all time and with the arrival of a new addition to the canon it seemed the...

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42:52

Medieval Science

28 September 2021

The word 'medieval' is often used to describe backward ideas and opinions, but why is this the case? The middle ages was a time of life-changing...

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32:36

The Last Witches of England

27 September 2021

In 1682 three women, Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards, from the town of Bideford were tried and hanged as witches. They were...

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59:55

The Gunpowder Plot: Tudor Origins

27 September 2021

The Gunpowder Plot is one of the hinge events of British history - an act of terror the roots of which stretch back to the Tudor period and Henry...

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