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
President Calvin Coolidge: The Roaring 20s' Quiet Leader
12 December 2024Sworn in after the death of President Harding by the light of a kerosene lamp, the 30th President of the United States led the country through 6...
Listen NowMarie Antoinette
12 December 2024In 1770, 14-year-old Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria arrived in France to marry Louis XVI. As Marie Antoinette, she became the ultimate diva...
Listen NowPredicting Death: Strange History of the Premonitions Bureau
12 December 2024Can we see beyond the veil, glimpse the future before it arrives? John Barker, a psychiatrist with a fascination for the unexplained, thought...
Listen NowThe Wise Men
12 December 2024The Three Wise Men were kings, magicians, more than three, on camels, walking across deserts and the men who tricked Herod. How can they be all...
Listen NowHenry VIII's Tudor Christmas
11 December 2024Tudor Christmas was a time for revelry and fun. Henry VIII and his court celebrated the full 12 days of Christmas in excess, with tables ladened...
Listen NowMedieval Burials
10 December 2024What can medieval burial practices reveal about societal values and beliefs? Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by biological anthropologist Dr. Jo...
Listen NowHistory (and Future) of Dating
10 December 2024The history of lonely hearts ads might be a lot deeper than you'd expect.
For as long as people have been printing newspapers, people (read:...
Listen NowWaco: A Cult, the FBI and a Fiery Ending
9 December 202476 people died on 19th April 1993 when the compound of a religious sect, the Branch Davidians, went up in flames. It had been under siege by...
Listen NowElizabeth I & the Sultan of Morocco
9 December 2024Elizabeth I and Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco shared a common goal of empire building, despite their cultural, political and religious...
Listen NowIreland's First Witch: Medieval Murderer? (Part 2)
9 December 2024(Part 2/2) Anthony returns to his hometown of Kilkenny to conclude the tale of the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland. Set 700...
Listen NowSurviving the Great War: Medics in the Trenches
9 December 2024Warning: this episode contains graphic details of injuries.
The brutal nature of the First World War presented frontline medical personnel...
Listen NowHanukkah & the Maccabees
8 December 2024It's perhaps the best known Jewish festival of the year, but what exactly are Hanukkah's origins, and why was it first celebrated?
On...
Listen NowAnne of Cleves | Secret Lives of the Six Wives
6 December 2024Anne of Cleves gets a pretty raw deal in the history books.
She's often accused of being ugly, after Henry VIII claimed the painting he had...
Listen NowCrusades Against Heretics
6 December 2024The Albigensian Crusade was a blood-soaked military campaign, as the church desperately attempted to purge heresy across Christendom in the early...
Listen NowFascism in America
6 December 2024The rise of fascism in America in the 1920s & 30s looked just like the rise of fascism in Germany at the same time- scapegoating, the...
Listen NowPearl Harbor: The Man Who Spied For Japan
5 December 2024On 7th December, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy struck the United States. In an action which killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed 21 US warships...
Listen NowOrigins of the Wheel
5 December 2024It is one of the most pivotal inventions in human history - the wheel.
New research suggests that the wheel was first created by prehistoric...
Listen NowWilliam III & the Persecution of Sodomites
5 December 2024**Warning: This episode contains explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the use of historic terminology that does not align with current...
Listen NowHistory's Greatest Ghost Hunters: the Warrens
5 December 2024Ghost hunting couple Ed and Lorraine Warren transformed twentieth century America into an enchanted land dotted with haunted houses, cursed...
Listen NowRoman Saturnalia
4 December 2024Episode 1 in our 'Origins of Christmas' series. This Roman winter festival laid the foundations for many of our Christmas customs today- feasting,...
Listen NowBattles, Kings, and Conquests: A Journey Through Medieval England
3 December 2024Dr. Eleanor Janega invites co-host Matt Lewis to discuss his exciting new book, 'The History Hit Guide to Medieval England.' Matt reveals the...
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