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

56:18

Sex in Ancient Rome

9 September 2021

We’ve covered bloody battles, we’ve covered stunning cities, we’ve covered civilisations far away from the ancient Mediterranean. But in some...

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52:45

Trident: Does the Nuclear Deterrent Work?

8 September 2021

With the release of the nuclear submarine TV series, Vigil, Dr Nick Ritchie, Senior Lecturer at the University of York and the UK’s leading...

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41:58

9/11: Evacuating Ground Zero

8 September 2021

At 8:46 am on 11 September 2001 the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan. Over the next 9 hours, almost half...

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21:32

The Normans

7 September 2021

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was one of the great milestones of English history but there were in fact many Norman invasions and their...

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36:20

Viking Ships

7 September 2021

The Vikings are remembered fundamentally as seafaring people, and how could they be so if not for their ships? In this episode, Cat speaks to a world...

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36:13

Ottoman Traveller: Fynes Moryson

6 September 2021

In July 1596, Fynes Moryson - a Lincolnshire gentleman and travel writer - was struck down with grief when his younger brother died as they...

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36:08

A New History of the Middle Ages with Dan Jones

6 September 2021

Do the 21st Century and the Middle Ages really share that much in common? Climate change, pandemics, technological disruption, interconnected global...

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36:44

Before 9/11: A History of Hijacking

6 September 2021

As the world prepares to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks two decades on, we discuss the history of plane hijackings. From politically...

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30:34

Winston Churchill: From Failures to Finest Hour

5 September 2021

Churchill is one of the great figures of history and this totemic figure is often cited as one of the greatest British figures of all time. However,...

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1:00:42

Romans vs Caledonians: The Battle of Mons Graupius

5 September 2021

In 83/84 AD a battle was fought somewhere in Scotland between the Roman forces of Gnaeus Julius Agricola and the 'Caledonians' – the great...

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37:58

The Unheard Tapes of Bomber Command

4 September 2021

Over 55,500 men died flying with Bomber Command during World War Two; more than the number who serve in the Royal Air Force today. Flying at night...

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37:49

How To Save Medieval Churches

4 September 2021

With Christianity dominating Europe, the Church became one of the most powerful institutions in Britain during the Medieval period and its places of...

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53:11

The Start of WWII

3 September 2021

On September 1 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland followed two days later by France and the United Kingdom declaring war on Germany and beginning the...

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26:47

Before 9/11: The Day Wall Street Exploded

3 September 2021

At lunchtime on 16 September 1920, a horse drawn cart exploded on the busiest corner of the Financial District of New York. To find out more about...

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41:16

Tudors in Love

2 September 2021

The dramas of courtly love have captivated readers and dreamers for centuries. Yet they’re often dismissed as something that existed only in the...

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41:05

Digging Medieval Battlefields

2 September 2021

How different is battlefield archaeology compared to other disciplines? Do local legends ever help track down evidence in a field? And why are potato...

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52:06

Roman Camps in Britain

2 September 2021

When one mentions Roman military installations you would be forgiven for instantly thinking of their forts, the remains of which we can see today...

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21:22

Are Mandatory Vaccines New?

1 September 2021

Vaccines have become a subject of great controversy in recent months but the requirement to have them is far from new. Almost since the earliest...

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43:42

The Boy Who Followed His Father to Auschwitz

1 September 2021

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his sixteen-year-old son Fritz, he was sent to...

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28:02

John Simpson: Six Decades of Warzones

31 August 2021

Over six decades John Simpson has been on the frontline of reporting bringing news from some of the most dangerous places on the planet to the...

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34:57

Harald Bluetooth

31 August 2021

Many of us use Bluetooth technology every day, but know nothing or little of its namesake. And there is little to be known of the King of Denmark...

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