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

38:42

England's Darkest Folklore

28 April 2025

A spectral Black Dog with hellish eyes; a homicidal water spirit who drowns children; a mermaid who takes revenge on a vile cad. Maddy Pelling...

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41:43

The Origins of Scotland Yard

28 April 2025

Assassin's Creed Syndicate recreates Scotlland Yard, the famous home of the Metropolitan Police Force, and lets players explore its overcrowded...

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36:32

The Dreyfus Affair: The Spy Scandal that Shook France

27 April 2025

It started with an inconsequential piece of military intelligence, scrawled on a piece of paper and left in a waste paper basket. But over the...

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52:01

Jason and the Argonauts

27 April 2025

From clashing rocks to golden treasure, Jason and the Argonauts is the ultimate Greek mythological adventure. But what lies behind the legend? And...

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50:13

The Battle of Crécy

25 April 2025

The Battle of Crécy in 1346 saw an outnumbered English army under King Edward III win an unexpected and decisive victory that reshaped the...

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49:58

History's Worst F*ckboys: Henry VIII

25 April 2025

Charismatic, passionate, insatiable - Henry VIII is known across the world as the king who had 6 wives, and a few mistresses on the side. But was...

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28:00

The Einstein Murders

24 April 2025

Warning: this episode contains discussion of suicide.

In August 1944, German soldiers burst into the Florentine villa of Robert Einstein,...

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39:42

Richard Nixon: Rise from Poverty

24 April 2025

To understand Watergate, to understand the fall of Nixon, you need to look first at the rise. How the turbulence of his sky rocketing career left...

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49:58

The Caribbean, Colonisers & Christianity

24 April 2025

What - and who - did Christopher Columbus find when he landed in the Caribbean?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Alice Samson explore the...

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42:59

The Birth of Indo-European

24 April 2025

From the steppes of prehistoric Eurasia to the languages we speak today, the story of Indo-European is one of ancient roots and global impact. But...

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55:30

Final Days of 'Mad' George III

24 April 2025

How did George III die? Was it raving in a straightjacket? Who stayed with him at the end of his long illness? Today we uncover the truth about...

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44:09

A History of Popes

22 April 2025

Popes have shaped the history of the world. The Catholic Church has had a Pope for two thousand years, the first- tradition dictates- was St...

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59:34

St. George & Springtime Saints

22 April 2025

Dr. Eleanor Janega welcomes back Amy Jeffs, author of Saints: A New Legendary of Heroes, Humans, and Magic, to revel in the fascinating stories of...

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43:13

What Happened On A Medieval Wedding Night?

22 April 2025

We've been tying the knot for thousands of years in one way or another, but what did a medieval wedding look like?

The church had very...

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49:21

Vietnam: Conscientious Objection in a Warzone

21 April 2025

During the Vietnam War, 170,000 men received conscientious objector deferments. In this episode, we speak to one of them.

Sidney Morrison...

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50:19

Cardinal Wolsey

21 April 2025

No advisor was more important to King Henry VIII than Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. He captured Henry's attention with his brilliance and became his...

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31:28

Hammersmith Ghost: How to Murder a Poltergeist

21 April 2025

Can it be murder if you think you're killing a ghost? In 1804 the London suburb of Hammersmith was being terrorised by a ghost. One man set out to...

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43:16

Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition

21 April 2025

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate takes players to Victorian London. This was an age of massive social change through technological innovation and...

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1:18:47

How Did the American Revolution Start?

20 April 2025

On 19th April, 1775, just over 250 years ago, the opening salvos of the American Revolutionary War were fired at the battles of Lexington and...

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1:05:00

The Praetorian Guard: Rise to Power

20 April 2025

From Gladiator to Rome Total War to I, Claudius, today the Cohortēs praetōriae are one of the most distinctive military units of Imperial Rome....

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51:56

Crown of Thorns

18 April 2025

What if one of the most iconic symbols of suffering and triumph in Christian history isn't what you think it is? Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Faith...

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