History Podcasts | History Hit

 

 

History Hit 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

17:42

The Titanic Wreck

20 June 2023

In 1912 Titanic departed on her first and last voyage from Southampton, sinking over 2 miles to the bottom of the dark North Atlantic Ocean,...

Listen Now
47:24

Dick Pics: The History

20 June 2023

Depictions of dicks have been an obsession in art for as long as art has been around, but the act of sending a real life image of ones penis is a...

Listen Now
37:54

The Crusades and Ireland

20 June 2023

Ireland has long been overlooked in the context of crusading. It has not only been largely absent from accounts of crusades and crusading, it has...

Listen Now
19:45

George VI and Elizabeth, Queen Mother

19 June 2023

This episode brings the marriage of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother to life, from the uproar of King Edward VIIIs abdication...

Listen Now
24:54

The Long Death of Slavery

19 June 2023

We celebrate abolition - in the United States during the Civil War and on Juneteenth, in Haiti after the revolution, and in the British Empire...

Listen Now
44:55

Elizabeth I’s Royal Tours

19 June 2023

Every spring and summer of her 44 year reign, Queen Elizabeth I insisted that her court go "on progress" — royal visits to towns and...

Listen Now
41:49

5 Assassinations That Changed History

19 June 2023

Assassins have been plotting, murdering, and executing for thousands of years—from the famed Ides of March to forgotten British Prime Ministers....

Listen Now
26:01

The Stonewall Uprising

18 June 2023

Pride month happens in June in commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising that took place in the summer of 1969 after police undertook a routine raid...

Listen Now
33:47

Pride Flag: Birth of a Rainbow

18 June 2023

The first ever Pride Flag was 30 ft high and 60 ft wide. A suitably epic beginning for a flag that has had a massive impact on the...

Listen Now
43:10

The Picts

18 June 2023

Emerging around the 3rd century CE and later designated official adversaries of the Roman Empire, the Picts wreaked havoc across the northern...

Listen Now
47:07

Medieval Trans Saints & Sex Workers

16 June 2023

In 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...

Listen Now
30:06

Ukraine: The Counter Offensive Explained

16 June 2023

After months of preparation, speculation, and planning, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has finally begun. With battles underway across the...

Listen Now
48:50

Shakespeare's Sex Life

16 June 2023

The Bard’s work featured many references to sex and sexuality - some more obvious than others. But what does the work reveal about the sexuality...

Listen Now
29:39

Louisiana's Ancient Mystery: Poverty Point

15 June 2023

There 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...

Listen Now
41:55

The First Spears

15 June 2023

According to the work of today's guest, Dr Annemieke Milks, humans were using spears approximately 400,000 years ago. Thanks to fragments...

Listen Now
34:21

Cromwell, Boleyn & Aragon: A New Discovery

15 June 2023

Experts at Hever Castle - the childhood home of Anne Boleyn - have made an extraordinary discovery. They’ve established that an ornate 1527...

Listen Now
44:51

Origins of Scottish Independence

14 June 2023

For the first time in 18 years, the Declaration of Arbroath - an iconic document in the story of the struggle for Scottish independence in the...

Listen Now
31:24

Pencils: A Surprising History

14 June 2023

Is 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...

Listen Now
27:01

Wreck, Scandal & Mutiny on HMS Wager

13 June 2023

In 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...

Listen Now
31:48

Marco Polo

13 June 2023

One of history’s great adventurers, Marco Polo’s accounts of his travels - dictated while in prison - were exceptionally widely read,...

Listen Now
37:12

Anne Lister: The First Modern Lesbian?

13 June 2023

It’s a rare thing to hear first hand the experiences of marginalised people in history. So often their voices are silenced, and their histories...

Listen Now