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
34:17
JFK Special 4. | How Jackie O Defined An Era
4 December 2023If the Kennedy's were America's first royal family, then Jackie was its queen.
She was a style icon who, alongside her husband and president...
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32:51
3 Ways to Die in Early Modern Europe
4 December 2023Life in the 16th and 17th centuries was brutal - the development of warfare technology made conflicts catastrophic for civilians as well as...
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42:13
Medieval Origins of Santa Claus: St. Nicholas
4 December 2023In many parts of Europe, before Christmas comes, you have first to celebrate one of the medieval period's favourite saints - Saint Nicholas of...
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33:45
What Really Happened to the Princes in the Tower?
4 December 2023For over 500 years, the mysterious disappearance of two English princes has perplexed the world. Historians have long assumed that Edward V and...
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54:15
Origins of Sparta
2 December 2023Considered one of Athens' biggest rivals, and known for their bloodthirsty and brutal nature - there's a reason the Spartans have been...
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59:33
AIDS Epidemic: Life & Death On The Frontline
1 December 2023How do we understand something as huge as a global epidemic?
Similarly to Covid, the AIDS epidemic, which was most destructive in the 1980s...
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42:51
Operation Downfall: What if the Allies Invaded Japan?
30 November 2023How would the Allied forces have forced the surrender of Japan had they not dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Operation Downfall...
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44:18
Montaigne: Philosopher of the French Renaissance
30 November 2023Centuries before Proust's Remembrance of Things Past took us on a tour of memory and James Joyce played with stream of consciousness, a 16th...
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35:47
The Fall of Constantinople
30 November 2023May 1453 saw Constantinople under siege - the culmination of an age long struggle between Christianity and Islam for control of the Eastern...
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29:08
The Roman Secret Service
30 November 2023When you think of spies, images of suave men in suits sipping martinis tend to come to mind - not, well, the Romans. But espionage has been used...
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36:36
The Mummy's Curse, Nazi Gold Train & Other History Mysteries
30 November 2023History is full of the weird and wonderful and in this episode Dan is joined by polymath, author and fellow podcaster Dan Schreiber to talk about...
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40:47
Amelia Dyer: Victorian Baby Farm Killer
29 November 2023Some estimates have it that Amelia Dyer killed more than 400 babies. It's hard to say for sure because so few victims were recovered. She was a...
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34:10
The 'Elgin' Marbles
29 November 2023The permanent home of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the 'Elgin' Marbles, has been the subject of a heated, decades-long debate. That debate...
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40:17
JFK Special 3. | The Sex Life of JFK
28 November 2023“If I don’t have a woman for three days, I get terrible headaches.”
That is what JFK allegedly told the UK prime minister, Harold...
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56:45
Hades: King of the Underworld
28 November 2023This episode contains references to death and sexual assault.
Hades is King of the the dead and the Underworld in Ancient Greek...
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44:31
President William Henry Harrison: 32 Days in Office
27 November 2023The ninth President of the United States holds two unique records. William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in US...
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39:35
The Rise of Constantinople with Bettany Hughes
27 November 2023The city of Constantinople, founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 324 AD, was a glittering jewel in the eastern Mediterranean for more than...
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34:34
The Real Origins of Witches
27 November 2023Have you ever wondered what the ancient origins of witchcraft is? How did the black-hat-broomstick stereotype emerge? And what causes the waves of...
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49:03
The Vandals
26 November 2023Known for bringing about the fall of the Western Roman Empire - the Vandals have a reputation of violence, destruction, and conquering. Moving...
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28:21
Saving Henry VIII's Lost Tapestry
26 November 2023For the Tudors, tapestries not only brought warmth and colour to a room, but they were magnificent demonstrations of artistic skill and of moral...
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22:17
Rasputin
26 November 2023The legend of Rasputin's death goes that he survived poisoning, being shot in the head before being thrown through a hole in the ice in the Neva...
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