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
27:47
The Great Caterpillar Outbreak of 1782
12 September 2023In the spring of 1782, it wasn't the American Revolutionary War that had Londoners worried. The city and nearby countryside had been covered in...
Listen Now
38:13
Anne of Bohemia
12 September 2023Dr. Eleanor Janega continues Gone Medieval’s special series of podcasts about Medieval Queens with a look at Queen Anne of Bohemia, the first...
Listen Now
43:15
Victorian London's Hidden Porn Trade
12 September 2023Holywell Street, just off London's Fleet Street, was the hidden epicentre of Victorian pornography.
The Daily Telegraph described it as "the...
Listen Now
39:42
The Knights Templar
11 September 2023Few organisations in history have names as loaded with legend as the Knights Templar. Western culture is infused with the mythology of these pious...
Listen Now
34:42
9/11: Toxic Gas, PTSD & Rebuilding
11 September 2023New York was a city of 8 million people in 2001. A city that would be changed forever by the events of 9/11.
In this episode, we will not...
Listen Now
34:58
Hapsburg Inbreeding with Dr. Adam Rutherford
11 September 2023One of Early Modern Europe’s most powerful families, the Hapsburgs shared a physical trait so distinctive that it came to be regarded as a badge...
Listen Now
39:10
The Nazi Massacre at Rumbula
10 September 2023What would it be like to discover that your grandfather was a Nazi? For decades, generations of Germans have been grappling with the legacies of...
Listen Now
35:38
Deep-Sea Submersibles & the Titan Disaster
10 September 2023The Titan submersible implosion was a tragic example of marine exploration going wrong. Today Dallas speaks to one of the world's leading marine...
Listen Now
44:06
Liangzhu: Cradle of Chinese Civilisation?
10 September 2023Where do you begin to understand the origins of Chinese civilization? Located near the Yangtze River, the treasures of the Liangzhu culture can be...
Listen Now
33:25
Europe's 1848 Revolutions
8 September 2023In 1848, Europe was wracked by a series of revolutions that turned the established political order on its head. Across the continent populations...
Listen Now
32:01
How to Spot Magic in Medieval Buildings
8 September 2023In the Middle Ages, people made marks and concealed many objects in their buildings to protect themselves from harmful magic. Dead cats, horse...
Listen Now
53:10
Cleopatra to Jane Austen: Perfumes of Powerful Women
8 September 2023Why did Cleopatra soak the sails of her ship in jasmine? How did Queen Elizabeth smell? And why was perfume an essential tool of power for women...
Listen Now
34:54
The Mexican-American War
7 September 2023In 1848, after almost two years of fighting, the US annexation of former Mexican territory was signed into a treaty.
Mexico lost a third of...
Listen Now
42:29
Michelangelo
7 September 2023At 31, Michelangelo was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world. Long before he died at almost 90, he was widely believed to...
Listen Now
50:14
Medusa
7 September 2023This episode contains references to sexual assault.
Medusa stands as one of the most iconic yet misconstrued figures of Greek...
Listen Now
50:56
Chichén Itzá
6 September 2023One of the new Seven Wonders of the World, Chichen Itza is home to monumental pyramids, temples, and is a treasure trove of archaeological...
Listen Now
47:40
Patriarchy
6 September 2023Why are men in charge? Who invented Patriarchy?
Was it chest-thumping primate ancestors? Was it spear-wielding hunter gatherers? Was it at...
Listen Now
27:37
Marco Polo
5 September 2023You may have heard the many myths about the life and exploits of Marco Polo- was he really the one who brought ice cream and spaghetti from his...
Listen Now
39:07
Bestiality
5 September 2023When sex between two humans can be many things, how do we define bestiality - that is, sex between a human and a non-human?
Especially...
Listen Now
42:42
Origins of the Māori
5 September 2023Around the time of the start of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, and the Black Death was devastating tens of millions of...
Listen Now
23:24
The Legacy of Rome
4 September 2023Rome has attracted aspiring conquerors and leaders for millennia, not just as a great metropolis, but as an idea. It has long been a symbol of...
Listen Now