History Hit Podcasts

Who Was Medieval Europe's Most Evil Monarch?

Who was the very worst of all the Medieval monarchs? No spoilers but we've got monarchs driven psychopathic by love, terrible sadists, and egos...

The World's Oldest Letters

What do the world’s first letters reveal about life in the Bronze Age?

Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Amanda Podany to uncover the...

The Truth About the Mitford Sisters

The Mitfords could rank as the strangest family of the 20th century.

Unity and Diana were passionate fascists who became obsessed with Adolf...

Trial of Joan of Arc

How did a teenage girl stand up to armies, theologians, and kings?

Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Professor Anne Curry to trace Joan of...

Crime of the Century: Who Kidnapped Charles Lindbergh Jr?

The Lindbergh Kidnapping is one of the most influential crimes in American history; it plunged a national hero into an investigation which changed...

John F. Kennedy: Myths vs Reality

John F. Kennedy was a man of charm, power, and contradictions. Behind the public image of the heroic president lay a figure plagued by pain,...

Who was the Last Witch of Scotland?

With the nights closing in, what better time to re-visit a favourite episode of ours.

In 1727, Janet Horne of the Highland community of...

The Incense Route Through Arabia

Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory takes our hero Basim ibn Ishaq from the glory of Baghdad in the Abbasid era to the remote oasis at...

Origins of Free Speech

Free speech is today more contested than ever before. In many places, differing views about politics, sex, and religion are suppressed and...

Emperor Tiberius: Monster or Misunderstood?

*WARNING: This podcast contains adult themes and discussion of paedophilia*

A brilliant general. A brooding autocrat. A recluse surrounded...

Scotland's Stone of Scone

How did a medieval Scottish stone become the centre of a daring heist in the 1950's?

This is the extraordinary saga of the Stone of Scone,...

Did Henry VIII Have An Affair With Anne Boleyn's Sister?

She was 'the Other Boleyn Girl' - Anne's sister, Mary, who supposedly had an affair with King Henry VIII. Such drama!

What evidence is there...

What was the Satanic Panic?

Why were more than 12 thousand cases of satanic abuse brought in the 1980s? Was the Prince of Darkness walking among us then? Or did something...

Could you Survive the Medieval Apocalypse?

For Medieval Europe, the Apocalypse wasn’t just a metaphor - it was very real and very imminent.

We are talking about the four horsemen,...

The Spanish Armada

In 1588, Spain’s mighty armada sailed to invade England and change the balance of power in Europe. Dan explains why Philip II launched the...

Raleigh and the Lost Colony of Roanoke

What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke?

In the 1580s Sir Walter Raleigh set about establishing a permanent English colony on Roanoke...

Zoroastrianism

A faith born in the distant prehistoric past, rooted in ancient Iranian texts over 4,000 years old, Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest...

The Truth About Roald Dahl

The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda. Roald Dahl wrote some of the world's most loved children's books.

But what do we know...

How the Wind Blew Up The Middle Ages

From the tactical nautical decisions of the Normans and Vikings to medieval monks' meticulous wind records, medieval civilisations have always...

What if the Texas Republic survived?

In 1845, the Republic of Texas stood at a crossroads. In our history, they chose to join the USA… but what if they chose another path? Was this...

Why Did Henry VIII Kill Catherine Howard?

In 1540 Henry VIII was getting old, and his eyes turned to teenager Catherine Howard.

He fell hard and fast for Catherine - his "rose...