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

37:57

Mystic Visionary: Teresa of Avila

26 September 2024

Born in 1515, St. Teresa of Avila continues to inspire countless people today with her mystical writings and spiritual insights. Yet, despite...

Listen Now
45:49

History in Flames: Destroyed Manuscripts

26 September 2024

Bonfires of paperwork have accompanied human upheaval for centuries, eradicating, making space for rewriting. Imagine standing in the centre of...

Listen Now
27:28

Mansa Musa: History's Wealthiest Man?

24 September 2024

Mansa Musa's wealth is a thing of legend. It's impossible to know exactly how much he was worth, but he himself spread rumours that gold grew like...

Listen Now
34:35

Underwear: Codpieces, Loin Cloths & Thongs

24 September 2024

Whatever your underwear preferences, have you ever wondered about their history?

From the Tudor codpiece to Victorian bloomers, they've all...

Listen Now
40:28

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

24 September 2024

If you’ve ever been to Prague, you’ll have noticed that there are many places and institutions that bear the name Charles - all of them...

Listen Now
1:02:10

Guantanamo Bay Detention Center: A History From The Inside

23 September 2024

Very few people know what it is like to be in the infamous US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, but our 3 guests for this episode have all had...

Listen Now
51:39

Who was Jack the Ripper? The Barber (Suspect 2)

23 September 2024

Part 2/4. By looking at the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these...

Listen Now
33:01

Rosy Royals: Tudor & Stuart Gardens

23 September 2024

One subtle but powerful way that the Tudor and Stuart monarchs tried to show off their magnificence was through the creation of gardens that...

Listen Now
1:03:25

On the Frontline at Stalingrad

22 September 2024

Dan explains the bloody Battle of Stalingrad alongside exclusive, never before heard frontline accounts from the German soldiers who were there....

Listen Now
35:49

Tyrannosaurus Rex

22 September 2024

67 million years ago the most famous meat-eating dinosaur prowled the earth - the Tyrannosaurus Rex. At it's full size, this prehistoric apex...

Listen Now
40:04

What Did The Vikings Really Look Like?

20 September 2024

Were the Vikings the original trendsetters?

Even when they were raiding the poor monks in Lindsfarne in 793, they were passing on hairstyles...

Listen Now
44:41

How To Live Like a Viking

20 September 2024

The stories often told and retold of the early medieval period are those of great kings, battles and daring deeds. But ordinary people can often...

Listen Now
35:45

The Battle of Arnhem with Al Murray

19 September 2024

Al Murray, host of WWII podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk joins Dan to tell the story of the most catastrophic 24-hours the British military...

Listen Now
34:55

Outlaws: New York's Criminal Mastermind

19 September 2024

When was the first bank robbery? What does it take to be successful in organized crime? Is it possible to be non-violent? And how might you avoid...

Listen Now
34:32

Oliver Cromwell: Protector & Dictator

19 September 2024

Four years into Britain's experiment as a republic, Oliver Cromwell staged a coup, violently dissolving parliament. His “Bare Bones...

Listen Now
38:44

Ned Kelly: Australia's Notorious Outlaw

19 September 2024

Ned Kelly is a murdering, bank-robbing, Australian folk hero. What is the true history of this mythic figure? And how did an outlaw - or...

Listen Now
46:02

Ra and the Sun Gods

19 September 2024

Of all the Egyptian Gods it is Ra, the God of the Sun, who is perhaps most well known in the popular imagination. He is said to have voyaged...

Listen Now
40:47

Operation Market Garden

17 September 2024

Operation Market Garden was an ambitious Allied airborne offensive to secure a quick victory in WWII. It failed disastrously.

The plan was...

Listen Now
39:23

Cruising & Cottaging: Sex in Public Places

17 September 2024

With privacy being a modern luxury, where did people in the past go to meet and hook up? Public toilets were (and can still be) a popular...

Listen Now
47:12

Viking Travels

17 September 2024

Vikings have long been depicted as that stereotype of the hairy, nameless warrior, leaping ashore from his longboat, ready to terrorise a hapless...

Listen Now
37:16

How The World Sees The US: The Art of Diplomacy

16 September 2024

How did Egypt and Israel come to an agreement at Camp David in 1979? How did the USSR come to allow the operation of NATO troops in East Germany?...

Listen Now