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
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,...
Listen NowSex: 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...
Listen NowScottish 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...
Listen NowThe 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...
Listen NowChristopher 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...
Listen NowPutin'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...
Listen NowGladiators 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...
Listen NowOppenheimer: 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...
Listen NowArchimedes 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...
Listen NowAfghanistan: 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...
Listen NowÆthelstan: 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...
Listen NowHistory 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...
Listen NowThe Pueblo Revolt
10 August 2023On August 10 1680, the Pueblo people began the most successful uprising against colonial power in North America.
For 11 days, Spanish...
Listen NowAttila the Hun: Scourge of God
10 August 2023One of the most powerful, and feared, leaders of history - Attila the Hun's legacy has persevered over centuries. His consolidation of the Hunnic...
Listen NowTreasures of Lambeth Palace
10 August 2023Books belonging to Henry VIII, Richard III, Mary I and Edward VI are among the treasures in the historic library of the Archbishops of Canterbury,...
Listen NowSurviving Hitler and Stalin
9 August 2023Lord Daniel Finkelstein recounts stories from his parents' remarkable lives. His mother Mirjam Wiener survived the Nazi concentration camps, and...
Listen NowCoca Cola: A Backyard Invention
9 August 2023Was Coca Cola originally made with Cocaine? Did Coca Cola invent Santa? Who knows the Coca Cola recipe? Dallas is joined by Bart Elmore, an...
Listen NowGenghis Khan
8 August 2023Genghis Khan roughly translates to 'Universal Ruler', a fitting name for the most famous nomadic conqueror to have ever lived. He was born as...
Listen NowEleanor of Castile
8 August 2023Eleanor of Castile married King Edward I of England as part of a political deal to affirm English sovereignty over Gascony. But the...
Listen NowHistory of Make-Up
8 August 2023Most of us present ourselves with some form of cosmetic, so it’s strange that historically there’s been so much judgement around the use of...
Listen NowAttila The Hun
7 August 2023Known to the Romans as the 'Scourge of God', Attila the Hun brought chaos to the world around him. He and his armies plundered, pillaged and...
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