History Hit Podcasts

A History of Britain in 50 Documents

How do you go about finding your way around the history of a nation and a national identity? For the barrister and author Dominic Selwood,...

Abortion in the UK

As the right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy is challenged on the other side of the Atlantic, today Betwixt the Sheets we are looking...

Hiroshima: A Survivor's Story

Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners

Keiko Ogura was just eight years old on August 6 1945...

Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 2

2/2. Eva Schloss remembers her days as a girl in Amsterdam playing in the street with the other children including Anne Frank who, for a time,...

Hannibal vs Rome: Hannibal's Greatest Victory

One of the most studied military victories in history, and arguably one of the worst Roman defeats - what went wrong for the Romans at...

Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army

The New Model Army was one of the most formidable fighting forces ever assembled. It played a crucial role in overthrowing King Charles I,...

Anne Frank's Step Sister: 'How I Survived the Holocaust' Part 1

1/2. On the morning of the 4th of August 1944, exactly 78 years ago today, the Frank family cowered behind a bookshelf in Amsterdam, listening to...

Shipping Containers

90% of everything you own arrived by sea.

And there’s one invention to thank above all else – the humble shipping container.

Today...

Thor: The God behind the Superhero

Few early medieval gods are as well-known and as popular as Thor. He’s currently thrilling moviegoers worldwide with his new outing for the...

When War Veterans Excavate the Anglo-Saxons

Archaeology has a lot to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the so-called Dark Ages, and every now and then new sites are found in...

When Football Banned Women

England’s historic Euro 2022 victory on Sunday night was the most watched TV programme of the year. It feels like it's the first time women's...

Blackbeard

Think of pirates and there’s a great chance that the first image that comes to your mind is a Blackbeard look alike : a cruel captain with a...

The Trial of a Latvian Werewolf

In 1691, a peasant in Livonia - on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea - announced before a startled district court that he was a werewolf. Yet...

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...

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada

In July 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed from Corunna to conquer England. Three weeks later an English fireship attack in the Channel—and then a...

Barbie

Barbie. What is it about Barbie? Love her or loathe her this 11 ½ inch doll gets a big reaction.

Which is strange in a way because she’s...

Hannibal vs Rome: The Road to Cannae

One of the greatest military commanders in history - it's no wonder Hannibal and Rome so frequently fought.

In the second episode of our...

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...

North Korea & the Kim Dynasty

With Kim Jong-un having issued a new threat of nuclear war just this week on the anniversary of the Korean War armistice in 1953, we take a look...

Witches

What comes to your mind when you think of a witch? Broomsticks? Black cats? Warts?

Early modern witchcraft expert, John Callow, is Betwixt...

The Long Death of Slavery

We celebrate abolition - in Haiti after the revolution, in the British Empire in 1833, and in the United States during the Civil War. Yet, over...