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
42:36
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...
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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...
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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...
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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?...
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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...
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22:46
The History of the RNLI
18 March 2024In the tempestuous waters of the 18th century, a revolutionary idea emerged from the depths of despair and necessity: the lifeboat. Born from the...
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46:42
St Patrick: Pirates, Snakes and Goatees
17 March 2024He wasn't Irish. He didn't wear green. There were no snakes. So who was the real St Patrick? How did his myth grow? And how did he invent the...
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49:15
Warfare in Ancient Greece
17 March 2024How did warfare work in Ancient Greece? The weapons and armour of the Greek hoplite are legendary, as are the warrior cultures of city-states like...
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47:42
Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt
16 March 2024Artemis is best known as the goddess of the Hunt. But she is far more than just the famed huntress of Greek mythology - she is the patron of the...
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36:04
Peasants' Revolt
15 March 2024The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a public rebellion that sent revolutionary ripples across the entire medieval world. In a new video series...
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48:50
Viking Sexuality
15 March 2024The Vikings have a fair claim to being the most overly-eroticised group of people in history. It's fair to say this is somewhat...
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42:36
Lincoln: Love, Loss & Legacy
14 March 2024President and Commander-in-Chief at a major turning point in American History? Victim of a violent and public assassination? How do you remember...
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42:26
Medieval Torture: The Dark History
14 March 2024This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.
To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list...
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43:50
Trial of Charles I
14 March 2024In the mid-17th century, King Charles I of England was put on trial for treason against the sovereign state. Such a process involved a singular...
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35:41
Supersonic Nazi Vengeance: V2 Rocket from Cautionary Tales
14 March 2024We're bringing you an episode of a podcast we think you'll love: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford. At the height of World War Two, British...
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42:24
The Walls of Babylon
13 March 2024The ancient metropolis of Babylon was famed for its wonders like the Tower of Babel and the mysterious Hanging Gardens. But few Babylonian...
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42:04
Boudica: Queen of the Iceni
13 March 2024She's the warrior queen who took on the mighty Roman Empire, but who really was Boudica?
Separating facts from the myths we've read can be...
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39:47
Real Medieval Women with Philippa Gregory
12 March 2024When we think about women in the Middle Ages, we know about Eleanor of Aquitaine or Hildegard of Bingen, but we are a lot less likely to think...
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48:37
18th Century Graffiti: Sex, Murder & Rebellion
12 March 2024Whether it's a declaration of love, anger or rebellion against the government, graffiti can give us incredible insight into the social history of...
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47:49
Infiltrating the IRA: Murder & Espionage in Northern Ireland
12 March 2024With Operation Kenova back in the headlines, we look to the story of Frank Hegarty, an IRA member turned British informant whose assassination led...
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30:16
The Rise & Fall of the Ku Klux Klan
11 March 2024A far-right hate group known the world over, the Ku Klux Klan emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War. So why did it emerge? Where did it get...
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