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

51:22

How Norse Myths Shape The Way We Think

21 March 2023

Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the legends of Thor, Odin and Asgard are familiar to millions today. Yet the histories of these myths are...

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47:14

Lord Byron: Incest, Adultery & Daddy Issues

21 March 2023

How debaucherous do you have to be to be remembered as the original bad boy? How mad, bad and dangerous to know was Lord Byron? And how much of it...

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27:17

A Short History of Bank Collapses

21 March 2023

Looking back at the past few weeks, it seems like banks are collapsing left, right and centre; but what exactly does this mean for us? Are these...

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31:59

Iroquois Confederacy

20 March 2023

At its height the Iroquois Confederacy (or Haudenosaunee) - a union of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations - controlled lands...

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35:55

Who Painted Anne Dudley? A Tudor Mystery

20 March 2023

For centuries, the name of an accomplished and popular portrait painter in the court of Elizabeth I has remained unknown. The renowned art...

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42:12

Saddam Hussein's Rise & Fall

20 March 2023

Perhaps 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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19:13

Soviet "Bone Music"

20 March 2023

While rifling through a stall at a flea market in Leningrad- now St Petersburg- composer and music producer Stephen Coates came across something...

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45:11

Shetland: Edge of the Prehistoric World

19 March 2023

Over 100 miles further than the northern reaches of Britain, beyond Orkney, are a remote group of islands that make up Shetland. It’s one of the...

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34:31

Tabasco Sauce

19 March 2023

Every bottle of Tabasco sauce on earth comes from one place - Avery Island, deep down in Louisiana. The same place where the sauce was invented by...

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32:18

How the Middle Ages Influences Music Today

18 March 2023

In our modern and digital age, contemporary music has many influences: heartbreak, war, even climate change. But what about the Middle Ages? Has...

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44:50

WW2: Naval Power

17 March 2023

In accounts of the Second World War, the role Navy's played is often overlooked. But the Navy's of both the Allied and Axis forces engaged in some...

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50:08

Female Nudity & Modesty

17 March 2023

Why is the naked body of a life model more respected than a glamour model? Why has there been a resurgence in virtue policing? And why was Kate...

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39:34

The Death of Amy Dudley

17 March 2023

On 6 September 1560, Amy Robsart Dudley died after falling down a staircase at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire. But did she fall? Was she pushed? Or...

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45:02

Empire State Building

16 March 2023

When it was completed in 1931, the Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world. While it has long been surpassed, it is still...

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35:15

Menstruation in Early Modern England

16 March 2023

Today we know that menstruation is a biological process. There’s a great deal of scientific research that explains the menstrual cycle. But how...

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41:49

The Philistines

16 March 2023

Perhaps best known from the Biblical tale of David and Goliath, the Philistines were an ancient civilisation who lived on the south coast of...

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21:22

Satire & Scandal in Georgian England

16 March 2023

Can we trace the 'British sense of humour' back to the Georgian period? It was an age of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern...

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34:46

Concrete

15 March 2023

Concrete is the second most used material on earth after only water. There are more than half a trillion tons of it weighing down the earth. Which...

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26:57

What is a Fascist?

15 March 2023

This is everything you ever wanted to know about fascism. Are the British government's new proposals to stop refugee boats arriving fascistic?...

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38:04

Medieval Women: Beauty, Work & Pubic Hair

14 March 2023

How would a medieval woman achieve a Brazilian bikini line? Why can’t you trust a nun in the night time? And what were women doing at Medieval...

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30:40

Lies that Misled Medieval People

14 March 2023

Everyone lies from time to time but some lies have had a particular influence on world events and have even been a major factor in shaping...

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