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
47:08
Gladiators in Britain
5 October 2023When you think of Gladiators you tend to think of Roman Amphitheatres, Hollywood films, and probably not Colchester in the UK. But thanks to the...
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34:54
England's Greatest Monarchs with David Mitchell
4 October 2023David Mitchell joins Dan in today's episode to ask the all-important question - who was England's greatest monarch? From the 'overrated' William...
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40:20
Achilles
3 October 2023This episode contains themes of a sexual nature
Achilles is one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology. The son of Peleus, a Greek King,...
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42:56
Sex: The Medieval Rules
3 October 2023Given that the medieval period covers the best part of 1000 years, there's a fair amount of sexual myth and beliefs to get through.
How...
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23:03
Suleyman the Magnificent
2 October 2023The Lion House is a riveting new book from journalist and historian Christopher De Bellaigue, written like a novel that tells the dramatic story...
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45:06
The American Buffalo with Ken Burns
2 October 2023'It's one of those threads you pull on and immediately you're connected to the whole fabric of American history.'
The American Buffalo,...
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39:51
The Habsburgs
2 October 2023How did an obscure Swiss family grow in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the 15th century? How did they manage to then take in a...
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28:23
How Shakespeare Depicted Race
2 October 2023In the same way that Shakespeare’s women characters were performed by boys in female costume, African, Middle Eastern, Hispanic and Jewish roles...
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1:21:55
Captain Cook
1 October 2023Dan tells the extraordinary tale of Captain James Cook. Born a labourer's son, he would rise to become one of history's greatest explorers. He...
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40:50
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Jesus, John the Baptist & Essenes
1 October 2023Part 2/2. Of unknown authorship, the Dead Sea Scrolls - also known as the Qumran Scrolls - are some of the most important ancient documents ever...
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37:35
Julius Caesar's Sex Life
29 September 2023"I came. I saw. I conquered".
Perhaps the most famous Julius Caesar quote of all time. But after hearing all about his bedroom antics, it...
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35:10
President James Monroe
28 September 2023Serving from 1817 to 1825, James Monroe's presidency was only the fifth presidency of the United States. Monroe's time in power saw the...
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24:39
Mysterious Anglo-Saxon Bone Chests with Cat Jarman
28 September 2023In 1642, a Parliamentarian army smashed up Winchester Cathedral, including ten beautiful, 7th century mortuary chests, that housed the mortal...
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37:45
Anne Boleyn & Catherine Howard's Uncle, Thomas Howard
28 September 2023Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, is often vilified as one of the Tudor century's most unpleasant characters. His was a family marked by...
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40:16
Roman Emperors with Mary Beard
28 September 2023When examining the role of the Emperor within the Roman Empire, it is often easier to focus on the individual rather than the role itself. With...
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33:38
Roman Emperors with Mary Beard
27 September 2023What did it take to become a Roman emperor? Pliny the Elder wrote that a ruler should be generous, victorious in battle and a father to his...
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30:26
Things vs. Humans: the spiteful behaviour of inanimate objects
27 September 2023If you can never connect to a printer, if furniture jumps out to stub your toe, if when you do the dishes the water jumps out the sink to soak you...
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57:04
Witches of St Osyth
26 September 2023In March 1582, a number of women from the small Essex village of St Osyth were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Several others, including one...
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32:14
Polari: The Secret Language of Gay Men
26 September 2023It's a credit to the resilience of the gay community that when society tried to outlaw and silence them, they just created a language of their own...
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47:35
The Battle of Midway
25 September 2023On the 4th of June 1942, the US Navy took on the might of Japan's Imperial Navy in the battle of Midway. It was America's Trafalgar! At the end of...
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52:55
How Kateryn Parr Championed the Reformation
25 September 2023Henry VIII's sixth wife Kateryn Parr was a scholar and a writer in her own right. She was one of the first English women to have works published...
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