History Hit Podcasts

Pestle or Sex Toy? The Roman 'Dildo'

You may have seen the news that archaeologists have been reassessing a phallic object from Vindolanda Roman Fort in the north of...

Vikings in Spain

When we think of Vikings, we tend to picture them in the colder climates of Northern Europe, and not so much in the warmer regions of Spain and...

HMS Victory

During the Battle of Trafalgar, the men on the gun decks of HMS Victory felt the heat of fire from above and from below; they dodged enemy cannon...

The White House Chief of Staff

While the President of the United States is often seen as the most powerful person in the world, the vastness of the Federal government is too...

Rise of ISIS

This episode contains graphic references of violence and torture

The rise of Islamic State (ISIS) stands as one of the darkest legacies of...

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Renaissance Painter

During a time of increasing religious and political conflict, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings portrayed work and pleasure, rituals and...

How to Prepare for Nuclear War

With Putin's war in Ukraine raging on, the threat of a nuclear conflict feels as real as ever. But since the Iron Curtain fell, our understanding...

Assassins vs Templars: The Knights Templar

An order of crusading monks draped in white robes marked with a red cross: the Knights Templar perhaps don’t sound that daunting when you first...

Roman Beast Hunts

This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and cruelty against animals.

The Romans were - and still are - infamous for the...

Ouija Board

The Ouija Board was patented in 1890. But in did not appear out of thin air. It was only one in a long, long line of devices attempting to pierce...

The Real Dick Whittington

Dick Whittington - who died 600 years ago this month - is a familiar name to generations of pantomime goers. But Richard Whittington’s real life...

Sordid Soho

From the Chevalier de Saint-Georges to the Merry Monarch to Madame Jojo and Madame Trenti, the district of Soho in London has played host to many...

WW2: What Happened at Yalta?

In early 1945, with an inevitable defeat of Nazi Germany on the horizon, the Allied leaders of the United States, Britain and Russia came together...

Cooking for Churchill: Georgina Landemare

Clear soup, Irish stew and steamed puddings - this was the war work of Georgina Landemare, the Churchills' longest-serving cook.

Throughout...

A History of America in 5 Foods

You are what you eat - and so is America. Various foods have played their part in the country’s history. Anna Zeide, author of US History in 15...

Sardinia: Mysteries of the Bronze Age

Shrouded in mystery, the Nuragic culture was an enigmatic Bronze Age Civilisation that lived on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. With their...

17th Century Revolutionary England

In the 17th Century, people experienced major social and economic problems that intertwined with religious disagreements and political debates....

The Great Storm of 1703

A Stuart time capsule has emerged from beneath the sand after 320 years. In early December 1703, barometers across South-Eastern England plunged...

The Electric Chair

In 1890, the Governor of New York called for a new method of capital punishment. A more modern, efficient, scientific method was being sought....

Islam vs Christendom

As two of humanity's great religions, Islam and Christianity have shaped much of the world's history. Empires across the globe have risen and...

How Norse Myths Shape The Way We Think

Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the legends of Thor, Odin and Asgard are familiar to millions today. Yet the histories of these myths are...