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
41:21
Origins of the Loch Ness Monster
6 November 2023What lurks beneath the dark waters of Loch Ness? The legendary monster? A piece of Celtic folklore? A warning of the Nazis' rise to power? A...
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42:43
JFK Special 1. | The Irish Woman Who Built The Dynasty
6 November 2023This November marks 60 years since President John F Kennedy was assassinated.
His name is associated with history defining events, but...
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34:16
How The Vikings Turned Christian?
6 November 2023Denmark's King Harald Bluetooth was among the first Scandinavian rulers to officially embrace Christianity in the early 10th century. Norway...
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32:01
Pocahontas: The True Story
6 November 2023Despite her being a household name, how much do we really know about Pocahontas? Where did she come from? How old was she? And what was her real...
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40:28
Vikings in America
5 November 2023What is a Viking? Did they really make it to the United States? And if so, how far did they get?
Don speaks to Martyn Whittock about the...
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39:55
Origins of Gaza
4 November 2023Throughout history, the area today known as Gaza has often been a contentious site. Its historical significance is a history that spans nearly 3...
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29:44
Hunting Pablo Escobar
3 November 2023By the early 1990s, the Colombian city of Medellín was at the centre of the world's largest drug empire. The fearsome Medellín Cartel, led by...
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34:12
Babylon
3 November 2023The urban cultures of ancient Mesopotamia formed the foundation for so much of our modern world. Nowhere exemplifies this better than the city of...
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33:01
The Salem Witch Trials
3 November 2023The Malleus Maleficarum, or the 'Hammer of Witches', was a 15th-century book that sparked mass hysteria about the existence of witches in Europe -...
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31:39
James Beckwourth, Conquering the American Frontier
3 November 2023James Beckwourth was a pioneering frontiersman and fur-trapper who conquered the American West by embedding himself in the Native American tribes...
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35:32
Tutankhamun: The Valley of the Kings - Signal Award Gold!
3 November 2023In celebration of recently winning a gold Signal Award, we are revisiting our series from last year on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of...
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32:04
Reburying the Dead of America's Revolutionary War
3 November 2023Dan attends the funeral of British and American soldiers, over 240 years after they died fighting one another at the Battle of Camden. He takes us...
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49:58
The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
3 November 2023This month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates four of history’s most notorious murders and brutal crimes.
In...
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39:29
The Arab- Israeli War: Yom Kippur War 1973
3 November 2023Also known as the October War and the Ramadan War, this conflict was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, as a surprise attack on...
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41:55
Mary, Queen of Scots
3 November 2023This is the story of the incredible rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was queen of Scotland, she was queen of France, and she could have...
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1:04:54
Israel, Gaza and the West Bank: A History
3 November 2023In light of the complex and tragic situation unfolding in Gaza and Israel, this episode looks at the past 100 years of the history of the region...
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25:11
WWII Britain's 'Missing' Sailors
3 November 2023During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role in keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across...
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51:16
HMS Terror: Cursed Arctic Expedition
3 November 2023Was ever a ship more aptly named? In 1845, HMS Terror (and its forgettably named sister ship HMS Erebus) set off from Victorian Britain. Their...
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47:10
Scottish Kings' Sex Lives
3 November 2023One thing royal families strive for is the common touch. Whilst some have struggled with it, King James IV and V in the 15th and 16th centuries...
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51:09
The Hundred Years' War
3 November 2023The Hundred Years' War plunged England, France and their allies into over a century of conflict. This bleak period of history had rebellions,...
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22:24
Alexander The Great: The Siege of Tyre
3 November 2023The renowned conqueror Alexander the Great was known as 'the two-horned one' by his enemies, and for good reason. His campaigns were bloody...
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