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
46:09
Origins of the Inuit
24 October 2024In this instalment of The Ancients we're going north of the Arctic circle to uncover the incredible story of the Thule Inuit. Expanding out from...
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37:14
The Origins of Halloween
22 October 2024Pumpkins, trick or treating and ghost stories are what we associate with Halloween, but what about turnips, fairies and a fortune-telling cake?...
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32:35
Inside the Witch Trials: Iceland | The Men Who Burned As Witches
22 October 2024When we think of the witch trials, we often think of women being charged.
Whilst misogyny was at the heart of many of the witch trials, this...
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37:26
Castles, Kings and Courtly Life
22 October 2024All this month, Matt and Eleanor are ranging across England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland to discover the stories of our greatest...
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40:18
Execution of Lady Jane Grey
21 October 2024This Tudor's story is intense and tragic. She's known as Lady Jane Grey but we ought to change that to 'Queen Jane'. That's who she was, even...
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42:51
The Spanish Armada
21 October 2024In July 1588 the Spanish Armada set sail to conquer England. Three weeks later a fierce naval battle foiled the planned invasion. Many myths...
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38:13
Elections Explained: How FDR Won Four Times
21 October 20244,322 days. That's how long Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office. Whilst no other US president has served more than two terms, FDR was elected...
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35:31
The Great Napoleonic Escape
20 October 2024Lieutenant Charles Hare was a young British naval officer who made an extraordinarily elaborate escape from a French prisoner-of-war camp during...
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46:36
Ptolemy I: The First Greek Pharaoh
20 October 2024In the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s death his former generals carved out their own kingdoms in the chaos that was the Wars of the...
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35:43
Castles and the Conquest of Ireland
18 October 2024Ireland has been known as the land of saints and scholars and once was the farthest reach of the known world. But it's also home to one of the...
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38:37
The Hunt for the Endurance Shipwreck
17 October 2024In 2022 Dan was part of the international expedition that went in search of Shackleton's lost shipwreck Endurance in the Weddell Sea in...
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30:17
The Battle of Bull Run
17 October 2024On July 21, 1861, Confederate and Union forces met for the first time in full-scale battle at Bull Run Creek, near Manassas, Virginia. By the end...
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35:32
Henry VIII's Brothers in Armour
17 October 2024Henry VIII loved the spectacle of a tournament to show off. In addition to jousting displays with François I of France, Henry and the Holy Roman...
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40:18
The Circus Maximus
17 October 2024What was the most popular sporting spectacle in ancient Rome? Gladiator bouts? Beast hunts? It was in fact chariot racing! For centuries the...
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36:49
Final Days of Anne Boleyn
17 October 2024Today we’re exploring the grim and heroic final days of the Anne Boleyn, the thousand day queen.
We are joined by the one-and-only Dr...
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1:00:28
Nefertiti: The Greatest Ancient Egyptian Queen?
17 October 2024Ancient Egyptian rulers, incest, the Nazis and female empowerment, all in one episode! 'But how?' You say. 'What story could possibly bring all of...
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51:40
Tom Crean: The Unsung Irish Hero of the Antarctic
15 October 2024He was one of the last men to see Antarctic Explorer Robert Scott alive and was Shackleton's right-hand man on the Endurance expedition. So why...
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38:21
A Stonemason's Secrets
15 October 2024Medieval churches are among our most enduring links with the Middle Ages. But it's not always easy to understand what parts of a church to look...
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36:18
Inside the Witch Trials: Pendle | The Child Who Condemned Her Family
15 October 2024People in the 17th century were at spiritual war with the devil.
It was a time of huge upheaval. What became known as the witch...
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46:02
Elections Explained: A History of Voting
14 October 2024We have a constitutional right to vote in the United States ... don't we? Find out in this first episode of American History Hit's series,...
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40:28
Oliver Cromwell: Massacres & Manoeuvres
14 October 2024How did Oliver Cromwell navigate the many forces ranged against him and rise to the pinnacle of his power? From the execution of Charles I,...
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