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
42:09
The Real Outlander
16 January 2024How real to true events is the Outlander series?
The Jacobite uprising of the 18th century was led by Bonnie Prince Charlie to reclaim the...
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33:53
The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.
15 January 2024Who introduced Martin Luther King Jr. to activism? Why is the influence of mothers so often understated? And did you know about the other King...
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36:42
Ghost Ship: The Mary Celeste
15 January 2024In 1872 the ghost ship Mary Celeste is found sailing across the Atlantic without a single crew member left on board. Theories over what happened...
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38:44
King Arthur's Sex Life
15 January 2024The stories of King Arthur are among the great legends of British history. But behind the romance, chivalry and sorcery of it all, there were some...
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32:48
15th Century Puritan Fanatic, Savonarola
15 January 2024Girolamo Savonarola was a late 15th century Dominican friar who rose to become a preacher, prophet, and politician. He took on the corruption...
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46:44
Mike Sadler: The Last SAS Soldier
15 January 2024In this episode, we remember Mike Sadler the last of the original SAS men who recently died at the age of 103. Major Sadler was the navigator for...
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51:09
The Bronze Age Collapse
13 January 2024The Bronze Age Collapse was one of the most cataclysmic events in human history. Over just a few decades, civilisations across the Mediterranean...
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47:01
Alexander The Great Sex's Life
12 January 2024Was he as great in bed as he was at conquering the Persian empire?
Whether he even had time for it, is another question. In today's episode,...
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44:07
The Election That Changed Politics: 1968
11 January 2024Chaos, collusion and the Chennault Affair. What made the election of 1968 so unusual?
Luke Nichter joins Don to talk about the election race...
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25:59
Medieval Anatomy
11 January 2024How did medieval surgeons, doctors and monks understand the inner workings of the human body? Who performed the first scientific human...
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35:20
How to Survive in Tudor England
11 January 2024Life in Tudor England was risky. In addition to the outbreaks of plague, the threat of poverty and the dangers of childbirth, there were...
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31:49
Myths of King Arthur: Origins, Creepy Sex & Magic Swords
11 January 2024King Arthur. Merlin. The Knights of the Round Table and the Sword in the Stone. We think we know these stories but they've changed a lot since...
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29:30
Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate
11 January 2024The Warring States period brought Japan to its knees. It was a time of turbulence and treachery, with rival warlords fighting bitterly for control...
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40:53
The First Irish
10 January 2024Over 10,000 years ago, many believe Ireland was a place where hunter-gatherers roamed. A place where the earliest human communities exchanged...
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25:48
The Plague of Athens
10 January 2024In 430 BC, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War, the powerful city-state of Athens was struck down by a disastrous plague. Athenians fell sick...
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42:14
Swearing: A F**king Long History
9 January 2024Have you ever wondered where the &%@! swear words come from? Well today, Kate is going Betwixt the Sheets to find out.
Linguist...
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49:34
President Zachary Taylor
8 January 2024Once the most popular man in America, hero of the Mexican-American war Zachary Taylor is our twelfth President and the subject of this...
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40:05
Ireland's Bloodiest Murders: Maamtrasna Murders
8 January 2024One summer night in 1882 the Maamtrasna Valley in the West of Ireland became forever notorious when three generations of the Seoige (Joyce) family...
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33:39
Harold Godwinson
8 January 2024All this month on Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis uncover the stories of the protagonists and events that led up to the Battle of...
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36:32
Elizabeth I's Spymaster, Walsingham
7 January 2024For anyone studying the politics of the 1570s-80s, it would be hard to avoid Elizabeth I’s ‘spymaster’ Sir Francis Walsingham, who seemingly...
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41:43
Jericho
6 January 2024The ancient city of Jericho is often thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world. Made famous by the biblical tale of...
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