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
27:09
The Prester John Myth
14 January 2023Matt Lewis continues his Mystery Month on Gone Medieval with another tantalising enigma of the Middle Ages - the legendary figure of Prester...
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47:01
J. Edgar Hoover & The FBI
13 January 2023Known today as one of the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the world - the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more colloquially known as...
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55:44
Royal Sibling Rifts
13 January 2023Just in case you haven’t heard, a certain prince has released a memoir recently detailing a challenging relationship between him and his...
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34:40
The Mongol Empire
13 January 2023The Crusades are well-known but only part of the complex history of the medieval Near East. During the same era, the region was completely remade...
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39:39
Charles Dickens in America
12 January 2023One of the most famous writers ever to have lived, Charles Dickens travelled twice to the US, in 1842 and 1867. This made him one of the first...
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39:29
Nonsuch: Henry VIII's Lost Palace
12 January 2023In April 1538 - to celebrate the birth of Prince Edward and the 30th anniversary of his reign - King Henry VIII began work on a royal palace in...
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57:14
The Kings of Rome
12 January 2023This episode contains references to sexual assault and suicide.
When you think of Ancient Rome, you don't often associate it with the idea...
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23:00
The Himalayas
12 January 2023The Himalayas is one of the most expansive and storied regions in the world. It's also a place that we're hugely dependent on, providing billions...
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22:13
Sex (and the fish who invented it)
11 January 2023250 million years ago the armour-plated Placoderm fish invented the act of sex as we know it. Hubba Hubba. Dive in the historical sack as we go in...
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28:55
Modern Terrorism
11 January 2023At the end of the 19th century, the world came to fear terrorism. In an era that simmered with political rage and social inequalities, anarchists...
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33:52
The Picts and their Language
10 January 2023The Picts who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland in the Early Medieval period spoke the Pictish language. But for centuries, the...
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41:32
Syphilis
10 January 2023From Acts of Parliament to unethical clinical studies to legendary symphonies (possibly) - syphilis has stained many different areas of...
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30:49
Royal Siblings: Heirs and Spares
10 January 2023Prince Harry's explosive new memoir is out today and headlines, articles and tweets all weighing in on the rift between the royals are everywhere....
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35:43
Inside Benjamin Franklin's House
9 January 2023Join Don as he visits Benjamin Franklin's home of nearly 16 years: 36 Craven Street, London. Now a museum, its director Marcia Balisciano explains...
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35:30
The Cult of Abraham Lincoln
9 January 2023Abraham Lincoln is a name that's been immortalised throughout history - the 16th President who led the country through the infamous American...
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44:10
How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe
9 January 2023We have long been taught that modern global history began when the 'Old World' encountered the 'New', when Christopher Columbus 'discovered'...
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29:22
General Franco
9 January 2023From 1939 to 1975, Generalissimo Francisco Franco ruled Spain as a nationalist dictator. For many, he was Spain incarnate, a tenacious leader and...
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31:24
Plastic
8 January 2023You can argue that plastics were invented to save nature from human depredation…that plan backfired a bit!
Early plastics were designed as...
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40:56
Hephaestus: God of Fire
8 January 2023This episode contains references to sexual assault and terms for groups which were classified that way at the time.
Hephaestus, son of Zeus...
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42:34
The Death of Edward II
7 January 2023January 2023 is Matt Lewis’s Mystery Month on Gone Medieval and for his first foray into the unsolved enigmas of the Middle Ages, Matt looks...
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57:43
Top 5 Military Commanders
6 January 2023Napoleon, Alexander the Great, and Boudicca. These are the names that normally top the list when it comes to the greatest military leaders in...
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