History Hit Podcasts

The Real Shogun: The English Navigator Who Became a Samurai

In the year 1600, a bedraggled English sailor and his sick and dying crewmates anchored off the coast of Kyushu, Japan. His name was William...

King Henry II

One of the pivotal figures in Medieval history, King Henry II centralised royal power, instituted legal reforms and established common...

Did the Cold War Ever End?

Would the Cold War have happened if the nuclear bomb was never created? How did Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher reduce tensions between the East...

Abraham Lincoln's Sex Life

Abraham Lincoln is often thought of as the most loved president in America's history, but how much do we know about his personal...

England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches

Inside the heavy walls of Lancaster Castle, the darkest & deadliest of English witch trials played out in 1612 - the Pendle Witch Trials. By the...

Tudor Ladies-in-Waiting

For every Tudor Queen, their ladies-in-waiting were their confidantes, chaperones and intimate witnesses to their lives. These women were high...

Great Wall of China

It's one of the most iconic structures in the world: The Great Wall of China.

But is it just one wall? And who built it and why? Today,...

Atlantis

The fictional island of Atlantis has intrigued and eluded us for millennia. First mentioned in the works of Plato, it's a story that captures our...

The Power of Medieval Icons

In the Middle Ages, how did art - particularly Christian icons - serve to connect humanity with heavenly realms?  How did such images spread...

The Celebrity Sex Worker of Ancient Greece

This is the story of one of the most notorious women of the Ancient world.

Phrynne was a sex worker in the 4th century BC who came from an...

Persia: Rise of the Sasanians

The Sasanians are renowned as one of Rome's most feared enemies. Founded in third-century Persia by an Iranian noble called Ardashir, their...

Irish in America: Poverty to Power

At least 23 of the Presidents of the United States can have their ancestry traced back to Ireland.

So why did this diaspora come to America?...

Diary of a Tudor Gentlewoman

Diaries written by gentlewomen in the mid-16th century are hard to find. Yet, they lived through an age of upheaval as old ways were effaced in...

The History of the RNLI

In the tempestuous waters of the 18th century, a revolutionary idea emerged from the depths of despair and necessity: the lifeboat. Born from the...

St Patrick: Pirates, Snakes and Goatees

He wasn't Irish. He didn't wear green. There were no snakes. So who was the real St Patrick? How did his myth grow? And how did he invent the...

Warfare in Ancient Greece

How did warfare work in Ancient Greece? The weapons and armour of the Greek hoplite are legendary, as are the warrior cultures of city-states like...

Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt

Artemis is best known as the goddess of the Hunt. But she is far more than just the famed huntress of Greek mythology - she is the patron of the...

Peasants' Revolt

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a public rebellion that sent revolutionary ripples across the entire medieval world. In a new video series...

Viking Sexuality

The Vikings have a fair claim to being the most overly-eroticised group of people in history. It's fair to say this is somewhat...

Lincoln: Love, Loss & Legacy

President and Commander-in-Chief at a major turning point in American History? Victim of a violent and public assassination? How do you remember...

Medieval Torture: The Dark History

This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.

To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list...