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.
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.
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.
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 archaeologist Cat Jarman and historian Matt Lewis, 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.
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.
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.
Click on any of the listings below to listen to our most recent episodes from our network.
All Podcasts
40:04
Start of the Space Race
5 December 2022Space historian Jay Gallentine tells Don how World War 2 weapons paved the way for space rockets, igniting a space race between the USA and the...
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45:03
Making Babies in the 17th Century
5 December 2022Making babies was a mysterious process for people in early modern England. Their ideas about conception, pregnancy and childbirth tell us much...
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35:25
Red Devils of WW2
5 December 20222022 marks 80 years since the Paras' first campaign in North Africa. In Britain, they were known as the parachute regiment, but after their daring...
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26:23
Sportswashing and the Nazi Olympics
5 December 2022With the 2022 FIFA World Cup well underway, the phenomenon of sportswashing is once again in everybody's minds. Autocracies and democracies alike...
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52:53
Bethlehem
4 December 2022Most famously known as the birth place of Jesus, Bethlehem has been immortalised in texts, carols, and imagery across history. But prior to the...
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33:41
LEGO
4 December 2022Who invented LEGO, the world's favourite toy? To find out we have to head to a Danish fishing village where a family of toy makers live. A family...
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32:40
Jews in Medieval England
3 December 2022Medieval England’s relationship with the Jewish community was complex and, at times, brutally violent and cruel. In 1290, the entire population...
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48:51
Sex Myths
2 December 2022Why were the ovaries once seen as inverted testes? What words might you use if you were trying to describe a condition 'down there' to your...
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37:07
Origins of the CIA
2 December 20222022 marks the 75th anniversary of the Central Intelligence Agency, more colloquially known as the CIA. While viewed today as one of the most...
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49:46
Life in Tudor England
2 December 2022What was life really like in Tudor England? This was a society where monarchy was under strain, the church was in crisis and contending with war,...
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25:56
Capturing Lincoln’s Assassin
1 December 2022On shooting President Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth fled Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC on horseback, eventually heading south. But...
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54:24
Uruk: The First Cities
1 December 2022A Mesopotamian metropolis that thrived for millennia, Uruk is even claimed by some to have been the first true city in history.
Located in...
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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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