History Hit Podcasts

Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden was an ambitious Allied airborne offensive to secure a quick victory in WWII. It failed disastrously.

The plan was...

Cruising & Cottaging: Sex in Public Places

With privacy being a modern luxury, where did people in the past go to meet and hook up? Public toilets were (and can still be) a popular...

Viking Travels

Vikings have long been depicted as that stereotype of the hairy, nameless warrior, leaping ashore from his longboat, ready to terrorise a hapless...

How The World Sees The US: The Art of Diplomacy

How did Egypt and Israel come to an agreement at Camp David in 1979? How did the USSR come to allow the operation of NATO troops in East Germany?...

Lexington & Concord: History's Unlikeliest Battlefields

The shot heard ‘round the world; the start of the American Revolution. An event that would have profound consequences for world history,...

Who was Jack the Ripper? The Prince (Suspect 1)

Part 1/4. By investigating the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these...

When Britain was a Republic

The 1650s were the only years in history when Britain was a republic.  Charles I had been executed, the monarchy was abolished and the House...

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens' victories at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made him an international sports hero, and a symbol of the civil rights movement. His...

The Fall of Roman Britain

In the early 5th century AD, after almost four centuries of iron-fisted Roman rule, the empire in Britain was beginning to fade. Franks, Saxons...

Ancient Goddesses: Rebellion, Magic & Sexual Liberation

Struggling for role models in the modern world? We've got your back, looking way back to the ancient world.

Join Kate and Jasmine Elmer,...

Henry V with Dan Jones

For centuries, one English monarch basked in an almost unblemished, heroic reputation. But more recently questions have been asked about some of...

How to Survive in Viking Britain

Have you ever wondered what it would take to live in Viking Britain? When they arrived and settled in the British Isles, Viking settlers didn't...

McCarthy & the Second Red Scare

Who was Joe McCarthy? How did this Republican Senator come to lead a nationwide campaign against communism? And how did he bring about his own...

Origins of the Egyptian Gods

The legends of Ra and Hathor, of Osiris and Isis, of Anubis and Set have been passed from mouth to ear in Egypt for millennia. They were painted...

Lost Colony of Roanoke: Mystery of England's First American Settlers

The colonists of Roanoke Island in the 1580's were the very first English people to try to establish a permanent settlement in America. They...

Kateryn Parr on Film: Firebrand

In the last year of Henry VIII's life, his sixth wife Queen Kateryn Parr was accused of heresy and it looked as if her life could be on the...

Sir Walter Raleigh's Search for El Dorado

Sir Walter Raleigh's life was a turbulent one, to say the least. The Elizabethan statesman and explorer climbed to the top rung of Queen...

Pagan Ritual Nudity

Rituals are a big part of this funny human experience, aren't they?

Whether that's morning rituals like making your bed... or pagan rituals...

Warrior Viking Women

One of the enduring mysteries of the Viking Age is the identity of two people buried in a spectacular blood drenched ship in southern Norway in...

The Declaration of Independence: History’s Most Influential Document?

Assassin’s Creed III offers players a glimpse into the room where it happened - the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But was the...

Myth of the Minotaur: Half Man Half Bull

The myth of the Minotaur has endured thousands of years for good reason... it's hard to forget! Today, Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the...