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
40:11
Superstitions: Witch Marks, Touching Wood & Lucky Pants
18 August 2023Many of them pre-date modern religions and defy what science tells us about the world - from saluting magpies, to wearing lucky pants. Yet why do...
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33:42
The Sword & Its Cultural Significance
18 August 2023If one object stands out as synonymous with the Medieval period, it's probably the sword.
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks...
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47:29
WW2 Heroes: Unheard Stories
18 August 2023As we get closer to the 80th anniversary of Operation Overlord and the D-Day Landings, we're beginning to witness the passing of 'living memory'...
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44:58
Attila the Hun: Terror of Rome
17 August 2023Returning to one of the most infamous names in history, what happened to Attila the Hun after the devastation he caused in the Balkans - and where...
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39:38
Elizabeth I's Censored Annals: A Major Discovery
17 August 2023Did King James VI of Scotland plot to assassinate Elizabeth I? Did she name him as her successor? For centuries, dozens of pasted-over passages in...
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40:38
President John Adams
17 August 2023Sequels are always hit and miss. So what must it have been like to be the second President of the United States, following the man who originated...
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39:43
Battle of Gettysburg
16 August 2023The first three days of July 1863 saw the bloodiest single battle of the American Civil War. This clash between the Unionist and Confederate...
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45:56
Digital Calculators
16 August 2023What did humans do before calculators? How big was the very first electronic calculator? And what do monkey bones have to do with the...
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25:28
The Rise of the Taliban
15 August 2023Is it possible that the Taliban of today are more fanatical than before? American and Coalition troops recently fought a bitter, 20-year war...
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43:29
Polyamory: From Mormons to 60s Counterculture
15 August 2023The polyamory movement has a long and interesting history. It takes in Pilgrims meeting Native American Indians, Mormons having their take on it,...
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42:17
Sex: The Medieval Rules
15 August 2023Sex. It’s everyone’s favourite subject. But has it been that way since the Middle Ages? The repressive instincts of some medieval churchmen...
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26:24
Scottish Clans
14 August 2023It is believed clans started to emerge in Scotland around 1100AD and were originally the descendants of kings – if not of demigods from Irish...
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28:37
The Texas Chicken Ranch: Famous Brothel to Broadway
14 August 2023When it closed in 1973, the Texas Chicken Ranch was the oldest continually operating brothel in the United States. Why was this brothel able to...
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36:26
Christopher Wren
14 August 2023Best known for St. Paul’s Cathedral, Christopher Wren was the greatest architect Britain has ever known. But he was so much more: he applied his...
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47:27
Putin's Rise to Power
14 August 2023Serving continuously as either Prime Minister or President since 1999, Vladimir Putin's leadership of Russia has always dominated the geopolitical...
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39:42
Gladiators of Pompeii
13 August 2023This episode contains some references to graphic violence.
Gladiators are one the most enduring symbols of Ancient Rome, and Pompeii is no...
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40:35
Oppenheimer: Inventor of the Atomic Bomb
13 August 2023Robert Oppenheimer was the father of the atomic bomb - a weapon of unprecedented power, which, when dropped on Japan, would end WWII and would...
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44:04
Archimedes and the Siege of Syracuse
12 August 2023Dan tells the story of Archimedes, the ancient Greek inventor whose weapons of war protected the town of Syracuse from a Roman army. The Romans...
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34:46
Afghanistan: The Legacies of Withdrawal
11 August 2023In August 2021, after 20 years of military presence, the United States withdrew the last of their troops from Afghanistan. With chaos quickly...
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26:49
Æthelstan: First King of the English
11 August 2023The grandson of Alfred the Great, Æthelstan the Glorious was the first King of England, reigning from 924 to 939. Æthelstan inherited the...
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40:01
History of Kissing: Why do we lock lips?
11 August 2023A good old smooch. It’s something that we do on a daily basis in one form or another (if we’re lucky), and yet have you ever stopped and...
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