History Hit Podcasts

Isaac Newton

One of the greatest mathematicians and most influential physicists of all time, Isaac Newton was born into a world of turmoil that shaped him and...

NATO Expansion: Is Bigger Better?

NATO is expanding and enlarging. With the number of rapid response troops set to increase to 300,000, and Sweden & Finland in line to gain...

The Shortest History of Democracy

In a time of grave uncertainty about the future of our planet, the radical potential of democracy is more important than ever.

From its...

Rise of Rome: The Fall of the Samnites

In the final part of our Samnite Wars episodes, Tristan is once again joined by Dr Kathryn Lomas from Durham University to find out more about...

Mummies

When the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead they were trying to stop time, to preserve the body so well that it would last throughout...

Medieval Gardens

Gardens and gardening are aspects of medieval life that rarely get much attention. But it was a period when those with a little more land created...

The Korean War: Why Britain Fought

With the range to sail anywhere in the world and the supplies to facilitate it, HMS Belfast served a crucial role in the Korean War.

Once...

Nzinga: Warrior Queen Who Fought Colonialism

Warrior. Diplomat. Queen.

From fighting alongside her father and negotiating with the Portuguese on her brother’s behalf, to campaigning...

Coffee

A cup of coffee was once a luxury. Now it is quick, cheap and widely available — a daily essential for many.

How did this happen? Today on...

Tudor Poet Anne Askew: Heretic or Martyr?

Born in 1521, Anne Askew was condemned as a heretic for her radical Protestantism beliefs during the reign of Henry VIII. Tortured and executed...

Rise of Rome: The First Samnite War

In this first episode of a two-parter on the Samnite Wars, we focus in on one of Rome’s greatest rivals in early Italy. Based in modern day...

Boris Johnson: Removing a Prime Minister

It's been an extraordinary day in British politics with dozens of Conservative MPs handing in their resignations and expressing a lack of...

Cryonics: Living Forever?

Often mistakenly called Cryogenics, Cryonics is the speculative practice of preserving and storing recently dead bodies at very low temperatures...

The Forgotten Massacre at Dartmoor Prison

During the War of 1812, the last time Britain and the United States went to war with each other, more than six thousand American sailors ended up...

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great - King of the West Saxons and later King of all the English not under Scandinavian rule - is the only English King to be given...

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 partake in theatre, watch bear...

The Life of Malcolm X

Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X would become human rights activist— a prominent African American minister and figure during the civil...

Cleopatra

Who doesn’t know Cleopatra, legendary queen of Egypt ? A woman as beautiful as a goddess who claimed power in a world of men, seducing Roman...

Surviving Plague in Florence

Between 1630 and 1631, the city of Florence suffered its last epidemic of plague. Some 12% of the city's population of 75,000 perished.

In...

The Life of Anne Frank

It's exactly 80 years since Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Perhaps the most well-known Jewish victim of...

The Real Alexander Hamilton

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished...