History Hit Podcasts

The First Crusade

Today’s episode of Gone Medieval is brought to you by Paradox Interactive, the creators of the game Crusader Kings III. In it, Matt Lewis...

Not Just the Tudors Lates: Elizabeth I on Screen - The Historians’ Verdict

What do you get when you bring together five top historians in a room with bottles of Prosecco to debate Elizabeth I on screen? History with the...

Virtual Assistants ft. The Real Siri

We talk to the real life Siri in this episode. Susan Bennett was the original voice of Siri back in 2011, although she didn't know it at the...

A Short History of Humans

Why are humans the only species to have escaped – only very recently – the subsistence trap, allowing us to enjoy a standard of living that...

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Vikings

September is Vikings month on Gone Medieval, as Dr. Cat Jarman presents a mini-series about her favourite, specialist subject. Over her next four...

Divorce

Why would a married couple stage an affair? Was Henry VIII really the beginning of the end for marriages? And how is the divorce process different...

Atoms and X-rays: Experiments That Changed History

For millennia, people have obsessed over questions about the nature of matter in our universe. Then, by the turn of the twentieth century, we...

Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing

*WARNING: This episode contains very strong language - including the F and C words - and derogatory terms for sex workers. So if you're likely to...

WW2: The British Resistance

If Germany's audacious plan to invade Britain - Operation Sea Lion - had succeeded, what exactly would the country's last line of defence have...

The Man Who Rebuilt the Faces of WW1

The mechanised warfare of the First World War brought unprecedented new levels of firepower and destruction to the battlefield and with it...

Contact Lenses

The Contact Lens. The humble Contact Lens. Oh boy, do we have a rip-roaring episode for you about the humble contact lens.

Nazi villains,...

Rise of the Persians

The Achaemenid Empire, or better known as the First Persian Empire, was one of the largest empires in History - led by Cyrus the Great it covered...

The Medieval Bishop’s Sex Workers

Outside Medieval London’s city walls, Southwark was a land without rules. It was the place where people went to indulge their love of theatre,...

The Battle of Salamanca

The Battle of Salamanca was fought in Napoleonic Spain on 22 July 1812, during the Peninsula War. It pitted Lt Gen Arthur Arthur Wellesley, the...

Mafia Women

Who was Pupetta Maresca? And what did she do to become the first woman in Italy to be prohibited from having a funeral?

In this episode,...

Prosthetics in Antiquity

Prosthetics - an artificial feature or body part commonly used to either help restore functions of lost limbs, or change a person's appearance....

Shakespeare’s Henry V

This week marks 600 years since the death of King Henry V, perhaps best known for his military successes during the Hundred Years War against...

Taiwan: China's Ukraine?

Located just 100 miles off the coast of mainland China, the nation of Taiwan sits in the so-called 'first island chain' - a group of US-friendly...

Sports Bra

REAL LIFE INVENTOR ALERT!!!

Two jockstraps cleverly sewn together. That was how the very first sports bra was made in 1977. The product...

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is one of the most famous legends of British history, but did he exist and if so who was he? Gareth Morgan, Learning Development...

Britain After Rome

What really happened in Britain after the fall of Rome? How did people adapt to their new lives? How were new identities formed, and eventually...