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

19:26

Mary Anning: Palaeontology's Forgotten Pioneer

26 May 2021

Born in Lyme Regis in 1799, Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector whose story continues to inspire so many scientists...

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34:01

Vietnam War

26 May 2021

With battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, and then defeat and public criticism for the United States in 1975, the Vietnam War became the...

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46:32

Hunting the Bismarck

25 May 2021

In May 1941, the Royal Navy pursued Nazi Germany's largest battleship, the Bismarck, in the greatest chase story in the history of naval warfare....

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31:09

Mysteries of Cerne Abbas Giant

25 May 2021

It's not often a discovery shocks archeologists, but the revelation that the Cerne Abbas Giant could've been created in the late Saxon period has...

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46:10

Origins of the English in India

24 May 2021

In the late 16th century, a group of London merchants petitioned Queen Elizabeth I to allow them to build English trade in Asia. She granted a...

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52:11

The UK’s Top Diplomat on the State of the World

24 May 2021

Sir Jeremy Greenstock served as a diplomat from the 1960s to the well into the 21st century and is someone who has been in the room when some of the...

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31:22

Invention of Torpedoes

24 May 2021

When the self-propelled torpedo was invented in the late 19th century, it threatened to revolutionize naval warfare. The weapon was instrumental in...

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29:41

Martin Luther: Scourge of the Papacy

23 May 2021

Martin Luther is one of the most extraordinary and consequential men of the last 500 years but was also a man keenly aware of his image and went to...

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31:19

Ancient Polynesia: Pioneers of the Pacific

22 May 2021

Despite sporadic food sources and the dangers of the deep sea, the remote islands of the Pacific Ocean have been home to Polynesians for more than a...

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26:52

Eurovision

22 May 2021

Eurovision is an annual extravaganza of European music and culture but what is its history and what role does it play? To help explore this subject...

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40:02

The Plots Against Henry VII

22 May 2021

After seizing the throne from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, the drama in Henry VII's life had only just begun. In this second episode with...

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20:47

Israel and Palestine: A Jewish Perspective with Daniel Finkelstein

21 May 2021

As part of our season of programmes looking at the Arab-Israeli conflict Lord Daniel Finklestein joins the podcast to discuss his perspective as a...

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24:41

WW2: Women of the Special Operations Executive

21 May 2021

With the role of coordinating resistance overseas, the task of a member of the Special Operations Executive could be extremely influential, but...

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43:52

Anne Boleyn: New Discoveries

20 May 2021

Anne Boleyn has been trending on Twitter after it was announced that secret inscriptions were found hidden in the Book of Hours that she took...

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18:16

The Amelia Earhart Mystery with Amelia Rose Earhart

20 May 2021

On the morning of May 20, 1932, 34-year-old Earhart set off from Newfoundland, Canada in her bid to become the first woman to fly solo across...

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53:08

The Truth About King Arthur

19 May 2021

The legend of King Arthur has been reworked many times, but is there any historical truth behind the tales? Dr Miles Russell believes there is and in...

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51:28

Anne Boleyn Special Part 1: Life and Afterlives

19 May 2021

In the first of two special podcasts, from our sibling podcast Not Just the Tudors, to mark the 485th anniversary of Anne Boleyn's death, Suzannah...

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25:40

The V-2 Rocket

19 May 2021

It was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile, developed to avenge the bombings of German cities during the Second World War. For this...

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22:49

Gone Medieval

18 May 2021

Dan is joined by the wonderful Cat Jarman who, along with Matt Lewis, will be presenting History Hit's brand new podcast Gone Medieval. They discuss...

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43:35

The Rise of Henry VII

18 May 2021

Henry VII has been an unbudging figure in British history since taking the throne in 1485. Nathen Amin has been researching this king, and here, in...

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25:40

Vikings in Northern Britain

18 May 2021

Archeological evidence of the Vikings as far north as Northumbria has practically been non-existent...until now. In an exclusive for Gone Medieval,...

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