History Hit Podcasts

Queer London & The Post-War Moral Panic

In the wake of the Second World War, a moral panic swept through Britain around a rise in homosexuality.

London was the heart of this scare...

Communism in America

The history of the United States' relationship with communism is one littered with fear and persecution. So where did the American Communist Party...

Zionism in Texas

What do you know about Galveston, Texas? Perhaps you've heard about the disastrous hurricane of 1900, perhaps not. This was also likely the case...

Charles II's Lost Queen: Catherine de Braganza

Despite Catherine of Braganza's crucial place in British history, she has always been overshadowed by stories of Charles II’s many mistresses...

How The Metropolitan Police Shaped London

Scotland Yard: the home of London's Metropolitan Police Force. In this episode, Matt Lewis and Dr Jonah Miller put a magnifying lens to the...

Emperor Heraclius: Rome vs Persia

Emperor Heraclius took the Byzantine Empire from its lowest ebb to its greatest heights. After years of turmoil at the hands of invading Persian...

Bell Witch of Tennessee: America's Greatest Ghost Story

It's America's greatest ghost story: the 1817-1821 haunting of a rural family by a mysterious entity—sometimes violent, sometimes mischievous,...

The Bronze Age Brotherhood of Kings

More than 3,000 years ago, a coalition of Bronze Age rulers existed across the Near Eastern world. Kings reigning over great Bronze age powers...

Emperors & Scandals in Ancient Rome with Mary Beard

What happens at a Roman emperor's dinner party? Why would you be lucky to get out alive? And how are emperors even chosen?

Joining Kate...

How Parliament Came to Westminster

Parliament is perhaps the single most significant institution in the United Kingdom. Like anything worthwhile, it's a medieval creation. But why...

What is Populism? From the Farmers' Alliance to Trump

In the long unanswered question of whether the established elite truly support the concerns of ordinary people, a supposed hero arises:...

Domina: Women Who Shaped Rome

The crisis of the Roman Republic is a period littered with iconic male power players. Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Pompey, Brutus and the Gracchi...

Ultimate Tudor Spy-Master: Robert Cecil

Robert Cecil, statesman and spymaster, stood at the heart of the Tudor and then Stuart state, a vital figure in managing the succession from...

Real Life Crime in Victorian London

"You've got to pick a pocket or two" says Fagan to Oliver Twist about the foggy streets of Victorian London where poverty and oppression abounded....

A Short History of Pirates

Swashbuckling, murder and robbery on the high seas! We're bringing back the fan-favourite episode on Dr Rebecca Simon's 'Pirate Queens: The Lives...

The Inside Story of the Brexit Referendum

On the eve of the 2024 General Election, we're joined by Tim Shipman, chief political commentator at The Sunday Times, to hear about how things...

Sex & Scandal in UK Politics

With the UK election a mere few days away (at time of release), what better time to look back at some of the biggest scandals in our political...

The Rise of Thomas Becket

"Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?!"

These words supposedly uttered by a King over 800 years ago set in motion a chain of gruesome...

How did Brexit Happen? A History

On the eve of the 2024 General Election, we're tackling one of the UK's most divisive topics; Brexit.

The 2016 referendum on EU membership...

What Caused the American Revolution?

What took the US from the Boston Tea Party to Lexington and Concord? Where was the turning point for the creation of the republic?

Mary Beth...

Six Wives: Kateryn Parr

Six wives - six lives that we think we know everything about. But beyond their mostly doomed marriages to Henry VIII and, in most cases, tragic...