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
50:29
Poseidon: God of the Sea
27 July 2023God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, Poseidon is one of the most iconic Olympians.
In this episode, host Tristan Hughes is joined by...
Listen Now
41:54
Tudor Gifts: How to Win Friends and Influence People
27 July 2023How meaningful can a gift - especially of a book - be? In the fickle world of the Tudor court, the strategic gifting of books was a common...
Listen Now
43:51
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
26 July 2023The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war...
Listen Now
34:44
The Walkman: The First Intimate Technology
26 July 2023Think about how intimate our relationship with technology is. In today’s day and age, it’s almost impossible to function in the modern world...
Listen Now
39:01
The Fall of Mussolini
25 July 2023Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator met a gruesome end during the final days of World War II when he and his mistress were executed and...
Listen Now
25:16
How to Survive Plague and War in the Middle Ages
25 July 2023Throughout history, there have been plenty of hugely destructive, catastrophic moments. And yet somehow the human race managed to live on until...
Listen Now
41:53
Barbie: Feminist Icon?
25 July 2023Barbie is many things: an astronaut, a robotics engineers, a judge, and now a movie star! But can she be considered a feminist...
Listen Now
44:24
Warrior Women: Boudicca to Ukrainian Snipers
24 July 2023From Boudicca to Ukrainian snipers, battlefields have always contained a surprising number of women.
Today Kate is joined Betwixt the Sheets...
Listen Now
31:54
Barbie: German Sex Doll to American Icon
24 July 2023She's an icon, a polymath, a fashionista, and she's absolutely everywhere right now.
Where did Barbie come from? What has she represented to...
Listen Now
54:28
The Reformation: What Catholics & Protestants Believed
24 July 2023In the sixteenth century, religious beliefs underwent a dramatic change. As differences between the late medieval Roman Catholic Church and the...
Listen Now
43:44
Chairman Mao
24 July 2023Leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1949 until his death in 1976, Chairman Mao reshaped the nation's course of history, founding the...
Listen Now
28:55
Nazi's Most Wanted: Assassin Hannie Schaft
23 July 2023Known among the Nazis as "the girl with the red hair," Hannie Schaft was a resistance fighter so deadly that Adolf Hitler personally ordered her...
Listen Now
47:54
Stonehenge
23 July 2023Stonehenge. The most iconic prehistoric monument in the world. And yet its story is still so enigmatic.
In this episode, host Tristan Hughes...
Listen Now
34:18
Chewing Gum: From the Aztecs to Avocados
23 July 2023Spearmint, peppermint, double-bubble. You may think that chewing gum is a modern invention, when in fact we've been chewing the stuff since the...
Listen Now
47:17
Scottish Kings' Sex Lives
21 July 2023One thing royal families strive for is the common touch. Whilst some have struggled with it, King James IV and V in the 15th and 16th centuries...
Listen Now
34:36
Lost Vikings of Greenland
21 July 2023Is there a lost colony of Vikings somewhere in Greenland, shut off from the rest of the world? For hundreds of years, that question has taxed...
Listen Now
29:51
Oppenheimer
21 July 2023Often referred to as the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer's work in the field of theoretical physics changed the world as we knew...
Listen Now
50:50
Mormons & The Founding of Salt Lake City
20 July 2023The Church of the Latter Day Saints is one shrouded in mystery, whispers of polygamy and is often synonymous with Salt Lake City. But where did...
Listen Now
37:12
Ivan the Terrible
20 July 2023The name Ivan the Terrible is synonymous with brutality and ruthlessness. While Western scholars insist that the first crowned Tsar of all Russia...
Listen Now
51:46
Homo Naledi: The First Burials?
20 July 2023Uncovered a decade ago in the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa, Homo Naledi's discovery has impacted paleoanthropology in ways nobody could...
Listen Now
33:21
Oppenheimer
19 July 2023On a summer morning in 1945, a device known simply as 'Gadget' was detonated. An enormous explosion tore a crater into the New Mexico desert,...
Listen Now