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
43:10
The Picts
18 June 2023Emerging around the 3rd century CE and later designated official adversaries of the Roman Empire, the Picts wreaked havoc across the northern...
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47:07
Medieval Trans Saints & Sex Workers
16 June 2023In this episode of Gone Medieval for Pride Month, Matt Lewis takes a look at some transgender stories from the Middle Ages. Marinos was a 5th...
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30:06
Ukraine: The Counter Offensive Explained
16 June 2023After months of preparation, speculation, and planning, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has finally begun. With battles underway across the...
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48:50
Shakespeare's Sex Life
16 June 2023The Bard’s work featured many references to sex and sexuality - some more obvious than others. But what does the work reveal about the sexuality...
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29:39
Louisiana's Ancient Mystery: Poverty Point
15 June 2023There are no other historic sites like this one on the planet. The concentric semi circles and mounds of Poverty Point in Louisiana are a mystery...
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41:55
The First Spears
15 June 2023According to the work of today's guest, Dr Annemieke Milks, humans were using spears approximately 400,000 years ago. Thanks to fragments...
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34:21
Cromwell, Boleyn & Aragon: A New Discovery
15 June 2023Experts at Hever Castle - the childhood home of Anne Boleyn - have made an extraordinary discovery. They’ve established that an ornate 1527...
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44:51
Origins of Scottish Independence
14 June 2023For the first time in 18 years, the Declaration of Arbroath - an iconic document in the story of the struggle for Scottish independence in the...
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31:24
Pencils: A Surprising History
14 June 2023Is the pencil an example of perfect design? What is the greatest pencil of all time? What does a fallen down tree in the Lake District have to do...
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27:01
Wreck, Scandal & Mutiny on HMS Wager
13 June 2023In 1740, the Royal Navy ship The Wager set sail for the Pacific to take part in the War of Jenkins' Ear. The unfortunate ship was separated from...
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31:48
Marco Polo
13 June 2023One of history’s great adventurers, Marco Polo’s accounts of his travels - dictated while in prison - were exceptionally widely read,...
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37:12
Anne Lister: The First Modern Lesbian?
13 June 2023It’s a rare thing to hear first hand the experiences of marginalised people in history. So often their voices are silenced, and their histories...
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33:17
Ukraine's Dam Destroyed: Water as a Weapon
12 June 2023On the 6th of June, 2023, an explosion tore through the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine. A torrent of water cascaded downriver, flooding towns and...
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27:27
The Lavender Scare: Being Gay in Washington DC
12 June 2023Why were gay federal employees seen as a national security threat during the 20th century? How might they in fact have been more of an asset? And...
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41:12
Napalm
12 June 2023Napalm. One of the most controversial weapons of the 20th century, it's an incendiary substance that if it comes into contact with your skin, it...
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43:04
Shakespeare’s First Folio: Politics, People & Printing
12 June 2023Shakespeare’s First Folio — the first book to contain 36 of his plays, 18 of which had not been in print before — was published in...
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20:35
Chevalier: France's Revolutionary Maestro
11 June 2023Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is perhaps the most accomplished classical musician that you've never heard of. A composer, soldier and...
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32:51
Locks and the Great Lock Controversy
11 June 2023In Victorian England, a prisoner was promised their freedom if only they could pick a lock...
This week on Patented it's the history of...
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43:01
Human Origins: Australopithecus
11 June 2023For millions of years, Australopithecus thrived in Africa's vast landscapes, laying the groundwork for the emergence of the Homo genus. Later,...
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32:14
The Greatest Medieval Divorce Scandal
9 June 2023In 855, the Carolingian king Lothar II was married to the aristocratic Teutberga for political reasons. But there was a third...
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33:20
Vietnam War & Australia
9 June 2023With discussions of the Vietnam War often focusing on the United States' role and position on the Asian continent, countries like Australia...
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