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
37:47
Medieval Origins of Coronations
1 April 2023A coronation is a moment of history packed with symbolism and meaning, and throughout April 2023 Gone Medieval will be your perfect historical...
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40:50
Early Modern Murder
31 March 2023What was the early modern version of CSI? Why might whole pubs have been singing an executed person’s final words? And was the crime of murder...
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42:22
Churchill's Darkest Hour
31 March 2023Winston Churchill's ascension to Prime Minister in 1940 was a key turning point in world history, ultimately being one of the first steps to help...
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40:29
Septimius Severus
30 March 2023Given his incredible career, you'd perhaps expect the name of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus to be better known. Born in North Africa in 145AD,...
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27:51
French Spies in the American Revolution
30 March 2023The story of the American Revolution is one of the best known in American history. But it could have been very different. Outgunned and outmanned...
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49:37
Troy
30 March 2023Often thought of as an ancient, mythical idea, immortalised in the works of Homer, it's hard to imagine Troy as real place. But when Heinrich...
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36:34
How People Died in 16th Century London
30 March 2023In one week in London in September, 1665, no fewer than 47 different causes of death were reported, including consumption, fever, dropsy, being...
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22:23
The Space Shuttle
29 March 2023Over a period of 30 years, NASA's Space Shuttle program contributed to some of space exploration's most important achievements, as well as some of...
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30:34
Fish Tanks and Aquariums
29 March 2023Early aquariums didn't have much more in them than some sorry looking trout. Yet such was the excitement at being able to see this underwater...
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34:14
Scott's Last Days in the Antarctic
28 March 2023Captain Robert Falcon Scott died in his tent in Antarctica in March 1912 during his failed effort to become the first person to reach the South...
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40:45
Pestle or Sex Toy? The Roman 'Dildo'
28 March 2023You may have seen the news that archaeologists have been reassessing a phallic object from Vindolanda Roman Fort in the north of...
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33:05
Vikings in Spain
28 March 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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26:50
HMS Victory
27 March 2023During the Battle of Trafalgar, the men on the gun decks of HMS Victory felt the heat of fire from above and from below; they dodged enemy cannon...
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38:00
The White House Chief of Staff
27 March 2023While the President of the United States is often seen as the most powerful person in the world, the vastness of the Federal government is too...
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44:40
Rise of ISIS
27 March 2023This episode contains graphic references of violence and torture
The rise of Islamic State (ISIS) stands as one of the darkest legacies of...
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38:51
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Renaissance Painter
27 March 2023During a time of increasing religious and political conflict, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings portrayed work and pleasure, rituals and...
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26:50
How to Prepare for Nuclear War
26 March 2023With Putin's war in Ukraine raging on, the threat of a nuclear conflict feels as real as ever. But since the Iron Curtain fell, our understanding...
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33:55
Roman Beast Hunts
26 March 2023This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and cruelty against animals.
The Romans were - and still are - infamous for the...
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34:21
Ouija Board
26 March 2023The Ouija Board was patented in 1890. But in did not appear out of thin air. It was only one in a long, long line of devices attempting to pierce...
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33:29
The Real Dick Whittington
25 March 2023Dick Whittington - who died 600 years ago this month - is a familiar name to generations of pantomime goers. But Richard Whittington’s real life...
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50:10
Sordid Soho
24 March 2023From the Chevalier de Saint-Georges to the Merry Monarch to Madame Jojo and Madame Trenti, the district of Soho in London has played host to many...
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