History Hit Podcasts

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...

Spartacus: Life or Legend

‘I am Spartacus!’ In the field of epic film making, the 1960 historical drama ‘Spartacus’ is legendary. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, and...

Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s Third Queen

Jane Seymour is a paradox. Of Henry VIII’s six wives, she is the one about whom we know perhaps the least. She was the most lowly of the queens,...

Richard the Lionheart

King Richard I of England - Richard the Lionheart - is one of those historical figures whose reputation stands out so much that the legends cover...

History of Monogamy

From the earliest iterations on the plains of Africa, to 21st century reconsiderations of it: are humans meant to be monogamous?

Joining...

The Opium Wars

2/2. The British Empire aggressively pursued the opium trade well into the 19th century, fueling an addiction epidemic within China. The Qing...

Great Irish Famine: Coffin Ships & the Dark Truth (Part 2)

1847 was the darkest year in the spiralling horror of the Great Irish Famine. It is known in Ireland as 'Black '47'. The British Government...

Portuguese Missionaries in Japan

When Portuguese merchants ran aground on the Japanese isle of Tanegashima in 1543 two worlds collided - Europeans had encountered Japan for the...

Henry VIII's Sister, Margaret Queen of Scots

Margaret Tudor - daughter of King Henry VII, sister to Henry VIII - was married at 13 to James IV of Scotland, learning the skills of statecraft...

The British Empire, China and Opium

1/2. Victorian readers were captivated by descriptions of smoke-filled opium dens among backstreet brothels and pubs in London's East End in Oscar...