History Hit Podcasts

The Duomo of Florence

The Renaissance was an age of sweeping transformation in politics, literature, science, art and architecture. Perhaps nothing better represents...

Gladiators: The Praetorian Guard

The true nexus of power in the Roman Empire wasn't in the Emperor's box but in the shadowy ranks of the Praetorian Guard. First established in 27...

Emperor Macrinus: Usurper of Rome

Denzel Washington stars as Emperor Macrinus in the epic new movie Gladiator II, but who exactly was this shadowy ruler of Rome?

Join...

Mythbusting Medieval Buildings

What is a leper squint? Are the marks scratched into the exterior walls of churches from damned souls trying to claw their way in?

Join Matt...

Catherine of Aragon | Secret Lives of the Six Wives

We know the fates of Henry VIII's wives, but what were these iconic women really like?

In the first episode of this limited series, Secret...

Gladiators: The Real Spartacus

Spartacus is probably the most famous gladiator in history but how much of his legend is actually true? Dan is joined by Dr Rhiannon Evans, from...

A CIA Man in China: 20 Years Imprisoned

This is the story of America's longest held prisoner of war. John 'Jack' Downey, an American CIA operative, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 21...

Witchfinder General

In the aftermath of the Civil War, a remote corner of Essex witnessed the most brutally devastating witch-hunt in English history. A dangerous...

Queen Victoria's Funeral & the Cult of Death

Queen Victoria was synonymous with grief and the Victorian cult of death. Yet her own funeral wasn't that at all. Today Dan O'Brien explains to...

Caracalla & Geta: The Real Emperors of Gladiator II

The new Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II features two of Rome's most villainous emperors - the brothers Caracalla and Geta.

And in today's...

Gladiators: Myths vs Reality

Join Dan at Rome's Colosseum as he separates fact from fiction in the world of the gladiators. He traces the origins of gladiatorial fighting from...

El Cid: Spain's Medieval Mercenary

Rodrigo Díaz - known as el Cid - lived a violently colourful life in 11th Century Spain. By turns an ambitious military leader, exile and brutal...

Gladiators' Sex Lives

Who really were the gladiators of Ancient Rome?

With them once again hitting the big screens this month, we wanted to take you back a couple...

Gladiators: The Colosseum

Join Dan on an adventure in Rome as he traces the true history of the gladiators. He begins his story in 64 AD with the great fire of Rome that...

Shackleton's Endurance Expedition

In this dramatic episode, Dan tells the incredible story of how Shackleton saved every single man on the fated Endurance expedition from perishing...

Nazis in America: Fascism in the 1930s

In 1933, The Pittsburgh Courier published an editorial entitled 'Hitler Learns from America'. So how and why was fascism on the rise in the...

Invisible Activists of the Reformation

The names that spring first to mind in the Reformation of Christianity tend always to be male. But women were central to these extraordinary...

The Borgias: History's Most Villainous Family

The Borgias are a lynchpin in the history of the Italian Renaissance. Their tale of intrigue, corruption and cut-throat ambition still inspires...

Final Days of Captain Cook

The violent death of Captain James Cook, British explorer, on a Hawaiian beach in 1779 has become the stuff of legend. Should we believe the story...

The Minotaur

Half man and half bull, the Minotaur is one of the most famous, and scariest, monsters of Greek mythology.

The story goes that it was...

The Battle of Agincourt

Join Matt Lewis and Professor Michael Livingston to unravel the legendary Battle of Agincourt.

They cover the lesser-known strategic...