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
25:50
Russia & USA: The 100-Year Cold War
11 July 2023The Cold War was defined by the antagonism between two world superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. They relied on proxy wars,...
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40:10
Victorian Baby Farming Killer: Amelia Dyer
11 July 2023In Victorian Britain, there was no formalised state adoption. Instead, desperate mothers paid other families to take their newborns. This tragic...
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29:54
How To Dress in the Middle Ages
11 July 2023What clothes would you have worn in the Middle Ages? What were the most fashionable hairstyles? How did your clothing denote social status? How...
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24:59
The North Pole Scandal
10 July 2023In the autumn of 1909, the American explorer Frederick Cook arrived in Copenhagen, claiming to have become the first person to reach the North...
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36:11
LSD in New York: Research, Recreation and Radicalism
10 July 2023Why should we associate LSD and its psychedelic effects with New York as much as we associate it with San Francisco? What use did the CIA think...
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37:26
Francis Drake's Discovery of West Coast America
10 July 2023In the summer of 1579, Francis Drake had to land in a ‘fair and good bay’ on the western coast of the New World when his ship - The Golden...
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43:21
War Time Origins of the NHS
10 July 20232023 marks 75 years of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Often heralded as one of the greatest post-war institutions, providing free...
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38:02
Operation Mincemeat
9 July 2023The most audacious deception operation of WWII. On the 30th of April, 1943, the corpse of a 'Major Martin' washed up near the Spanish city of...
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32:50
Black Boxes: Recording Airplanes' Final Moments
9 July 2023They can survive in lava for half an hour and accelerations of 3,400 Gs. Their beacons can be detected 20,000 feet beneath the waves. Most...
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37:44
Chandragupta Maurya: Hero of India
9 July 2023Evolving from an obscure ancient ruler to a contemporary national icon, Chandragupta Maurya's story is finally being told. However, despite tales...
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32:01
Medieval Eastern Europe
7 July 2023From the Baltics to the Balkans, from Prague to Kiev, Eastern Europe is more than the sum total of its annexations, invasions and independence...
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49:34
History of Breastfeeding
7 July 2023How has our relationship with breast milk changed through history? Why are there associations of shame with this most natural act, of us consuming...
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41:01
Suicide Drones: A History
7 July 2023Drone warfare has undoubtedly become a crucial component of contemporary military operations - with drone strikes in the Russia-Ukraine war often...
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19:53
The Crossfire of Gettysburg
6 July 2023Gettysburg is synonymous with the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. But before it was the location of a battle and Lincoln's...
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44:38
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
6 July 2023The last monument to be added to the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (also known as the Pharos), was...
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56:56
Thomas More on Film: The Historians' Verdict
6 July 2023What do you get when you bring together five top historians to debate depictions of Thomas More on film and TV? History with the gloves off - our...
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47:48
The Battle of Kursk
5 July 2023Dan explains Operation Citadel. In July and August of 1943, it was the last major attempt by the Nazis to turn the tide of the war in the East....
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29:51
Rise and Fall of Cinema
5 July 2023What was the first cinema? When were the heydays of cinema-going and where are we now? How has the experience of going to the cinema...
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30:45
The Creation of the NHS
4 July 202375 years ago this week, the National Health Service was born. Launched by Aneurin Bevan on the 5th of July, 1948, it revolutionised healthcare in...
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45:07
Garter Knights & Kings' Graves: St George's Chapel, Windsor
4 July 2023There are few places more fascinating and evocative for Medieval enthusiasts than Saint George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
In this episode...
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42:07
April Ashley: Paris Showgirl, Vogue Model & Trans Trailblazer
4 July 2023As the UK’s second person to go through gender reassignment surgery, April Ashley was a trans trailblazer, breaking new ground fearlessly and...
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