History Hit Podcasts

The Black Prince

He was one of medieval England’s most formidable warriors. Today we hear how Edward of Woodstock - the Black Prince - earned that reputation,...

Francisco de Cuéllar: Spanish Armada Captain

How did a condemned Spanish Armada captain survive shipwreck, betrayal, and war to leave behind one of the most extraordinary first-person...

The Last Days of Pompeii

In 79 AD, life in Pompeii unfolded beneath the shadow of a tremoring Mount Vesuvius. Streets bustled, businesses thrived, and merchants built...

The Brothels of Imperial Russia

In today's episode we're taking you back to the brothels of 19th century St. Petersburg.

Sex work was legalised under the Emperor Nicholas...

Offa, King of the Mercians

Was Offa a tyrant whose reputation was forever tainted by the killing of his prospective son-in-law? Or a visionary ruler whose achievements have...

The Astors, The Gilded Age & The Building of New York

From fur traders to rulers of the New York social scene - how did the Astors rise to the top? What did it mean to be 'Old Money' in the Gilded...

The Assassination of Trotsky

This is the true story of the plot to kill Stalin's greatest enemy. It involves ice axe, a bloody study in Mexico City, and a betrayal years in...

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

On a summer day in Sarajevo in 1914, a young man fired two rounds of his pistol in the middle of the street, killing a Royal couple... He didn't...

Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle

What was Anne Boleyn like before she became the most controversial queen in English history? Can the rooms and gardens at her childhood home...

The First Tools

What if the first technology was just a stone?

Tristan Hughes and Dr. Emma Finestone, - Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz...

Who was the first 'Lesbian'?

Was Sappho queer? Or was this Ancient Greek poet just really really good friends with women?

Today on Betwixt the Sheets, Kate is joined by...

Challenging the Pope: The Avignon Papacy

Who would pick a fight with the Pope?? Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega dive into the explosive clash between Pope Boniface VIII and Philip IV of...

Shays' Rebellion: An Honorable Rebellion?

Shays’ Rebellion has long been taught as a dangerous uprising, one that risked shaking the newly founded United States of America. But by...

Churchill's Secret Army

Trap doors under toilets, hidden radio rooms in the back of wardrobes, secret bases behind waterfalls....Dan investigates an extraordinary network...

Titanic's Biggest Myths Debunked

Is it true that third-class passengers were locked below decks? Or that more lifeboats would have saved more lives? Did the band really play as...

Maria Theresa, Habsburg Empress

How did a woman rise to power, and keep it, in the fiercely male-dominated Habsburg Empire?

From her distrust of the Enlightenment to her...

Athens vs Persia: The Legend of Themistocles

A legend of the great Greek city of Athens, Themistocles rose from obscurity to save ancient Greece and helped shape one of the greatest naval...

Legends of Richard the Lionheart

Was Richard the Lionheart really England’s greatest medieval hero? Or is he one of history’s most successful myths, more heroic in legend than...

Sex Work in the American Revolution

Where the American War of Independence raged, the camp followers...followed.

Among them were sex workers, for both the American and British...

Elizabethans in India

How did England’s earliest travellers to India try to win favour in a Mughal golden age that scarcely noticed them?

Professor Suzannah...

The Hittites

What made the Hittites one of the great Bronze Age powers, and how did their empire survive on war, diplomacy and faith? Tristan Hughes is joined...