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
44:40
Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu
26 January 2023The Three Musketeers paints a picture of King Louis XIII of France as a rather weak monarch controlled by his powerful chief minister...
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26:22
Toilets
25 January 2023It’s time to talk about the toilet, or crapper, or bog, or the john, head, the comfort station, khazi, dunny, can, throne, pissoir.
Join...
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21:52
The Great British Dig
25 January 2023We think of archaeology as an exclusionary profession, one reserved for experts in the field. But why isn't the discipline more accessible to the...
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37:23
The Crusades and the Chertsey Tiles
24 January 2023The largest group of tiles in The British Museum was found at the site of Chertsey Abbey in Surrey. These fragmented floor tiles depict the...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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,...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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