History Hit Podcasts

The Falaise Pocket: WWII's 'Corridor of Death'

The D-Day landings were just the first step in the liberation of France. They were followed by two months of vicious fighting for control of the...

The Real Anne Boleyn: Sex, Scandal & Betrayal

Anne Boleyn was smart, sophisticated and had SO much charisma.

She kept Henry VIII waiting for SEVEN YEARS before they finally got together,...

The Normans in Italy: From Pilgrims to Conquerors

Say Norman Conquests; think 1066 and William the Conqueror. But the massive success of the English conquest often overshadows the several other...

Hellfire Club: Scandal & Satanism in Georgian England

Sex, Satanism and Scandal surrounded the Hellfire Club that operated out of a network of caves in the country estate of 18th century aristocrat...

Origins of Political Campaigns: Publicity Stunts & Fake News

How do our politicians use the media? Throughout the 2024 election we have seen a boom in the use of social media and cable news, so how far back...

The Ancient Olympics: Games Of The Gods

A tradition that endured millennia. The ancient Olympic Games began in 776 BC and took place every four years until at least 396 AD. It was a...

Innocent or Axe Murderer? Lizzie Borden

It's one of the most infamous trials in American history, Lizzie Borden's story is breathtaking even today. In 1893 she was accused of using an...

Magellan: The First Man to Sail the World

Just over 500 years ago, a small band of sailors completed the first ever circumnavigation of the globe, launched by Ferdinand Magellan. From...

The Battle of Hastings

On 14 October 1066, the armies of William, the Duke of Normandy, and the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson clashed near Hastings in one of the...

Origins of the Olympics

The Olympics. It’s the most famous sporting event in the world, and the 33rd Olympiad is taking place in Paris right now. But how did it all...

How Nudes Changed Britain

Why were nudes so significant in Victorian England? What role did painting them play in wider social change at that time? And why didn't men think...

Richard III's Mother: Cecily

Cecily Neville was the matriarch of the House of York, the mother of two kings of England and an ancestor of every monarch since Henry VIII. Born...

American Operators on WW1's Front Line

When the First World War ended at 11am on 11 November, 1918, how did army command relay the ceasefire to their troops? In fact, before radios and...

New York Morgue's Dark Secrets

The unclaimed dead of New York City's streets and rivers were once brought to the notorious New York Morgue. It's a history that has never been...

Hestia: Goddess of Hearth & Home

As both the eldest and youngest child of the great titan Kronos, and the Greek goddess of hearth and home, Hestia was incredibly important in...

Henry VII: Rise of the Medieval Tudors

Henry VII was descended from some of the greatest Welsh princes. When word spread that he had a chance of taking the English throne, Welsh...

The Warsaw Uprising

80 years ago, the Polish resistance rose up against their German occupiers and tried to seize back control of their capital city. For two months a...

The Boy Who Hid in the Woods: How I Survived the Holocaust

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

Maxwell Smart was just a boy when the Nazis came for him and his family. Within...

The Dark History of Bearded Ladies & the Victorian Freak Show

What would it have really been like to visit a Victorian freak show? Were "freak performers" exploited, or empowered in a world that would likely...

Rollo: The First Norman

Rollo was a Viking leader who became the first ruler of Normandy in the early 10th century. His descendants, the Normans, later conquered England...

A History of Cheating at the Olympics

Dan is joined by the QI Elves James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski to talk about cheating in sports as the 2024 Olympics get underway. Why do we do it...