On Christmas Eve 1914 many sectors of the Western Front in France and Belgium fell silent. Troops from all sides put down their weapons and sang carols, exchanged gifts and buried their dead in No Man's Land. The following day the truce continued in many, but not all areas, and troops gathered in...

Dan Snow is treated to a range of Dickensian Christmas delights courtesy of historian Pen Vogler, from mince pies to Charles Dickens' favourite punch.

‘Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes...

Join Paterson Joseph, actor (‘Boat Story’, ‘Wonka’) and author (‘The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho’), in this special History Hit film as he takes us on a fascinating journey through 18th century London, discovering the life, loves and losses of a truly remarkable man.

Georgian Londo...

Sir Tony Robinson comes to History Hit to present a special film about a remarkable excavation in central London, the workhouse that inspired Charles Dickens to write his famous novel, “Oliver Twist”.

In the middle of the capital, archaeologists are digging deep to find out more about the lives ...

1066 - one of the most famous years in English history. In a succession crisis like no other three warlords separated by hundreds of miles and savage seas vied for control of the English throne in a series of bloody battles. From Harald Hardrada's crowning victory at Fulford to the renowned Battl...

The Italian campaign in September 1943, spearheaded by the US 5th and British 8th Armies, is one of the most dramatic campaigns of the entire Second World War - it was here that Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ would finally be pierced. The first, tentative steps to total Allied victory. But lacking th...

The Italian campaign in September 1943, spearheaded by the US 5th and British 8th Armies, is one of the most dramatic campaigns of the entire Second World War - it was here that Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ would finally be pierced. By the beginning of October, after a tough fight to gain a foothol...

As soon as William entered England, he started to build the ultimate tool of control: castles. These symbolic powerhouses display how William stamped his authority on England. In this episode, Jack visits Buckenham Castle to gain a better understanding of a typical Norman castle.

The Welsh presented problems for the Anglo-Saxons; William wanted to further strengthen this border, so created the Marcher Earldoms. In this episode, Jack visits a castle in Herefordshire, still displaying signs of its construction in 1067.

The north of England still shows signs of the infamous Harrying of the North. In this episode, Jack explores the reasons why it happened, situated between two villages listed to have been scorched by Norman soldiers.

Three earls in 1075 decided to rebel against William, but this was not like the revolts before. In this episode, Jack visits Norwich to show explores the reasons why it happened, situated between two villages listed to have been scorched by Norman soldiers.

It wasn’t just castles that William built to stamp his mark on England. The Normans were Christian: this sees a complete restructuring of the English church as well as new Romanesque architecture. In this episode, Jack visits St Albans Abbey, one of the Cathedrals built under William I.

From 1945 to 1989, after the capitulation of Nazi Germany, two rival ideologies, communism and capitalism, faced each other in a merciless battle.

On one side of the Iron Curtain and on the other, throughout the Cold War, the USSR and the United States sought to shape children’s imaginations thr...

Some just counted tanks, others stole blueprints for bombs. The Cold War was the battleground for thousands of spies and spotters. Even the Allied Military Missions in Germany doubled as covert observers in the spying game. Whether military observers, spies or traitors – they all acted as supplie...

During the Cold War, tensions between East and West mount alarmingly. In consequence, western intelligence services shift their focus on East Germany as the Warsaw Pact’s major deployment zone.

Nowhere else did western services get as close to Soviet military equipment. Their prime targets are m...

At the end of the 80s, the Soviet army is being universally modernized, observed closely by western military intelligence in East Germany.

Weapons-scouts in the field are constantly on duty, as are agents in high command or in intelligence service stations, for instance in the autumn of 1983, as...