Archive of Dan Snow's History Hit 🎧

Archive of Dan Snow's History Hit 🎧

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Archive of Dan Snow's History Hit 🎧
  • 🎧 The Creation of the NHS

    75 years ago this week, the National Health Service was born. Launched by Aneurin Bevan on the 5th of July, 1948, it revolutionised healthcare in the UK by providing free medical treatment for all. Today, it is one of the country's most beloved yet divisive institutions. But how did the NHS come ...

  • 🎧 Medieval Eastern Europe

    From the Baltics to the Balkans, from Prague to Kiev, Eastern Europe is more than the sum total of its annexations, invasions and independence declarations. β€Š

    In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis meets Jacob Mikanowski, author of Goodbye Eastern Europe, to discuss what can be found out a...

  • 🎧 Garter Knights & Kings' Graves: St George's Chapel, Windsor

    There are few places more fascinating and evocative for Medieval enthusiasts than Saint George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

    In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis takes a special, out-of-hours tour around some of its extraordinary attractions with Michael Pitfield, Leadership Fellow at Wind...

  • 🎧 The First Day of The Somme

    Dan Explains the first day of The Somme which remains the bloodiest day in the history of the British army; a symbol of the senseless carnage of the First World War. At 7:30 a.m. on July 1 1916, the British soldiers climbed out of their trenches and advanced towards the German lines. They were me...

  • 🎧 Lion Man: The First Myth?

    Discovered in a German cave, days before the Second World War broke out, the Lion Man statue remained an enigma for decades. A figurine that represents a hybrid creature with the body of a human and the head of a lion, the statue is made from mammoth ivory and is estimated to be over 40,000 years...

  • 🎧 Medieval Comedy: Minstrels

    Every historian dreams of hitting gold in the archives. Matt Lewis’s guest Dr. James Wade of Girton College, Cambridge has done just that.

    James has uncovered a manuscript by cleric and tutor Richard Heege, which reports the routines of a medieval minstrel. It reads like a mixture of stand-up sc...

  • 🎧 Persia and the Bible

    As the Babylonian Empire fell into decline, and it's power faded, the Persian Empire stepped in to fill the void that was left - but how did this event directly effect the narrative of the Old Testament, and what other sources are available to learn more about this period? As Babylon's infrastruc...

  • 🎧 Toto Koopman: Socialite, Vogue Model and WWII Spy

    Toto Koopman was remarkable; she was a high society socialite who risked her life wining and dining with Italian blackshirts in order to gather information for the Dutch intelligence service in WWII. When she refused to work as a spy for the Italians, she was thrown in a detention camp. She escap...

  • 🎧 Wagner vs Putin: A History of Russian Coups

    On the 24th of June, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his paramilitary group Wagner carried out what appeared to be an attempted coup in Russia. In a seismic turn of events, his mercenaries marched across the Russian border without resistance and seized key military installations in the city of Rostov...

  • 🎧 Time Team's Tony Robinson: A Life in History

    On this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Sir Tony Robinson β€” actor, author and presenter β€” who is now hosting his own podcast, Tony Robinson’s Cunningcast.

    Sir Tony talks about how he has been making history fun, funny and accessible for decades, ranging across Black Adder, Time Tea...

  • 🎧 The 20th Century Arms Race

    The 20th century heralded a revolution in how wars are fought. From military strategy and planning to the weapons and equipment used on the ground, modern militaries have radically changed how they operate. So what major changes have there been? And what is the purpose of war in the first place?
    ...

  • 🎧 Ragnar Lothbrok: Viking Legend

    The ninth century Danish king and warrior Ragnar Lothbrok became notorious again most recently through the TV series The Vikings. But what do we know about the real Ragnar Lothbrok? In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis finds out from Professor Carolyne Larrington, author of The Norse Myt...

  • 🎧 The Titanic Wreck

    In 1912 Titanic departed on her first and last voyage from Southampton, sinking over 2 miles to the bottom of the dark North Atlantic Ocean, around 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. It has captured the imaginations of adults and children alike for over a century since the wreck was discove...

  • 🎧 The Windrush Generation & Scandal

    The journey of the Empire Windrush that docked in Essex with 1,027 passengers & at least two stowaways on 22nd June 1948 has come to define a whole generation of people who arrived in Britain for two decades from the Caribbean until the 1970s. The 802 Caribbean citizens onboard were the first of ...

  • 🎧 Origins of Water

    When you envision what Earth was like 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after its creation, images of dust-filled air and raging volcanoes tend to come to mind. However, amidst all that chaos, hidden within the rocks and atmosphere, what if water was also present? Traveling back to the beginning of ...

  • 🎧 George VI and Elizabeth, Queen Mother

    This episode brings the marriage of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother to life, from the uproar of King Edward VIIIs abdication to the challenges of the Second World War. How did they shore up public faith in the monarchy? And how did they raise their daughters through such an u...

  • 🎧 The Stonewall Uprising

    Pride month happens in June in commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising that took place in the summer of 1969 after police undertook a routine raid on an LGBTQ+ bar in New York City and instead of submitting to the usual mistreatment, its patrons resisted. The unrest continued for several nights w...

  • 🎧 The Picts

    Originating around the 3rd Century BCE and later designated official adversaries of the Roman Empire, the Picts wreaked havoc across the northern fringes of Roman Britain. But due to their limited presence in the archaeological record and the complexities of multiple kings, kingdoms, and language...

  • 🎧 Medieval Trans Saints & Sex Workers

    In this episode of Gone Medieval for Pride Month, Matt Lewis takes a look at some transgender stories from the Middle Ages.Β  Marinos was a 5th century monk mentioned in the trial of Joan of Arc.Β  They shaved their head and changed into men's clothes to live in a monastery with their widowed fathe...

  • 🎧 Ireland and the Crusades

    Ireland has long been overlooked in the context of crusading. It has not only been largely absent from accounts of crusades and crusading, it has also not featured in histories of Ireland. A new book from Forecourts Press, titled Ireland and the Crusades, seeks to correct these omissions.

    In th...

  • 🎧 The First Spears

    According to the work of today's guest, Dr Annemieke Milks, humans were using spears approximately 400,000 years ago. Thanks to fragments of wooden spears incredibly well preserved at sites like Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, and SchΓΆningen in Germany, there's now evidence to show our early ancestors w...

  • 🎧 Wreck, Scandal & Mutiny on HMS Wager

    In 1740, the Royal Navy ship The Wager set sail for the Pacific to take part in the War of Jenkins' Ear. The unfortunate ship was separated from the fleet and, after pulverising storms and outbreaks of scurvy, ended up sinking near a small island off the coast of Chile.

    Dan is joined by David Gr...

  • 🎧 Ukraine's Dam Destroyed: Water as a Weapon

    On the 6th of June, 2023, an explosion tore through the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine. A torrent of water cascaded downriver, flooding towns and villages, displacing thousands, and causing a catastrophic ecological disaster. Many observers suggest that this was a deliberate act of sabotage by the Russi...

  • 🎧 Rebels Against the Raj

    These are the stories of seven dissident foreigners who fought to free India from the British Raj. Spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, their ranks include a British suffragette, an American missionary and one of India's earliest environmental campaigners.

    This cast of fiercely anti-authoritari...