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
34:01
Nagasaki: Friendly Fire
8 August 2022Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners
At 11.02 am on August 9 1945, America dropped the world's...
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38:56
Samuel Pepys
8 August 2022The great diarist Samuel Pepys was an avid collector of books, news and gossip, and reading was a major part of his life and the lives of his...
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27:44
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
7 August 2022On August 6 and 9, 1945, US B-29 bombers, dropped their nuclear bombs on the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands...
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41:55
Ancient Americas: Debunking The Maya Apocalypse
7 August 2022One of the most famous, and sophisticated, cultures of Mesoamerica, why are the Maya known only for predicting the end of the world?
In the...
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32:29
Transistors & Telecommunication Satellites: Bell Labs
7 August 2022The transistor; solar panels; the first telecommunications satellite; cell phone networks; UNIX code; information theory. All these and more were...
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29:57
A History of Britain in 50 Documents
6 August 2022How do you go about finding your way around the history of a nation and a national identity? For the barrister and author Dominic Selwood,...
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40:34
Abortion in the UK
5 August 2022As the right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy is challenged on the other side of the Atlantic, today Betwixt the Sheets we are looking...
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33:43
Hiroshima: A Survivor's Story
5 August 2022Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners
Keiko Ogura was just eight years old on August 6 1945...
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48:15
Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 2
4 August 20222/2. Eva Schloss remembers her days as a girl in Amsterdam playing in the street with the other children including Anne Frank who, for a time,...
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31:31
Hannibal vs Rome: Hannibal's Greatest Victory
4 August 2022One of the most studied military victories in history, and arguably one of the worst Roman defeats - what went wrong for the Romans at...
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55:27
Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army
4 August 2022The New Model Army was one of the most formidable fighting forces ever assembled. It played a crucial role in overthrowing King Charles I,...
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38:50
Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 1
3 August 20221/2. On the morning of the 4th of August 1944, exactly 78 years ago today, the Frank family cowered behind a bookshelf in Amsterdam, listening to...
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29:29
Shipping Containers
3 August 202290% of everything you own arrived by sea.
And there’s one invention to thank above all else – the humble shipping container.
Today...
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42:11
Thor: The God behind the Superhero
2 August 2022Few early medieval gods are as well-known and as popular as Thor. He’s currently thrilling moviegoers worldwide with his new outing for the...
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27:26
When War Veterans Excavate the Anglo-Saxons
2 August 2022Archaeology has a lot to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the so-called Dark Ages, and every now and then new sites are found in...
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48:45
Virginity
2 August 2022From luring in unicorns to protecting the Roman Empire, myths have surrounded virginity for centuries. But is virginity itself a myth?
In...
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19:40
When Football Banned Women
1 August 2022England’s historic Euro 2022 victory on Sunday night was the most watched TV programme of the year. It feels like it's the first time women's...
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49:22
The Trial of a Latvian Werewolf
1 August 2022In 1691, a peasant in Livonia - on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea - announced before a startled district court that he was a werewolf. Yet...
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39:59
Taiwan: China's Ukraine?
1 August 2022Located just 100 miles off the coast of mainland China, the nation of Taiwan sits in the so-called 'first island chain' - a group of US-friendly...
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51:01
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
31 July 2022In July 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed from Corunna to conquer England. Three weeks later an English fireship attack in the Channel—and then a...
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29:29
Barbie
31 July 2022Barbie. What is it about Barbie? Love her or loathe her this 11 ½ inch doll gets a big reaction.
Which is strange in a way because she’s...
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