History Hit Podcasts

The Murder of Rizzio, Mary Queen of Scots' Favourite

On 9 March 1566, David Rizzio - close friend and private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots - was stabbed dozens of times in front of the pregnant...

Pearl Harbor: 80 Years Later

On 7 December 1941, Imperial Japan launched an attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. In this episode 80 years later, James speaks to Adrian...

Barbados: The World's Newest Republic

November 30 2021, Bridgetown, fifty-five years since Barbados’ 1966 Independence, the Royal Standard flag representing the Queen was lowered and...

The Bronze Age Burials at Stonehenge

Today we’re talking all about science, Stonehenge and what we know about a massive migration into Britain at the start of the Bronze Age some...

Band of Brothers

HBO's Band of Brothers remains one of the greatest mini-series ever made. 20 years after the award-winning series debuted, Dan speaks to...

The Burgundians

Battles, murders, and forgotten treasures - the Burgundians lived life like an episode of Game of Thrones. Once one of the most powerful kingdoms...

The IRA: 22 Years Later

This week marks the 22nd anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) coming into effect, a crucial development in the Northern Ireland peace...

The Hundred Years' War

Over 100 years of conflict, two warring nations, five monarchs on either side and countless casualties in a dispute over claims to the throne: in...

Black Tudors

Our image of the Tudor era remains overwhelmingly white. But the black presence in England was much greater than has previously been recognised,...

The Origins of Life on Earth

Today we’re going back to the beginning – no Romans, Celts, Egyptians or Macedonians in sight. We’re going much further back, covering...

Discovered! Rare Celtic Coins in the New Forest

In a special episode of the podcast, Dan and his team hit the road after receiving a call about the discovery of a hoard of rare Iron Age coins,...

The Blitz: An Alternative History

Between September 1940 and May 1941, the German Luftwaffe relentlessly pounded British cities with bombs in an attempt to force the British to...

Ridley Scott on Gucci, Gladiator and the Blitz

Please note that this episode contains the use of explicit language right from the very beginning.  

Ridley Scott, a prolific...

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Churchill's Birthday

Actor and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger joins Dan in conversation on today's podcast about Winston Churchill, who was born on...

Ibn Fadlan: The Real 13th Warrior

Ibn Fadlan might be familiar to many based on modern-day renditions from films such as The 13th Warrior. Ibn Traveled from Bagdad to Russia,...

How Powerful was Henry VIII?

Was Henry VIII as all-powerful and tyrannical as we have come to believe? Is the scheming of Thomas Cromwell portrayed in Wolf Hall close to the...

Battle of Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory

2 December is a special date for those fascinated by Napoleon Bonaparte. Not only is this the date he crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804,...

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was many things a writer, politician, journalist, painter but the defining aspect of his career was as a war leader. Warfare...

Vindolanda's 2021 Excavation

Situated roughly one mile south of Hadrian’s Wall is one of the great jewels of Roman and early medieval archaeology: Vindolanda. Over the past...

The Complicated Legacy of F W de Klerk

The result of his complicated legacy, the death of South Africa's last apartheid president, F W de Klerk, on November 11 2021 generated a flood of...

How To Live Like A Monk

Monks. We know that they dedicated their lives to serving God, but what did it mean to be a Monk? In today's, episode Matt is joined by the...