History Hit Podcasts

The First Printed English Bible

England was the only European country that completely banned translating the Bible. The dissident Lollards had produced one after the death of...

Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was the deadliest battle of the Second World War, and one of the bloodiest in the history of warfare. Infamous for its...

Emojis 😊💩🍆

The hieroglyphs seem to hold a lot of secrets about Ancient Egyptians. What do emojis say about us? What on earth is their story?

Emojis...

Hera: Queen of the Gods

Hera, the wife and sister of Zeus, goddess of marriage, royalty and women, is the Queen of the Gods in Greek mythology.

Despite her seat of...

Origins of Carols

The Christmas carols we sing each year share roots in medieval church music. But as Matt Lewis finds out in this episode, carols were not just for...

The Spies Who Built the CIA

The CIA is one of the most well-known and powerful government organisations across the globe. But who's responsible for its creation, and why have...

The Last Dambuster: Johnny Johnson

Of all the air raids carried out during World War Two, none are as enduringly famous as the attack by Lancaster Bombers against the dams of...

Pearl Harbor

On the morning of 7th December 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes took off from aircraft carriers and attacked Pearl Harbor, on Oahu island,...

Carausius: The Pirate King

With ancient Rome often being viewed as a mighty, impenetrable empire - it seems unlikely that one man, let alone a pirate, could ever bring this...

Mary, Queen of Scots: The Material Evidence

Mary, Queen of Scots wore red at her execution as a symbol of Catholic martyrdom. It was the climax of a life throughout which Mary used...

Zeus: King of the Gods

Zeus, the chief deity in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of sky and thunder and is king of all other gods and men.

His tale is one of...

Chickens

Why did the chicken cross the road? What came first, the chicken or the egg? Who invented the chicken anyway?

We answer at least one of...

SAS Rogue Heroes: Paddy Mayne with Ben Macintyre

Lieutenant-Colonel 'Paddy' Mayne is a legendary figure in the history of the British Special Forces. Valiant but volatile, confident yet...

Cult of St. Swithun

According to tradition, if it rains on Saint Swithun's bridge in Winchester on St. Swithun’s day — 15 July — it will continue for 40...

Banned History

How much did Britain and its allies know about the Holocaust? Could the Bengal Famine of 1943 have been helped? And was Elizabeth I really the...

The Rise of China

How has China become the economic superpower that it is today? The decades since the death of Chairman Mao Zedong have seen an unprecedented...

Start of the Space Race

Space 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...

Making Babies in the 17th Century

Making babies was a mysterious process for people in early modern England. Their ideas about conception, pregnancy and childbirth tell us much...

1st Parachute Regiment of WW2 with Mark Urban

2022 marks 80 years since the Red Devils first remarkable campaign in North Africa. In Britain, they were known as the parachute regiment,...

Sportswashing and the Nazi Olympics

With the 2022 FIFA World Cup well underway, the phenomenon of sportswashing is once again in everybody's minds. Autocracies and democracies alike...

Bethlehem

Most famously known as the birth place of Jesus, Bethlehem has been immortalised in texts, carols, and imagery across history. But prior to the...