History Hit Podcasts

The First Queer Activist

On 29 August 1867, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs stood in front of the Congress of German Jurists in Munich and urged them not to extend sodomy laws...

Viking Voyages and Legends

In the dying days of the eighth century, the Vikings erupted onto the international stage with brutal raids and slaughter. The medieval Norsemen...

Elizabeth I: Last Days and Legacy

In the last years of Elizabeth I’s reign, many of the preoccupations of earlier decades had been abated. Mary, Queen of Scots had finally been...

Growing your Own Drugs with James Wong

Did you know around 50% of all medicinal drugs are derived from plants?

James Wong is a gardener, ethnobotanist, broadcaster and proud owner...

Sparta and the Nazis

Ancient Sparta was co-opted by the Nazis as a supposed model civilisation for the Third Reich’s twisted racial and martial...

The Death of Alexander the Great Explained

Alexander the Great’s untimely death at Babylon in 323 BC triggered an unprecedented crisis across his continent-spanning empire.

Within a...

Leonidas

The legendary Battle of Thermopylae has been told over and over and remains famous for an incredible act of valor : 300 Spartan warriors defending...

Drone Delivery

The drones are coming. In twenty years there’s going to be a hundred times more flying planes, taxis, parcels in the airspace than today thanks...

The Man Who Escaped Auschwitz

In April 1944 nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate, Fred Wetzler broke out of Auschwitz. Under electrified fences and past armed...

Anglo-Saxons at Prayer: Brixworth Church

All Saints’ Church in the village of Brixworth, Northamptonshire is one of the oldest, largest and most complete Anglo-Saxon churches in...

Beer

Pint, bottle, schooner, tinny … no matter how you drink it, beer is undeniably a part of social life here in Britain and around the...

The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Europe in 1914 was a tinderbox of imperial tensions and the spark that would light the conflagration would be the assassination of Archduke Franz...

Was Queenship the Same Around the World?

All this month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb has been talking to her guests about Queenship. But the focus has...

WW2: The White Rose Resistance

2022 marks the 80 year anniversary of the White Rose resistance against Nazism. The White Rose was made up of 5 students and an academic in...

Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII was part of a dynasty of Macedonian rulers founded by Ptolemy, who served as general under Alexander the Great during his conquest...

The First Americans

Modern humans thrived in the Americas for thousands of years before the first European colonists arrived, but how and when did they get...

Warships with Dan Snow

Today we are talking warships: from the revolutionary Tudor ships to modern aircraft carriers, and all the innovations along the...

Shakespeare's Richard III

Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays, often cited as the basis for the King’s reputation as a scheming murderer. But...

When the US 'Invaded' Northern Ireland

With 300,000 US troops stationed in Northern Ireland between 1942 and 1945 - Northern Ireland soon became overrun. Known as the 'Friendly...

The Museum of Sex Objects

We’re used to exhibits in museums detailing our ancestors’ home lives and work lives, but what about their sex lives?

On a sunny day in...

A Short History of Nomads

The roots of the word ‘Nomad’ dates back to an extremely early Indo-European word, ‘nomos’. After towns and cities are built and more...