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
38:31
Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony
13 April 2023When Sir Walter Raleigh set out to South America to find the legendary city of El Dorado, he paved the way for a series of adventurers who would...
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41:58
The Great Fire of Rome
13 April 2023In July 64AD, the Great Fire of Rome tore across the city, and ultimately burnt two thirds of Rome to ashes before it could be bought under...
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25:31
The Spy Behind the Iron Curtain
12 April 2023This episode contains high-speed chases, modified cars and a mission to uncover secret enemy technology. It's everything you'd find in a James...
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41:27
Inventing Bond: The Real Q
12 April 2023Well before Bond was lasering and limboing himself out of fictional situations, these were the questions faced by the British forces trying to...
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32:10
Vikings in Spain
11 April 2023When we think of Vikings, we tend to picture them in the colder climates of Northern Europe, and not so much in the warmer regions of Spain and...
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38:31
The Katyn Massacre
11 April 2023Dan explains what happened in the spring of 1940 when the Soviet secret police executed over 22,000 Polish prisoners of war at three secluded...
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49:53
Bond Girls
11 April 2023‘Bond girl’ is quite a loaded term. Why aren’t they women? What makes them part of this homologous team? And what does it mean if they have...
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34:23
Becoming an Anglo-Saxon King
11 April 2023Throughout April, Gone Medieval is your perfect companion for the forthcoming coronation of King Charles III. In this episode, Dr. Cat Jarman...
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32:10
The Road to Civil Rights
10 April 2023Under segregation, African Americans' lives were severely limited. Restricted entry to public places, private businesses and public transport,...
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35:55
The Secret History of Nuclear War
10 April 2023Why is it that nobody has used the absolute weapon, the nuclear bomb, since 1945? Was it ever likely that the American arsenal would be used...
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52:15
Catherine Howard: Henry VIII's Fifth Wife
10 April 2023Catherine Howard was Queen Consort - and fifth wife - to Henry VIII for just 16 months before he had her executed for treason for committing...
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28:00
The Assassination that Ended South African Apartheid
9 April 2023The assassination of Chris Hani was a pivotal moment in the dismantling of South African apartheid. On the 10th of April, 1993, he was shot dead...
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47:46
Athena: Goddess of Wisdom
9 April 2023This episode contains graphic references of a sexual nature.
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, tactical war and skilled craft in Greek...
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50:09
Vasectomies
9 April 2023Why did Sigmund Freud want a vasectomy at 67 years old? Why were goat gonads all the rage in the 1920s? Who was the first person to get the...
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44:32
Tournaments & Rebellion in Historical Fiction
8 April 2023The Second Baron’s War was a time of great unrest and upheaval in 13th century England. Fought just decades after the signing of Magna Carta, it...
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36:55
AI At War: Killer Robots
7 April 2023What if we could take people completely out of the equation when planning military strikes? Lethal autonomous weapons systems use artificial...
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34:15
Sports Bra
7 April 2023REAL LIFE INVENTOR ALERT!!!
Two jockstraps cleverly sewn together. That was how the very first sports bra was made in 1977. The product...
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27:50
Hudson River: America's First Art Movement
6 April 2023English-born artist Thomas Cole emigrated to the United States in 1818. Six years later he began what is now known as the Hudson River School,...
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33:46
Mary, Queen of Scots on Film: Historians’ Verdict
6 April 2023What do you get when you bring together five top historians to debate Mary, Queen of Scots on film? History with the gloves off - our second...
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41:13
Rise of the Assyrians
6 April 2023At its pinnacle, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, a feat few could compare with in 660BCE....
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41:23
The Rise and Fall of Saddam Hussein
5 April 2023Perhaps one of the best-known modern dictators, Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq for nearly 30 years before eventually being overthrown in 2003 by the US...
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