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
37:57
Huygens: Europe’s Greatest Scientist
1 December 2022Christiaan Huygens was the greatest scientist working in the vital period between Galileo and Newton, as the scientific revolution gathered pace....
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28:57
A Short History of The World
1 December 2022How can you condense the history of the world into a book? Well-celebrated historian Simon Sebag Montefiore does just that in his new epic. He...
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25:36
Croissants
30 November 2022CROISSANTS WEREN’T INVENTED IN FRANCE. Mon dieu! C’est pas vrai!
Today Dallas finds out about the person responsible for bringing the...
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25:58
Atlantis: Deciphering The Truth
30 November 2022Atlantis is one of the most compelling legends - an advanced, mythical civilisation, wiped out by an unknown phenomenon. The allure of this...
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33:21
Myths and Nature in Medieval Britain
29 November 2022Humanity's relationship with the wilderness has been a theme of myths and legends for thousands of years. Such stories can offer a unique insight...
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45:10
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
29 November 2022*This episode contains very strong language and adult content*
A semi autobiographical account from a conflicted man? An ode to a wife’s...
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27:43
Owain Glyndwr and The Welsh Revolt
29 November 2022England plays Wales in the World Cup today so it only makes sense that Dan looks back at what's often called Wales' last war of Independence...
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40:30
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
28 November 2022On the evening of 14th April, 1865, the Union was celebrating victory in the civil war, won 5 days earlier with General Lee's surrender at...
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30:03
WW1 & The Rise of Ghosts
28 November 20228.5 million soldiers died as a result from wounds and disease during the First World War, plunging a society into mourning as loved ones were left...
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35:02
Public Executions in London
28 November 2022For at least 700 years, presumed criminals were publicly executed in London. Such occasions were often gruesome, gory and very...
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24:28
The Legacy of Rome
28 November 2022Rome has attracted aspiring conquerors and leaders for millennia, not just as a great metropolis, but as an idea. It has long been a symbol of...
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41:10
Aliens
27 November 2022Who invented aliens? We did. Each age invents its own. When we invented robots, aliens became robotic beings. In the Cold War, intergalactic...
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46:18
Alexander the Great: Man and Myth
27 November 2022Alexander the Great is one of the most famous figures from history. Legends and fantastical versions of his life were told almost immediately upon...
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34:57
Mongol Empire
26 November 2022The 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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43:13
The History of the Clitoris
25 November 2022It’s so important that it’s been ‘discovered’ at least twice, but what is the clitoris and why has it previously been so hard to...
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35:02
Irish Revolution
25 November 2022The Irish War of Independence in 1919 was fought between the Irish Revolutionary Army and British Forces, with support of the RIC and USC. Wounds...
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22:33
Plagues
25 November 2022From a plague in Athens during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BCE, to another in 540 that wiped out half the population of the Roman empire, down...
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45:10
The First Thanksgiving
24 November 2022In the fall of 1621, a year after the pilgrim ship the Mayflower landed on the coast of New England, the settlers of the Plymouth Colony...
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33:43
The Legacy of Tutankhamun
24 November 2022Since the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the phenomenon of “Tutmania” has continued to capture the worlds...
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51:23
Fall of the Ming Dynasty
24 November 2022In 1627 Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor, became the 17th - and what would turn out to be the last - Emperor of China’s Ming Dynasty. It had...
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24:28
A Short History of Scotland and England's Union
24 November 2022Yesterday the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Scottish government is not allowed to hold a second independence referendum without...
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