Few British monarchs loom as large in the public imagination as King Henry VIII. Straddling the line between man and myth, he is best known for his infamous six marriages and his penchant for beheadings. But where does fiction meet fact? In cinema and on television, he has been portrayed by a hos...

In the second part of his new series, conflict analyst Professor Michael Livingston is continuing his journey across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom on the trail of some of Britain’s best known rebels.

In this episode Michael is heading to Wales to discover the astonishing story of ...

The Brontë family created some of the world's most passionate and enduring novels, yet their lives were shadowed by tragedy.

Dr Maddy Pelling and Dr Anthony Delaney challenge the romantic myths surrounding the family, tracing the harsh reality of their lives in 19th-century Haworth—a crowded Yor...

17th century Iceland was a remote place. But its isolation didn’t stop it getting caught in one of the most horrifying crazes of the time, the witch hunts. But in the breathtaking landscape of Iceland something was different. In Iceland 93% of witches killed were men. Dr Kate Lister is on a missi...

November 5th, 1605... beneath the shadowed vaults of the Houses of Parliament, a man waits with 36 barrels of gunpowder by his side, and a plan that could change the fate of a nation forever.

Then, in a moment, it's over... Guy Fawkes is caught and the plan thwarted. But what if he wasn't?

Led ...

In 1895, the world's first celebrity trial challenged the creaking moral core of the British Empire. Dr Anthony Delaney traces the extraordinary trajectory of Oscar Wilde—from the toast of London’s West End, a shining star on both sides of the Atlantic, to the disgraced accused standing before th...

The first film in an exciting new partnership between History Hit and one of the world’s oldest and finest public museums, the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.

Over the course of six films, to be released through 2025, History Hit is going behind the scenes to discover some of the Ashmol...

The second film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In this episode, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb journeys into the world of Ancient Mesopotamian protectors. Guided by curator Dr Nancy Highcock, we uncover a fascinating array of objects, from fearsome ...

The third film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

In this episode, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the shifting image of witches in the early modern imagination. In conversation with curator An Van Camp, we trace how witches were portrayed...

The fourth film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

In this episode, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb meets curator Matthew Winterbottom to explore the morbid side of life in Early Modern Europe... through Memento Mori.

This was a period awash with obje...

The fifth film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Dan Snow joins Museum Director Xa Sturgis, to delve into the museum's Anglo-Saxon treasures, including the famed Alfred Jewel. Alongside other exquisite artefacts, such as a warrior's sword and v...

The sixth and final episode in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Dan Snow joins Keeper of Antiquities, Liam McNamara, to journey into Egypt’s distant past, long before the Pharaohs and pyramids. Through extraordinary artefacts from the Predynastic...