History Hit Podcasts

Walter Raleigh's Quest for El Dorado

Sir Walter Raleigh remains one of the enduring names from the Elizabethan era. He was a true Renaissance man - a statesman, soldier, writer,...

Was WW2 Stalin’s War?

Stalin, the 'Man of Steel' and supreme ruler of the Soviet Union for a quarter of a century, is readily associated with his ruthless regime inside...

Falklands40: The Sinking of the Belgrano

On this day 40 years ago the HMS Conqueror, a British nuclear submarine, propelled silently through the South Atlantic stalking the Argentinian...

Robots

Many of us became familiar with robots through science fiction — R2D2, C3PO, Rosie from the Jetsons, Marvin the Paranoid Android. In comparison,...

The Christian Destruction of the Classical World

The rise of Christianity in the first few centuries AD is one of the most significant stories in world history. But it’s also an incredibly...

Falklands40: The Black Buck Raids

The Falkland Islands lie 8000 miles from Britain making the Falklands War a particularly tricky one to fight; it required some seriously...

Medieval Masters of Invention

In today’s Gone Medieval podcast, Matt Lewis joins Dallas Campbell - host of our sister podcast Patented: History of Inventions - to explore...

Shoes

I’m something that you wear, I always come in twos, I get put on your feet. I’m not socks, I am … SHOES.

Humans have been protecting...

Stalin's Secret Operation: The Katyn Massacre

As the reality of atrocities in Ukraine continues to be uncovered, we look back at a massacre of Polish officers in the Second World War, the...

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 - January 6, 1919), was an American politician, conservationist and writer. After the assassination of...

Suleyman the Magnificent

The Ottoman Sultan Suleyman I - known as "Suleyman the Magnificent" in the West - was the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century....

Superfood Myths with Kate Quilton

Kale, Cod-liver oil, Goji-berries, Chia seeds...the list of so-called superfoods continues to grow. But how healthy are these wonder ingredients,...

An Ancient Guide to Healthy Living

Poetry, parables, and produce - how did someone live a healthy life in the ancient Greco-Roman world? Tristan is joined by author Mark Usher to...

War in Space

On November 15 2021 Russia tested an anti-satellite weapon, shattering one of their own satellites into over a thousand pieces. This space debris...

John Simpson: Six Decades of Warzones

Over six decades John Simpson has been on the frontline of reporting bringing news from some of the most dangerous places on the planet to the...

Wheeled Suitcase

We put man on the moon before we invented the wheeled suitcase. 

Why did it take so long? 

Find out in todays episode with...

Gossip, Scandal and High Society

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Henry ‘Chips’ Channon documented British high society in eye-watering detail. His diaries...

The Dynasty that Transformed Southern India

Histories of India usually concern themselves with events and invasions in the subcontinent’s North, while the rest of India’s rich story is...

Boob Jobs

Who had the very first boob job? Why were women injecting liquid paraffin into their chests? And, how has the procedure developed over...

Great Scientists We've Forgotten to Remember

We are told that modern science was invented in Europe, the product of great minds like Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and...

Discovering Hampton Court

Many of the private and public dramas in the life of Henry VIII took place at Hampton Court Palace. Begun in 1514 for Cardinal Wolsey, Hampton...