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
42:26
The Rise of Mark Antony
30 May 2024Mark Antony; the headstrong bad boy, a feared commander, lover and traitor memorably depicted by Richard Burton. His story is intertwined with...
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38:02
Real History of the Knights Templar
30 May 2024Why are the Knights Templar surrounded by myths and legends? Is there any truth to the tales of the Holy Grail or that the Knights survived? Why...
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39:55
The History of Baseball
29 May 2024Where did baseball come from? Why is every stadium unique? And how do you make it to the Hall of Fame?
For half the year, baseball...
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43:00
Sex Work in Colonial Australia
28 May 2024From the first fleet of convict ships arriving in Australia in 1788, sex work was a central part of the new society British colonialists were...
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37:24
Whisky: The Medieval Elixir
28 May 2024Did you know we have our medieval ancestors to thank for whisky? It wasn’t exactly a medieval invention but the process of making distilled...
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27:36
The Battle of Okinawa
27 May 2024Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide.
On 1 April 1945, as the Second World War in Europe was reaching its end, one of...
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36:18
Victorian Thames Torso Murders
27 May 2024At exactly the same time as Jack the Ripper, another serial killer terrorised London. Just like Jack the Ripper, all their victims were women -...
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41:40
Female Spies in the 17th Century
27 May 2024If you think that the female spy is a 20th century phenomenon - be it Mata Hari, Mrs Zigzag or Eve Polastri - think again! Accounts of...
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34:06
Mutiny on the Rising Sun: Smuggling in Colonial America
25 May 2024This is the story of a bloody mutiny aboard the Boston-based schooner, the Rising Sun. The ship had been on a routine smuggling voyage before it...
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51:47
Hadrian's Wall
25 May 2024It's the most famous Roman frontier in the world. A massive c.13-foot high wall that spanned the length of northern Britain, dividing the empire...
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43:08
The REAL Bridgerton: Queen Charlotte, Lord Byron & Georgian Celebrity
24 May 2024The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask:...
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35:44
Echoes of History: Civil War in Feudal Japan
24 May 2024Dating from 1467-1603, the Sengoku or ‘Warring States’ period is known as the bloodiest in Japan’s history; an era of continuous social...
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1:00
Coming Soon! D-day to Berlin
23 May 2024June 6th marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day and Dan Snow's History Hit is it by bringing you its biggest series yet. From now until May next...
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32:45
President Chester A. Arthur: Redemption in Office?
23 May 2024Vice President to a narrow election winner, Chester Arthur was a very unlikely President. But on September 20th 1881 he took his seat as the 21st...
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38:34
Six Wives: Katherine of Aragon
23 May 2024Six wives - six lives that we think we know everything about. But beyond their mostly doomed marriages to Henry VIII and, in most cases,...
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32:33
Hidden History of Garden Gnomes
23 May 2024Garden gnomes have a secret life all of their own. If you don't believe us, then go ask Paris Hilton.
Today we discover the hidden history...
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47:02
Spartacus: Life or Legend
22 May 2024‘I am Spartacus!’ In the field of epic film making, the 1960 historical drama ‘Spartacus’ is legendary. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, and...
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35:23
Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s Third Queen
21 May 2024Jane Seymour is a paradox. Of Henry VIII’s six wives, she is the one about whom we know perhaps the least. She was the most lowly of the queens,...
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39:04
Richard the Lionheart
21 May 2024King Richard I of England - Richard the Lionheart - is one of those historical figures whose reputation stands out so much that the legends cover...
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43:12
History of Monogamy
21 May 2024From the earliest iterations on the plains of Africa, to 21st century reconsiderations of it: are humans meant to be monogamous?
Joining...
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37:58
The Opium Wars
20 May 20242/2. The British Empire aggressively pursued the opium trade well into the 19th century, fueling an addiction epidemic within China. The Qing...
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