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
37:42
The Man Who Hanged Nazis: Albert Pierrepoint
12 November 2023For Albert Pierrepoint, execution was a family affair. His father and uncle were hangmen and from the 1940s until the late 1950s Albert was...
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41:51
Persephone: Queen of the Underworld
11 November 2023This episode contains references to death and sexual assault.
Persephone is Queen of the Underworld in Ancient Greek...
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42:01
Love, Lust & Fighting in World War II
10 November 2023It can be hard to comprehend the magnitude of historical events, with World War Two a prime example of this.
By 1945, some 3 million British...
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39:09
President Martin Van Buren
9 November 2023The 'Little Magician', the 'Sly Fox' or - to our expert guest - a 6.5/10 president. We're onto President number 8, Martin Van Buren.
Don is...
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25:22
Ghost Fetishes: From Ancient World to Victorians
9 November 2023What is spectrophilia? Well, it's a fetish for ghosts (as well as mirrors), so being turned on by anything lurking in the non-physical realm. What...
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40:24
The Medieval Boleyns
9 November 2023From the fields of Norfolk to the royal court - via city commerce, local government, liberal education and numerous wedding bells - the Boleyns...
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47:51
Hitler's Third Reich
9 November 20233/4. In this special 4-part series, we look back at the life of Adolf Hitler. With the help of Frank McDonough, a leading historian of the Third...
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40:02
The Illyrians: Pirates of the Adriatic
8 November 2023Inhabiting the Balkans in antiquity, the Illyrians played a vital role in Ancient History. From their renowned reputation as skilled craftsmen,...
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41:40
Witchcraft: Everything You Need to Know
8 November 2023In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb pays a visit to historians Dr. Anthony Delaney and Dr. Maddy Pelling, who are...
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52:02
The Rise of Hitler
8 November 20232/4. In this special 4-part series, we look back at the life of Adolf Hitler. With the help of Frank McDonough, a leading historian of the Third...
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42:46
Hitler's Early Years
7 November 20231/4 In this special 4-part series, we look back at the life of Adolf Hitler. With the help of Frank McDonough, a leading historian of the Third...
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52:28
Henry VII
6 November 2023Professor Suzannah Lipscomb kicks off four special episodes about the Tudor Dynasty with a look at its founding father King Henry VII. Seen as an...
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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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