History Hit Podcasts

The Evolution of Warfare with Sir Lawrence Freedman

From the stone age to current day, from sticks and rocks to drones and artillery - the nature of warfare has changed drastically throughout...

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway took place between the US and Japan in June 1942. The US victory, after 4 days of fighting in the air and sea around the...

The Real King Arthur: Ambrosius Aurelianus

A friend of Merlin, the husband of Guinevere, and the inspiration for numerous Hollywood blockbusters - the story of King Arthur is known by many...

Remembering Hilary Mantel

Dame Hilary Mantel died on 22 September 2022 at the age of 70. Her acclaimed Wolf Hall trilogy - which brought the life of Thomas Cromwell so...

The Atomic Bomb & the Secret City

In 1939 Franklin D Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein, warning him that the Nazis might be developing nuclear...

Space Food

If humans travel to Mars then by the time they come home all the food they eat will be five years old. Want a bite?

Food often gets...

What Could Labour Learn From Harold Wilson?

In the week of the Labour Party when polls indicate that the party is likely to form the next government, it seems an opportune moment to examine...

Private Members’ Clubs

Private Members’ Clubs are often the location of suspected scandal - from Oscar Wilde to Chris Pincher, what happens behind these elitist...

King Cnut & the End of the Viking Age

Dr. Cat Jarman concludes her month-long series about her favourite, specialist subject - the Vikings.

Cnut the Great became King of England...

A Short History of the Bank of England

As the UK's bond market has suffered its biggest fall in decades and the pound has reached its lowest ever price against the US dollar, Dan talks...

Hollywood Blacklist

After World War 2 ended, the Nazis defeated, America feared communist infiltration of its institutions, among them, Hollywood.

In November...

War Crimes

Warning: This episode contains content that some listeners may find upsetting

No matter the war being fought, it's a sad fact that war...

The Sinking of the Mary Rose

Exactly forty years ago, in a groundbreaking and spectacular piece of marine conservation that captured the imagination of the world, the Mary...

Agatha Christie with Lucy Worsley

Agatha Christie is the best-selling fiction writer of all time and her many detective novels, short stories and plays have gripped and entertained...

FORENSICS: Fingerprinting

We hear from London’s most inaccessible museum, the Met police’s Crime Museum, and take you back to India in the time of the British Raj. We...

Top Five Dinosaurs

They’re big. They’re fierce. And they’re extinct.

This is how today’s guest - palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist and Senior...

The Story of Castles


Castles have held a pivotal place in British life, many of them remaining today as powerful reminders of our history and sources of inspiration....

The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe. She's got to be one of the most famous people of all time, hasn't she?

But what happens when an investigative war reporter...

WW2: The Forgotten Blitz

When you think of the Blitz, you think of the Blitz on London. The two are synonymous, and not without reason. Over 57 consecutive nights and...

Eleanor of Aquitaine

From an age in which women’s lives were obscured and poorly recorded, one shines brightly from the darkness. Eleanor of Aquitaine - born...

Declaration of Independence

While the Revolutionary War was being fought in July 1776, the 13 British colonies in America came together to approve their Declaration of...