History Hit Podcasts

The Fall of Mark Antony: From Caesar to Cleopatra

After the death of his patron Julius Caesar, the Roman world was Mark Antony’s for the taking. His triumph over Caesar’s assassins at Phillipi...

The REAL Bridgerton: Georgian Drugs & Alcohol

The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask:...

Travel Guide to the Middle Ages

If you are planning - or dreaming of - your next holiday, have you stopped to wonder whether our medieval counterparts did exactly the same thing?...

The Preacher Too Radical for Luther

The mid-15th to mid-16th centuries in Europe was an era of political, social, and religious unrest, when the Roman Catholic Church was being...

The Rise of Mark Antony

Mark Antony; the headstrong bad boy, a feared commander, lover and traitor memorably depicted by Richard Burton. His story is intertwined with...

Real History of the Knights Templar

Why are the Knights Templar surrounded by myths and legends? Is there any truth to the tales of the Holy Grail or that the Knights survived? Why...

The History of Baseball

Where did baseball come from? Why is every stadium unique? And how do you make it to the Hall of Fame? 

For half the year, baseball...

Sex Work in Colonial Australia

From the first fleet of convict ships arriving in Australia in 1788, sex work was a central part of the new society British colonialists were...

Whisky: The Medieval Elixir

Did you know we have our medieval ancestors to thank for whisky? It wasn’t exactly a medieval invention but the process of making distilled...

The Battle of Okinawa

Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide.

On 1 April 1945, as the Second World War in Europe was reaching its end, one of...

Victorian Thames Torso Murders

At exactly the same time as Jack the Ripper, another serial killer terrorised London. Just like Jack the Ripper, all their victims were women -...

Female Spies in the 17th Century

If you think that the female spy is a 20th century phenomenon - be it Mata Hari, Mrs Zigzag or Eve Polastri - think again!  Accounts of...

Yasuke: The First African Samurai

Yasuke is one of the most captivating and yet mysterious figures within Japanese history. In 1581, at the height of the civil war, he crossed...

Mutiny on the Rising Sun: Smuggling in Colonial America

This is the story of a bloody mutiny aboard the Boston-based schooner, the Rising Sun. The ship had been on a routine smuggling voyage before it...

Hadrian's Wall

It's the most famous Roman frontier in the world. A massive c.13-foot high wall that spanned the length of northern Britain, dividing the empire...

The REAL Bridgerton: Queen Charlotte, Lord Byron & Georgian Celebrity

The third season of Bridgerton is out and we are back in sexy scandalous Georgian society. But while we watch, we're taking a step back to ask:...

Echoes of History: Civil War in Feudal Japan

Dating from 1467-1603, the Sengoku or ‘Warring States’ period is known as the bloodiest in Japan’s history; an era of continuous social...

Coming Soon! D-day to Berlin

June 6th marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day and Dan Snow's History Hit is it by bringing you its biggest series yet. From now until May next...

President Chester A. Arthur: Redemption in Office?

Vice President to a narrow election winner, Chester Arthur was a very unlikely President. But on September 20th 1881 he took his seat as the 21st...

Six Wives: Katherine of Aragon

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

Hidden History of Garden Gnomes

Garden gnomes have a secret life all of their own. If you don't believe us, then go ask Paris Hilton.

Today we discover the hidden history...