People Who Made History

People Who Made History

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People Who Made History
  • The Greatest Knight

    Documentary about the adventures, life and times of William Marshal - an eminent English knight who fought in battles across Europe and survived court intrigue and exile.

  • Eleanor of Aquitaine: England's Royal Matriarch

    Eleanor of Aquitaine is at least as responsible for the vast empire of the Plantagenets as her more celebrated husband, Henry II. Sara Cockerill has written a wonderful biography of Eleanor, placing her back at the centre of English medieval history where she belongs. Sara and Dan discuss her lon...

  • Hogarth: Into the Streets of Georgian London

    Born in London at the turn of the 18th Century, William Hogarth became one of the most iconic English painters, printmakers, pictorial satirists, social critics, and editorial cartoonists of his generation.

    Often dubbed the mirror of 18th Century London, Hogarth's most notable works include, A ...

  • Charting History

    1 season

    In this series for History Hit, we unroll the map to create a visual timeline of the most successful empires in history.

  • Tutankhamun: A Century of Discovery

    On November 4th 1922 a breathless archaeologist, who had spent his life working in Egypt, wrote a hurried diary entry: “First steps of Tomb Found”. This was the very moment that Howard Carter found the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun.

    In this very special film, shot in Egypt and England, Dan...

  • Ghosts of the Romanovs

    At about 1am on 17 July 1918, in a fortified mansion in Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, the Romanovs – ex-tsar Nicholas II, ex-tsarina Alexandra, their 5 children, and their 4 remaining servants – were awoken by Bolshevik captors and told they must dress and gather their belongings for a swif...

  • Max Eisen: Surviving Auschwitz

    Max Eisen was only 15 when he and his family were taken from their Hungarian home to the infamous Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Second World War. All of his relatives were killed; only Max survived to see VE Day and eventual liberation. 74 years on from being liberated, he talks about t...

  • Edward II: Worst King of England?

    Dr Helen Carr explores the extraordinary and chaotic reign of Edward II, a king with a reputation as a disastrous ruler. But how much of that is true?

    Edward's accession as king of England in 1307 led almost immediately to conflict as he favoured close friends, and maybe lovers, like Piers Gaves...

  • Looking for Victoria

    1 season

    Prunella Scales researches the life of Queen Victoria and interviews historians to help her with her portrayal of Queen Victoria in her one-woman stage show "An Evening with Queen Victoria". She also portrays Queen Victoria in the historical reconstructions in this programme and reads from Queen ...

  • Death in the Parsonage: The Brontës

    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...

  • A Very Victorian Scandal: The Trials of Oscar Wilde

    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...

  • Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon - Brilliant Rivals

    Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn - the first two wives of Henry VIII - are so often portrayed as opposites. Katherine as the loyal, scorned wife - Anne as the bright, bewitching upstart.

    But now Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb returns to Hever Castle to explore what Anne and Katherine were really l...

  • Becoming Anne Boleyn

    March 2022 marks the 500th anniversary since Anne Boleyn made her debut at the court of King Henry VIII.

    Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the story of Anne’s remarkable upbringing in England, the Netherlands and France before she arrived at the heart of Tudor England. For all Anne Boleyn’s...

  • Pinches of Salt and Gold: Uncovering Mansa Musa's Story

    Documentary telling the story of Mansa Musa, the famous 14th century ruler of Mali, renowned for his great wealth. Featuring Professor Amira Bennison, Boubacar Diallo, Hadrien Collet, Mauro Nobili and Madina Thiam.

  • Rise Of
    1 season

    Rise Of

    1 season

    Series examining the rise of history's most powerful and in many cases, notorious leaders.

  • Ernest Shackleton: With Ranulph Fiennes

    In this fascinating interview, Dan Snow chats to the world's greatest living explorer Ranulph Fiennes about Ernest Shackleton and his heroic expeditions in the Golden Age of Antarctic Exploration.

  • A Nation Soars: Commemorating Canada's Great War Flyers

    1 season

    This three-part series narrated by Dan Aykroyd explores how aviation changed the course of the First World War, including its vital part in Canada's nation-defining victory at Vimy Ridge. A Nation Soars offers a fascinating and refreshing look at Canada's part in the Great War.

  • The Road to the Crown - Elizabeth I's Coronation Procession

    On January 14th 1559 one of the most extraordinary royal parades of Tudor England made its way through the heart of London. It was the Coronation Procession of Queen Elizabeth I.

    In this special History Hit film, made to coincide with the coronation of King Charles III, royal historian Tracy B...

  • The Life and Legacy of: Christina of Sweden

    Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), a queen, a Catholic convert, an LGBTQ icon, and one of only three women to be buried in the Vatican. Who was she? And what impact did she have on culture and society? At best she has been described as clever and ‘unconventional’ and at worst as over-emotional, as ...

  • The Life of Churchill's Cook

    Annie Gray's latest project is a biography of the woman who cooked for Churchill. Georgina Landemare was one of the few people able to cope with the demands, eccentricities and public nudity that came with working for the Churchills. Where all the other servants came and went fairly rapidly, she ...

  • Medieval Kings

    1 season

    A biography on each of the Medieval Kings

  • Hitler: The Rise to Power

    In the 1930s Germany, one of the World's richest, most technologically-developed and culturally-sophisticated countries, was transformed into an extreme authoritarian state under its dictator Adolf Hitler. His unbridled ambition would plunge the World into a war bloodier and more destructive than...

  • Henry VIII on Film - Not Just the Tudors... Lates

    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...

  • Heroes of the Somme

    Heroes of the Somme uses original archive from the Western Front to uncover the stories of seven of the men whose remarkable bravery in 1916 won them the Victoria Cross, Britain’s most prized military medal. Interviews with modern day family members reveal the personal stories of each character, ...