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
48:38
Martin Luther
1 April 2024A controversial figure during his lifetime, Martin Luther set in motion a revolution that split Christianity in the West and left an indelible...
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38:11
George Washington
31 March 2024As Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, George Washington was a central feature of the American Revolutionary War. He was also the first...
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45:33
Pontius Pilate
31 March 2024Pontius Pilate was the Roman Prefect of Judea during the reign of Emperor Tiberius and is most famous for condemning Jesus of Nazareth to death by...
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29:13
The Amelia Earhart Mystery Solved?
31 March 2024What happened to the pioneering pilot, Amelia Earhart? In 1937, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe by aircraft, Earhart and her...
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42:55
Scandalous Sex Lives of Royalty
29 March 2024We've been fascinated by royalty for hundreds of years, but what do we know about their sex lives? Quite a lot, it turns out.
Today we're...
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36:20
What is a Pilgrimage?
29 March 2024In medieval times, Britain was criss-crossed by pilgrim routes, that took in such world-famous sites as Canterbury and Lindisfarne as well as...
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45:49
President Andrew Johnson: Reconstruction & The First Impeachment
28 March 2024Three quarters of a million people dead in the Civil War. A country separated in to two. How do you join it back together? Do you punish the...
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30:06
Surgery in the Early Modern Age
28 March 2024Today surgery is one of the most important sectors in the medical field. But what was surgery like for people in the 16th and 17th centuries,...
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55:36
The Murdering Midwife of Covent Garden
28 March 2024‘If only walls could talk’ is a phrase which feels particularly relevant to mysterious murder cases throughout history. And in today’s...
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43:15
The Pantheon
27 March 2024The Pantheon is one of the greatest Roman monuments still standing. First built as a pagan temple by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Caesar...
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58:36
2. The British Empire: The Raj and Indian Independence
27 March 2024This is the story of the British Empire in India. Over two episodes, we'll chart India's history from the birth of the Mughal Empire until the...
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55:32
The Dark History of Ballet
26 March 2024Whilst ballet is undoubtedly one of the most graceful and elegant art forms, it also has a long and dark history of sexual exploitation.
How...
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39:45
Medieval Sex Work
26 March 2024Prostitutes were everywhere in the streets and neighbourhoods of medieval cities. In one and the same building, there might be a school upstairs,...
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40:54
1. The British Empire: Mughals & the East India Company
26 March 2024This is the story of the British Empire in India. Over two episodes, we'll chart India's history from the birth of the Mughal Empire until the...
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38:03
Who is the Real Dracula? The Bloody History
25 March 2024This is the incredible history of Dracula, from medieval ruler Vlad the Impaler, to Bram Stoker and the Victorian theatre world. Get ready for a...
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27:55
Jewish History of Venice
25 March 2024Essential to any history of Venice during its glory days is the story of its Jewish population. Venice gave the world the word ghetto....
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41:40
D.B. Cooper & the 70s Hijacking Craze
25 March 2024On 23 June 1972, a man boarded American Airlines Flight 119 in St Louis. He sat most of the way to Tulsa before donning a wig and a pair of gloves...
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40:52
The Salem Witch Trials
24 March 2024More than 200 accused, 20 executed and a village plagued with hysteria. Were the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693 the work of superstition, a...
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54:33
Britain After the Ice Age: Star Carr
24 March 2024Over 13,000 years ago, Britain emerged from the ravages of the Ice Age as a changed land. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who had adapted to cold...
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55:45
The Real Shogun: The English Navigator Who Became a Samurai
24 March 2024In the year 1600, a bedraggled English sailor and his sick and dying crewmates anchored off the coast of Kyushu, Japan. His name was William...
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49:29
King Henry II
22 March 2024One of the pivotal figures in Medieval history, King Henry II centralised royal power, instituted legal reforms and established common...
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