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
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...
Listen Now
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,...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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....
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
56:27
Did the Cold War Ever End?
21 March 2024Would the Cold War have happened if the nuclear bomb was never created? How did Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher reduce tensions between the East...
Listen Now
38:44
Abraham Lincoln's Sex Life
21 March 2024Abraham Lincoln is often thought of as the most loved president in America's history, but how much do we know about his personal...
Listen Now
46:18
England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches
21 March 2024Inside the heavy walls of Lancaster Castle, the darkest & deadliest of English witch trials played out in 1612 - the Pendle Witch Trials. By the...
Listen Now
46:35
Tudor Ladies-in-Waiting
21 March 2024For every Tudor Queen, their ladies-in-waiting were their confidantes, chaperones and intimate witnesses to their lives. These women were high...
Listen Now
55:19
Great Wall of China
20 March 2024It's one of the most iconic structures in the world: The Great Wall of China.
But is it just one wall? And who built it and why? Today,...
Listen Now
22:16
Atlantis
20 March 2024The fictional island of Atlantis has intrigued and eluded us for millennia. First mentioned in the works of Plato, it's a story that captures our...
Listen Now
42:36
The Power of Medieval Icons
19 March 2024In the Middle Ages, how did art - particularly Christian icons - serve to connect humanity with heavenly realms? How did such images spread...
Listen Now
48:56
The Celebrity Sex Worker of Ancient Greece
19 March 2024This is the story of one of the most notorious women of the Ancient world.
Phrynne was a sex worker in the 4th century BC who came from an...
Listen Now
51:34
Persia: Rise of the Sasanians
19 March 2024The Sasanians are renowned as one of Rome's most feared enemies. Founded in third-century Persia by an Iranian noble called Ardashir, their...
Listen Now
47:01
Irish in America: Poverty to Power
18 March 2024At least 23 of the Presidents of the United States can have their ancestry traced back to Ireland.
So why did this diaspora come to America?...
Listen Now
37:25
Diary of a Tudor Gentlewoman
18 March 2024Diaries written by gentlewomen in the mid-16th century are hard to find. Yet, they lived through an age of upheaval as old ways were effaced in...
Listen Now