Mike Loades talks to Dan about bows of all shapes and sizes. He discusses Mongol fighting tactics, as well as the trope of certain nationalities being prolific with a bow, and whether Edward III really did ban football to force people to practice archery. Producer: Peter Curry. Image Credit: Kim ...

Bernard Cornwell joined me on the podcast to discuss his final book in the Last Kingdom series. War Lord is the epic story of how England was made.

Margaret MacMillan joined me on the podcast to discuss the ways in which war has influenced human society. We discussed how, in turn, changes in political organisation, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight.

A recent study published in the science journal Nature tracked the emotional tone of books and newspapers over the past 200 years and suggested that the British were happier in the 19th century. This rang alarms at History Hit HQ. So we got Hannah Woods on the pod pronto to talk us through the re...

Toby Green has been fascinated by the history of West Africa for decades after he visited as a student and heard whispers of history that didn’t appear in text books. Years later he wrote ‘Fistful of Shells,’ a survey of West Africa and West-Central Africa before the slave trade, and the effect t...

In the second half of the twentieth century, western Europe was shaped by a revolutionary political force: democracy. Or at least that's what Martin Conway has argued in his major new history. On this podcast, Martin - a teacher from my university days - interrogated the years following the Secon...

Dr Rory Cox @drrorycox is a Historian of Just War Doctrine and the Ethics of War, and a Lecturer in Late Mediæval History and Associate Director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St Andrews. He is also the author of John Wyclif on War and Peace.;The Military Response t...

Dan talks to Frank Dikötter, an eminent professor on Chinese history, who has written a new book about dictators around the world. They discuss what dictators need to do to control power and whether there is anything different about the people who become dictators. Producer: Peter Curry

Dan talks to Giles Milton about D-Day and what his research has uncovered about the untold stories of this landmark event.

Myanmar is currently experiencing one of its worst-ever periods of violence and civil unrest as the population protests against the recent military coup. Many protesters have been killed and injured and Aung San Suu Kyi is once again under house arrest. To help explain what is happening in Myanma...

Simon Hall joined me on the pod to talk about Fidel Castro’s trip to New York in September 1960. Based at Harlem’s Theresa Hotel, Castro met with a succession of political and cultural luminaries, including Malcolm X, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nikita Khrushchev, Amiri Baraka, and Allen Ginsberg. We dis...

Clare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport and the religious/spiritual programme Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2.

On 19 December 1644 the English Parliament banned Christmas. EXACTLY 376 years later to the day, Boris Johnson announced that this year the celebration of Christmas would be radically curtailed due to the upsurge in Covid infections. This might be the only thing that Boris Johnson and the 17th Ce...

In 1814 a British expeditionary force landed in Maryland, marched on Washington, brushed aside an American army and stormed into the US capital. The British looted and burnt the Capitol, then moved on to the White House, ate President Madison's dinner and then torched the White House. Even member...

Whitechapel Bell Foundry was formally founded in 1570, and continued casting bells until 2017. It cast the Liberty Bell and Big Ben. In this episode, Dan talks to Adam Lowe who is part of a campaign to get the Foundry back into action. Thumbail Image: No Swan So Fine (CC)

Dan talks to Adrian Maldonaldo about why ancient empires constructed some mighty walls. Particular focus is placed on Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall.

Ben Wilson is a Historian. He is author of Empire of the Deep: The Rise and Fall of the British Navy (2013) and Heyday (2016).

When Donald Trump announced that the USA would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel the decision hit the headlines. Then again for the last 3000 years Jerusalem has rarely been out of the news. In this episode we hear from historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of 'Jerusalem: the biogra...

My guests this week were Marcus Collins and Peter Stearns. They've just released a wonderful new book, 'Why Study History?' - a guide for prospective students and parents to enthuse the reader and answer the crucial questions that a college prospectus might conveniently miss out. They joined me o...

Dan talks to Mike Martin about the reasons humans fight, why they are willing to die for their countries, and how ideology can lead someone to blow themselves up.

Dr Marc Morris is an historian and broadcaster, specialising in the Middle Ages. He is the author of 'William I: England's Conqueror'.

The Williamson Tunnels are a labyrinth of tunnels in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool, England, which were built under the direction of the eccentric businessman Joseph Williamson between 1810 and 1840.

David Lammy, whose urgent question to Amber Rudd in the House of Commons provoked an international response, talks to Dan about how British history is colonial history, and what histories currently aren't told in our national story.

Recorded LIVE in association with the British Academy, Dan talked to Dr Suzannah Lipscomb about the history of witchcraft...