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
57:26
The Curse of King Tutankhamun's Tomb
26 February 2025Untimely deaths followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter. Coincidence or ancient curse? When the tomb of King Tutankhamun was...
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42:12
Mary, Queen of Scots
26 February 2025This 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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31:09
Sex & Scandal in 1920s Soho
25 February 2025When and why did Soho become a hedonistic hotspot, the home of sex, drugs and music?
Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with Dan Snow to talk about...
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59:21
Is the Renaissance a Myth?
25 February 2025Dr. Eleanor Janega reveals the darker side of the Renaissance with Dr. Ada Palmer, challenging the notion that it was a golden age, exposing it as...
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32:09
Jamestown: Decline & Fall?
24 February 2025In 1699, Virginia’s government and capital moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, renaming it Williamsburg.
But why did they abandon...
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35:48
How to Run a Stuart Household
24 February 2025Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into the world of Stuart-era recipe books, in which medicine, cookery and women's roles combine in fascinating...
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53:24
Final Days of Thomas Cromwell
24 February 2025From ruthless schemer to pragmatic hero - who is the real Thomas Cromwell? And how did he meet his end? Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling...
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37:40
Mount Hiei: Home of Japan's Warrior Monks
24 February 2025Assassin's Creed Shadows gives players the chance to visit the imperial capital of medieval Japan. But today, we're heading to a mountain lying...
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29:39
Soho: London's Most Notorious Neighbourhood
24 February 2025Soho was once a thriving melting pot of speakeasies, sex work and organised crime. From razor gangs of the 1920s to money laundering, the area has...
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48:41
End of Ice Age Britain
23 February 2025As Ice Age Britain thawed, temperatures surged, sea levels rose, and humans and animals faced a fight for survival. But this shift was anything...
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51:47
Inside Europe's Biggest Red Light District
21 February 2025Between 1860 and 1925, tens of thousands of women worked in Dublin's Monto, the largest red light district in Europe.
It was a world of...
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52:35
Aztecs
21 February 2025Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Camilla Townsend to delve into the story of the Mexica, commonly known as the Aztecs. They unpack the true...
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26:29
Dogs
21 February 2025From the small corgis that drove cattle to Smithfield market to the Dalmatians that protected carriages from highwaymen, humans and dogs have...
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56:23
Jamestown: Surviving The Fort
20 February 2025What was it like to live in the fort at Jamestown? Who was in charge? What provisions were there? And why is this considered to be the birthplace...
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58:21
The Persian Wars: Darius, Athens and the Battle of Marathon
20 February 2025490 BC. On the plains of Marathon, Athens faced down a mighty army of the Persian Empire - the superpower of the time It was an underdog clash...
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36:34
What Was Life Like As A Samurai And Shinobi In Medieval Japan?
20 February 2025Chasing Shadows 1. Culture
Assassin's Creed Shadows gives players the chance to experience history as two icons of medieval Japan:...
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39:26
Glencoe Massacre: Haunted Highlands
20 February 2025(Part 2/2) On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in...
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40:08
Giordano Bruno: Mystic, Heretic, Spy
20 February 2025Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake 425 years ago this month. His crime? Radical thinking which clashed with the ideas of the Roman Catholic...
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44:02
Josef Mengele
19 February 2025The Nazi doctor who committed heinous experiments on prisoners of Auschwitz was harboured by a network of Nazi supporters in Argentina after the...
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44:21
Supernatural Medieval Ireland
18 February 2025In early Medieval Ireland, supernatural beings moved in and out of our world, unseen. These were the residents of the Otherworld – the...
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46:09
The Dark History of BMI & Fatphobia
18 February 2025Dark ideas and stigma around different body sizes really took hold in the Enlightenment.
Very unenlightened, if you ask us.
This...
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