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
40:50
The First American in Space
2 February 2023In Spring 1961, the Space Race between the US and Soviet Union was well underway. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in Space...
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47:24
Marguerite de Navarre: Mother of Renaissance France
2 February 2023Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) was an influential diplomat and political activist, an outstanding patron of philosophers and artists, an...
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52:59
The Nazca Lines
2 February 2023Carved into the Peruvian landscape over a millennia ago, the Nazca lines are some of the most famed, and ancient, geoglyphs in the world. When...
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42:02
The End of Stalingrad
2 February 2023Stalingrad is one of the most titanic and totemic battles of the Second World War. Millions were killed, the city itself was utterly shattered by...
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32:42
Fonts
1 February 2023Fonts are usually invisible to us; we absorb the written word without noticing the medium (unless someone sends you an email in comic...
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21:15
Normans, Romans and Victorians: History of England's New Forest
1 February 2023Where can you find an Iron Age fort, Roman kilns, trees built for Nelson's navy and the hunting lodge of William the Conqueror? In the place...
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32:43
The Danelaw
31 January 2023The Danelaw was the part of England where large numbers of Scandinavians settled between the 9th and 11th centuries, and where Danish rather than...
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47:18
Prison Plastic Surgery
31 January 2023Facelifts, liposuction and nose jobs: since the mid 20th century people have saved up to have their faces and bodies transformed into their...
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22:33
The Truth About Area 51
31 January 2023Fake moon landings, aliens and secret weapons; conspiracy theories about Area 51 abound but what exactly is it, and do we know anything about it...
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38:03
Yellowstone
30 January 2023For thousands of years, nomadic Native American peoples crossed the Yellowstone River basin, in awe of its stunning landscape and geothermal...
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44:11
When London Shipped Poor Children to America
30 January 2023In 1618, almost 100 impoverished children from London - some as young as eight - arrived in Jamestown, Virginia to labour in the growing colony....
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47:03
Eisenhower's Wars
30 January 2023Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in 1890, before the Wright Brothers had completed man's first flight, and died just weeks short of man's first steps...
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46:08
Pacification in the Vietnam War
30 January 2023This year marks the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. It was one of the most costly conflicts that the U.S. has...
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32:16
The IQ Test
29 January 2023How would you feel if you found out you had a very high or a very low IQ? Would it change you? The IQ test has an awful allure to it. A single...
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41:22
Feathered Dinosaurs
29 January 2023Having dominated the earth for millions of years, it's no wonder Dinosaurs have always fascinated us. Depicted in films and TV shows as monstrous...
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52:20
The Princes in the Tower
28 January 2023Matt Lewis concludes his four special episodes on medieval mysteries with perhaps the most enduring historical enigma of them all.
For more...
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26:57
Bay of Pigs
27 January 2023The Bahía de Cochinos, also known as the Bay of Pigs, is a place that lives in infamy for the CIA. On April 17 1961, 1,500 US-trained Cuban...
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39:16
Wallis Simpson
27 January 2023She is surely one of the most fascinating figures in royal history. Perceived as a bad match for Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson is at the centre of...
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33:30
Anne Frank's Life After Her Arrest
27 January 2023Anne Frank’s diary is one of the most famous accounts of the Jewish experience during the Second World War, giving us a deeply personal glimpse...
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34:50
The Fall of J. Edgar Hoover
26 January 2023From 1956 to 1971, J. Edgar Hoover ran COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). A series of covert and illegal FBI operations aimed at...
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1:00:07
Babylon
26 January 2023One of the most famous cities in history - Babylon is shrouded in mystery and myth. Located in ancient Mesopotamia, now modern Iraq, it was one of...
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