History Podcasts | History Hit

 

 

History Hit 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

40:48

America's Psychedelic '60s: Timothy Leary and LSD

27 October 2022

In 1963, a Gilded Age estate in Millbrook, New York, became a venue for academic research into therapeutic uses for LSD, led by psychologist...

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35:44

Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India

27 October 2022

In 1611, the daughter of a Persian nobleman and widow of a subversive official, became the 20th and favourite wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir....

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43:49

Colosseum

27 October 2022

Nicknamed the 8th wonder of the ancient world, the Colosseum still stands in splendour today. Located in the heart of Rome, nestled at the bottom...

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36:33

Elizabeth Báthory: The Vampire of Hungary

26 October 2022

The inspiration behind countless gothic novels, Countess Elizabeth Báthory is said to be one of the most prolific serial killers of all time,...

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37:56

Nuclear Fusion Power

26 October 2022

For almost a century we’ve been trying to build a star on earth. Not easy with temperatures reaching 150,000,000℃.

Today on Patented...

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50:28

Rasputin: Myth & Manhood

25 October 2022

Was Rasputin really Russia’s greatest love machine? Did he have any healing powers? And why might his penis be pickling in a jar?

In this...

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42:36

Ghosts

25 October 2022

How long have people believed in ghosts?

Eleanor Janega is back Betwixt the Sheets with Kate to tell us why you should always stand up to...

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30:47

Who were the Africans in Medieval Britain?

25 October 2022

Earlier this month, it was reported that DNA analysis of the skeleton of a 10-year-old girl buried in Kent in the 7th century showed she was of...

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23:28

The Extraordinary Life of James Harley

24 October 2022

James Arthur Stanley Harley was a scholar, reverend, politician, and perhaps aristocrat. Born in a poor village in the Caribbean island of...

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2:31

TUTANKHAMUN: Mini-Series Coming Soon!

24 October 2022

On the 1st of November comes an immersive mini-series telling the story of one of the great discoveries of all time: the tomb of Tutankhamun. For...

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40:53

The Oregon Trail

24 October 2022

From the 1830s until the arrival of the transcontinental railroad, hundreds of thousands of people packed their possessions into wagons and headed...

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43:25

Edward VI & The Prayer Book Rebellion

24 October 2022

The so-called “Prayer Book Rebellion” of 1549 saw the people of Devon and Cornwall rising up against the young King Edward VI, determined to...

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40:19

Origins of Modern Iran

24 October 2022

As protests continued across Iran last week, a number of Iranian-made kamikaze drones were fired by Russian forces at targets thousands of miles...

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44:45

Battle of El Alamein Explained

23 October 2022

Fought 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 2022

Born 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 2022

Linoleum, 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 2022

On 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 2022

Did 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 2022

The 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 2022

On 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 2022

When 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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