History Podcasts | History Hit

 

 

History Hit 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

53:18

Christmas Movie Knight

24 December 2024

It’s Christmas. The holly and ivy are adorning the fireplace, hopefully the shopping is (mostly) done and the King of Misrule is on his...

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27:55

How Old is America?

23 December 2024

When fossils were discovered in the US during the 19th Century, it altered American understandings of science, religion, race and more. So what...

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1:28:56

Six Wives: Katherine of Aragon & Anne Boleyn

23 December 2024

In the first of three special Christmas editions, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb offers another chance to hear the series from earlier this year in...

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47:14

Who was the "Elephant Man"? Joseph Merrick's True Story

23 December 2024

The life of Joseph Merrick, the man they dared to call "The Elephant Man", will fill you with pain and anger. He was treated so cruelly by society...

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41:11

Vikings in Medieval Baghdad

23 December 2024

In the ninth century, the Vikings earned a fearsome reputation along the coasts of western Europe. But they also travelled eastwards and reached...

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30:11

Folk Christmas: Yule, Solstice & Ancient English Traditions

23 December 2024

Folktales around the fire, gooding & mumping and the terrifying Hooden Horse are just some of England's winter folk traditions from history. In...

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45:07

Druids

22 December 2024

Aligning with the winter solstice of 2024, Tristan Hughes and Professor Ronald Hutton delve into the ancient Druids of Britain and...

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37:08

Kateryn Parr | Secret Lives of the Six Wives

20 December 2024

At the time, surely Kateryn Parr had her reservations about being Henry VIII's sixth wife?

Aside from being a tyrannical maniac who'd just...

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40:25

Lives of Medieval Nuns

20 December 2024

The often forgotten world of medieval nuns holds many secrets about the lives of ordinary people of the age, their daily routines, education, and...

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19:24

How the Mongols Changed the World

20 December 2024

After the death of Chinggis Khan, the founder and first Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the land became the largest contiguous empire in...

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26:33

Outlaws vs the FBI: J. Edgar Hoover's G-Men

19 December 2024

What makes the ideal gangster hunter? In the 1930s, outlaws like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Bonnie & Clyde were the scourge on the...

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42:12

The Birth of Money

19 December 2024

Gold has shaped human history for several millennia. But how and when did it first turn into currency? And what can it tell us about the birth of...

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52:05

The Bible

19 December 2024

How did the Bible transform from a guarded manuscript read in secret to a book accessible to millions?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined...

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40:07

Inside the Foundling: London's First Orphanage (Part 2)

19 December 2024

(2/2) We find out what life inside the Foundling Hospital was like as we complete the heartbreaking and heartwarming history of London's first...

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37:51

Georgian Christmas

18 December 2024

Pantomimes, pleasure gardens, bare-knuckle boxing and political upheaval. Christmas in the 18th and early 19th centuries was a very different...

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44:17

How Did People Smell in Medieval Times?

17 December 2024

Accessing stories from the past can be difficult, but how do we access smells from the past?

In today's episode, Kate is joined by...

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55:56

The Haunting Medieval World of M.R.James

17 December 2024

The chilling ghost stories of M.R.James are as much a part of our Christmas television viewing as the King’s speech. But few realise that...

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34:43

Was the Civil War Won by Chance?

16 December 2024

How did a couple's holiday save Kyoto from certain ruin? How did a landslide contribute to the Revolutionary War? Basically, how have chance...

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33:37

Pirates of the Pacific & the Spanish Empire

16 December 2024

Pirates weren’t just a menace on the high seas - they were a direct threat to Spain’s empire-building ambitions in the Pacific. Professor...

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49:20

Lost Children of Georgian London (Part 1)

16 December 2024

Today Anthony and Maddy look into the heartbreaking history of the Foundling Hospital, now London’s saddest museum. 

Starting in the...

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45:27

The Mongol Invasions of Ming China

16 December 2024

In Assassin's Creed Chronicles China, players foil a plot by Altan Khan to invade Ming China with his Mongol army. But who was Altan Khan, and how...

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