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
44:45
Battle of El Alamein Explained
23 October 2022Fought in the second half of 1942, the Battles of El Alamein were a series of climactic confrontations in Egypt between British Imperial and...
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39:01
The First Black Archaeologist
23 October 2022Born to slaves in 1863, John Wesley Gilbert was the first student of the Paine Institute, a graduate of Brown University, and the first black...
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32:51
Linoleum
23 October 2022Linoleum, or “lino”, once ruled the world (of flooring). It appeared everywhere from the Titanic to your gran’s kitchen. But where did it...
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34:18
King Charles VI of France
22 October 2022On 21 October 1422 - 600 years ago - King Charles VI of France died at the age of 53 after reigning for 42 years. He was known as both Charles le...
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47:04
The Grisly Deaths of Kings & Queens
21 October 2022Did Henry VIII really have syphilis? Who died from a red hot poker up the bum? And which king was taken down by a school of fish?
To learn...
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44:54
First Indochina War: Dien Bien Phu
21 October 2022The siege of Dien Bien Phu took place in 1954 and was a definitive victory for Vietnam. Although the battle brought an end to French colonial...
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1:04:05
The Battle of Trafalgar
20 October 2022On 21 October 1805, A British fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson met the combined might of the French and Spanish fleets off the coast...
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43:09
CIA: The History
20 October 2022When the Central Intelligence Agency was created by President Truman in 1947, it was the latest incarnation of an American intelligence-gathering...
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46:46
Eustace Chapuys: Ambassador to the Tudor Court
20 October 2022Historians would be completely lost without the colourful, crucial insights of Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador to Henry VIII's court from...
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41:41
Virgil
20 October 2022One of Antiquity's greatest poets, Virgil's legacy is seen across history. Following in the footsteps of his predecessor's Homer and Hesiod -...
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33:10
FORENSICS: The Beginning
19 October 2022Death by tiger bites. Death by prodding. Death from sexual excess. Deaths from over-eating and over-drinking. The opening of graves.
These...
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25:36
How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon
19 October 2022If a Victorian met Elon Musk they would completely get him. The world’s richest man, determined to use technology that doesn’t yet exist to...
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22:12
Mary Seacole: Doctress of the Crimean War
18 October 2022Born Mary Jane Grant in the colony of Kingston, Jamaica, in November 1805, Mary would later become a businesswoman, traveller and healer....
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37:02
Medieval Pubs
18 October 2022For centuries, the pub has played a central role in our lives and communities. Throughout Britain, there are many pubs saying that they are the...
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39:12
Black Georgians
18 October 2022Who were Ignatius Sancho, Dido Elizabeth Belle and Francis Barber?
Between 10,000 and 30,000 black people lived in Britain during the...
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31:24
Britain's Worst Prime Minister
17 October 2022Could Liz Truss be Britain's worst Prime Minister? As the political scene in the UK hurtles into further disarray, Dan gets together historians...
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34:53
The US Marines' Pacific War
17 October 2022When US Marines landed on the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific, in August 1942, they were taking part in the first US ground offensive of...
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32:14
Battle of Midway
17 October 2022The Battle of Midway has gone down in history as a key turning point in the Pacific Campaign of the Second World War. In June 1942, the US Navy...
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46:31
Female Sodomy
17 October 2022Few cases of same-sex acts between women are known in early modern Europe. Yet in the Southern Netherlands, some 25 women were charged with...
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23:49
The Cuban Missile Crisis
16 October 2022In October 1962 the world came very close to annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the autumn of 1962, a U2 reconnaissance aircraft...
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28:15
End of Stone Age Orkney
16 October 2022Around 5200 years ago, during the Neolithic period, when farming first took hold, Orkney was a hugely influential cultural centre. Yet, as Europe...
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