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
Coffee & Tobacco
1 July 2021When tobacco arrived in Britain in the 1560s, it was hailed as a "holy herb", a miracle cure to improve health and a catalyst for wit and...
Listen Now100 years of the Chinese Communist Party
1 July 2021100 years ago the Chinese Communist Party was founded and across the span of that century has become one of the most powerful organisations on the...
Listen NowDivorced, Murdered, Survived: Nero's Wives
30 June 2021In the long tradition of categorising famous wives as the good or the bad, Nero’s partners are no exception. These women are regularly reduced...
Listen NowThe Irish at the Somme
30 June 2021105 years ago, it was the eve of the Battle of the Somme. This is regularly remembered as an Anglo-French offensive, and the contributions of...
Listen NowMarginalised in the Middle Ages with Eleanor Janega
29 June 2021Much of Medieval history focuses on the kings, queens, bishops, and the nobility of the period, but what do we know about those people on the...
Listen NowSaint Edmund: England's Lost King
29 June 2021From Danish Archers using him as target practice to a wolf towing his perfectly severed head, King Edmund has a wealth of tales attached to his name...
Listen NowThe Truth About Spartan Society
29 June 2021Sparta. Situated in the southern Peloponnese, this ancient Hellenic city-state has become ingrained in popular imagination as the home of unmatched...
Listen NowHeywood: The Catholic Satirist who Kept his Head
28 June 2021Playwright and musician John Heywood was a devout Catholic humanist and biting satirist - married to Sir Thomas Moore's niece - who managed to...
Listen NowSarajevo 1914: Assassination of the Archduke
28 June 2021Europe in 1914 was a tinderbox of imperial tensions and the spark that would light the conflagration would be the assassination of Archduke Franz...
Listen NowHistory's Most Famous Battles
28 June 2021War! Something so ruinous has the power to both bring communities together whilst conversely ripping them apart. Many have taken place, but why are...
Listen NowBerlin and the Dawn of the Cold War
27 June 2021In the aftermath of World War II, amongst the shattered ruins of Berlin a new conflict was born, the Cold War. With the common purpose of defeating...
Listen NowVindolanda: Jewel of Roman Britain
27 June 2021Situated roughly two miles south of Hadrian's Wall in the heart of the Northumberland countryside, Vindolanda is home to some of the most remarkable...
Listen NowFrom Airman to Attorney General: RAF Navigator Johnny Smythe
26 June 2021Beginning with his birth in 1915 in Sierra Leone, the life of John Henry Smythe OBE MBE is almost unbelievable. From becoming a navigator in the...
Listen NowWhite Ship Disaster
26 June 2021During the night of the 25 November in 1120, a routine crossing of the English Channel went catastrophically wrong. The White Ship disaster saw...
Listen NowHunting the Viking Great Heathen Army
25 June 2021In 865 AD Britain was invaded by the Great Heathen Army an alliance of Scandanavian warriors determined to conquer the kingdoms of East Anglia,...
Listen NowAfter WW2: Life in the Third Reich
25 June 2021After 6 years of war, countries around the world were in a state of ruin in 1945, not least the losing side. The people of Germany had been under the...
Listen NowHampton Court: Gold & Glory
24 June 2021On 7 June 1520, Henry VIII of England and François I of France met at the Field of Cloth of Gold. For three weeks on English soil in Northern...
Listen NowHistory of Freemasonry
24 June 2021John Dickie joins Dan from the History Hit Archive to discuss the international story of an organisation that now has 6 million members across the...
Listen NowArtemis of Ephesus: The Great Mother Goddess
23 June 2021An incredibly popular goddess, characterised in statues of her by a vest of bee hives, or are they breasts … bull scrotums? In this episode Tristan...
Listen NowThe World According to Obama Official Ben Rhodes
23 June 2021Ben Rhodes has served at the very pinnacle of politics in his role as deputy national security adviser in Barack Obama's Whitehouse and seen what it...
Listen NowBattle of Passchendaele
23 June 2021Lyn Macdonald is revered as the great chronicler of the human experience of the Western Front. She recorded interviews with more veterans of the...
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