History Hit Podcasts

What Was Sex Like In Medieval Times?

What happened when medieval monks were told by the church that they had to be celibate? And how did their wives react?

On today's episode,...

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Quest for Immortality

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of storytelling in history. It begins with the tale of Gilgamesh’s friendship with...

Facebook at Twenty: From College Dorms to Court Cases

Where did the idea for Facebook come from? How has the site evolved? And how has it changed the world? In this episode, 20 years after the...

Dragons: From the Ancient World to the Hobbit

Take dinosaur bones, snake poison, volcanic lava, fear of the unknown. Mix it all together and you have a dragon!

Today we're finding out...

The Real King Arthur

If King Arthur never existed, why does he loom so large in England's history? Dan traces the real-life figures who could have been the legendary...

Who are the Houthis?

As Houthi missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea continue, we turn to the past to answer the all-important questions - who are the Houthis,...

Origins of the Civil War

The war between the Union and the Confederacy is a major turning point in the history of the United States. But why did it happen?

From...

The REAL Charles Dickens with Miriam Margolyes

Joining us today is writer, actor and all-round Charles Dickens superfan Miriam Margolyes.

You might be familiar with Dickens' hugely...

Supernatural Beings in Early Modern Britain

In the early modern period, it was patently clear to everyone that supernatural beings, foremost among them the devil, were at work in the world,...

How Everyday People Built Medieval Japan

When it comes to Japan in the Middle Ages, we think mostly of stories of the Shogun, samurai and ninjas. But for a society dominated by the...

The Reluctant Pirate: William Kidd

The new season of "Echoes of History" features Ubisoft's new game: "Skull and Bones".

You're not born a pirate, you become one. This motto...

The City of Alexandria

This is the story of a city that laid the foundations for our modern world. Sitting at the intersection of East and West, Alexandria has been home...

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Rise of Enkidu

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of storytelling from history. Written in ancient Mesopotamia over three thousand years...

The Fairy Hoax That Fooled the World

In 1920 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a story more explosive than any adventure of Sherlock Holmes. He claimed that photographic evidence had...

WWII: The Allied Invasion of Italy

By the summer of 1943, there were Allied boots on Axis soil. Sicily had been taken, and fascism's grip on Italy was beginning to loosen. But...

President Franklin Pierce: Tragedies & Trade-Offs

We're creeping closer and closer to the Civil War in our chronology of presidents, and this episode's focus did little to delay the division of...

Neanderthal Sex

What comes to mind when you think of a neanderthal? 

Probably a hunched, hairy, grunting version of a man who’s shuffling around his...

Tudor Conquest of Ireland

Henry VIII was termed "by the Grace of God, King of England, France and Ireland.”  Ireland was England’s oldest colony.  But what...

Geoffrey Chaucer: Father of English Literature

Geoffrey Chaucer is perhaps medieval England’s most famous writer and poet. Now a new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford is setting...

The First Dogs

For millennia dogs have been undoubtedly man’s best friend. But when did humans first start keeping dogs as pets? The fascinating story of...

The American Ripper

Who was the American Ripper? How many people died at his hands? What on earth is a 'murder castle'? Anthony and Maddy head down a rabbit hole on...