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
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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,...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
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...
Listen Now
42:14
Victorian Pregnancy & Childbirth: The Untold History
9 June 2023Why did Victorian doctors recommend women to lie still in solitary confinement for days after giving birth? What was the 'sit up and cough'...
Listen Now
45:58
The Wright Brothers
8 June 2023Approximately 100 thousand flights take off and land each and every day. A months long journey on a boat is condensed to just a few hours with the...
Listen Now
52:49
Ravenna and the Fall of Rome
8 June 2023The fall of the Western Roman Empire stands as one of the most monumental moments in ancient history, symbolising the end of centuries of Roman...
Listen Now
44:11
Elizabethan 'Travel Liar': The Truth about David Ingram
8 June 2023In 1567, a sailor named David Ingram sailed from Plymouth with 400 others on a slaving expedition. The ensuing events read like a fantastic...
Listen Now
25:02
The British Empire
7 June 2023The British Empire was one of the most influential and far-reaching empires in history. Dan and his guest journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera...
Listen Now
28:21
Suffragette Scientists
7 June 2023Hold onto your lab coats, because the suffragette scientists are here to shake things up! Patricia Fara, author of A Lab of One's Own, joins...
Listen Now
16:56
Hiding Anne Frank
6 June 2023In this episode of Warfare, host James Patton Rogers is joined by Tony Phelan and Susanna Fogel, creators of the new TV series A Small Light,...
Listen Now
34:03
The Pre-Raphaelites: Art & Sexual Liberation
6 June 2023The Pre-Raphaelites: Art & Sexual Liberation
If there’s one thing we like to embrace on this podcast, it’s a slice of controversy. Which...
Listen Now
42:17
Medieval Japan: Myths of the Samurai
6 June 2023Medieval Japan - especially its stories of fearless Samurai and Ninja warriors - have an enduring place in our consciousness. But how true are...
Listen Now
26:29
D-Day: Britain and America's 'Special Relationship'
5 June 2023The 6th of June, 1944 was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany and the pinnacle of the 'special relationship' between Britain and the United...
Listen Now
32:53
White Women Slave Owners
5 June 2023Of all of the people enslaved in the southern United States over time, 40% of them were owned by women. For example, when she married George...
Listen Now
37:10
D-Day: US Airpower with WW2 Veteran Chuck Richardson
5 June 2023On June 6th 1944, Allied forces launched a massive amphibious invasion of Normandy, France - the operation involved over 150,000 troops from the...
Listen Now