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
39:37
Eunuchs
24 January 2023From Ancient Assyria to the Byzantine Empire, from the Qing dynasty’s Forbidden City to 19th century operas; Eunuchs have been present across a...
Listen Now
20:40
Battle of Waterloo Skeletons Found in Attic!
24 January 2023Waterloo was one of the bloodiest battles in European history, yet until now only two bodies have ever been found on the battlefield. The remains...
Listen Now
43:02
The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover
23 January 2023J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 48 years. He grew the FBI from a small, obscure operation to one that...
Listen Now
26:46
Batavia: The Worst Shipwreck in History
23 January 2023In 1628, a Dutch East India flagship called Batavia set sail from the Netherlands, never to reach her destination. Eight months into the...
Listen Now
33:40
The Bermuda Triangle: The Secret History of Flight 19
23 January 2023Located off the coast of Florida, Puerto Rico, and its namesake Bermuda - the mysterious Bermuda Triangle is an urban myth that's risen in...
Listen Now
24:13
The First Indigenous Americans in Europe
23 January 20231492 marked the beginning of the Colombian Exchange - the transfer of people, goods, ideas and commodities across the Atlantic between Europe and...
Listen Now
28:16
Caesarean section
22 January 2023A hundred years ago next to no one was born via Caesarean Section. Today, one in five new arrivals on planet earth come via a Caesarean. Its...
Listen Now
40:09
The Great Serpent Mound
22 January 2023Located in the US State of Ohio, the Great Serpent Mound is an iconic monument of Ancient America. Nearly 1,400 feet long, and 3 feet high - it's...
Listen Now
26:39
The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript
21 January 2023Matt Lewis continues his Mystery Month on Gone Medieval with another tantalising enigma of the Middle Ages - possibly the most mysterious...
Listen Now
46:39
A History of Porn
20 January 2023What did porn look like before the internet? Who was it for? And how has it changed since?
In this episode, Kate chats to Kathleen Lubey, a...
Listen Now
25:11
WW2 US Marines: Devil Dogs
20 January 2023Founded in 1775, the United States Marines Corps (colloquially known as the US Marines) have a long standing history, and a reputation that...
Listen Now
25:39
WWI Lifesavers and Body Snatchers
20 January 2023The brutal nature of the First World War presented frontline medical personnel with an array of horrific and debilitating wounds, inflicted on a...
Listen Now
33:20
Ellis Island
19 January 2023From the 1880s to the 1920s the United States experienced a huge wave of immigration. People fleeing poverty and political instability in Europe,...
Listen Now
45:10
The Parthenon
19 January 2023The unofficial 8th wonder the Ancient World, the Parthenon is still standing today. Located on the Acropolis in Athens, towering above a busy,...
Listen Now
37:43
Swords in Elizabethan England
19 January 2023In Elizabethan England, swords were everywhere. Hanging on girdles, used in plays and depicted in paintings, they were an important marker of...
Listen Now
28:30
Zheng He: The Ming Dynasty Explorer
19 January 2023The Ming Dynasty emerged in the second half of the 14th century, having achieved a hard-won victory over the declining Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty....
Listen Now
30:04
Sawing Someone in Half Trick
18 January 2023When this trick was first performed, ushers poured buckets of blood down the gutter outside the theatre to entice people into the macabre...
Listen Now
23:28
North America's French Indian War
18 January 2023As the British and French colonies in North America expanded in the middle of the 18th century, they inevitably clashed. Fighting between the two...
Listen Now
34:33
Ireland's First Convicted Witch
17 January 2023In 1324, Alice Kyteler became the first woman in Britain and Ireland to be tried for witchcraft. Married to four different husbands - all of whom...
Listen Now
32:26
The Blues
17 January 2023So much of today’s music takes inspiration from the Blues, but where did Blues music itself come from?
Kate is joined by Lamont Jack...
Listen Now
29:03
Hitler and Mussolini
17 January 2023Just over 100 years ago, in October 1922, Mussolini and 30,000 Blackshirts marched on Rome. It was a mass demonstration that would see his...
Listen Now