Searching for Stories
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Magna Carta
Magna Carta has inspired and motivated and radicalised countless people all over the world for centuries. It's a document about administration and process, but it has echoed down through the centuries.
Visiting the places where history was made, examining the documents that tell the story, and s...
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The Lost DNA
1 season
Some 9,000 years ago, dark-skinned, blue-eyed hunter-gatherers roamed our forests and plains. Thousands of years later, a new wave of settlers washed into Europe from the Middle East and Mediterranean, bringing with them a dynamic new technology - farming. Now Lara Cassidy, a young geneticist at ...
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24 Hours in Medieval Armour
Luke Tomes undertakes a series of challenges around England's capital wearing 14th century full-plate armour.
In this video, you'll find out what life was like for medieval knights in battle and on crusade, how they trained for combat, how much their armour cost them and most importantly, how th...
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Paestum: A Tale of Three Cities
The story of ancient Italy is so much more than just Rome. Tristan Hughes visits the extraordinary site of Paestum in southern Italy, home to some of the greatest ancient Greek temples from anywhere in the world.
From majestic temples to pristine wall paintings more that 2,500 years old, he exp...
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Ancient Adventures: Libya
Join Dan Snow on a special expedition that goes far off the beaten track of history as we venture to Libya in North Africa to explore extraordinary Greek and Roman sites, centred around one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, Cyrene.
After years of civil war and instability, History Hit...
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The Mission: Finding the Untold Stories of WWII
Historian Rishi Sharma is a man on a unique mission, a mission to interview every living World War II combat veteran of the allied forces that he can. In the seven years since he left high school Rishi has travelled through every state and across the globe, often sleeping in his car, to film over...
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Lost and Found: The Search for USS Lagarto
A fierce WWII battle at sea, unreported for more than 60 years is revealed at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand in HD underwater video. There lay the US submarine Lagarto and the remains of her 86 crewmen, whose families share how their husbands’ and fathers' disappearance shaped their lives. Wr...
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Steam: 200 Years on the Tracks
200 years ago, the sound and pace of the world changed forever...On September 27th, 1825, the Locomotion Number One made its first journey on the Stockton and Darlington railway line, marking the birth of the modern railway.
Dan Snow climbs aboard a working replica, recreating that historic ori...
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Fort Laramie: America's Road West
On the Great Plains of North America, where the flatlands meet the Rocky Mountains and the buffalo once roamed, trailed by Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Sioux, there stood an oasis for westward migrants in search of new lives and fortunes…
It’s called Fort Laramie.
In this thought-provoking film, Don ...
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Bannockburn: The Battle for Scotland
Helen Carr takes a deep dive into the story of one of the most decisive battles in medieval history.
In 1314, a massive English army headed into Scotland, led by King Edward II. He was on a mission to crush his arch enemy, the Scottish King, Robert the Bruce.
The battle that followed, by the Ba...
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Beijing Central Axis: China's Medieval Wonder
The Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Drum and Bell Towers - all of these architectural wonders stand on a line that runs like a spine through the centre of Beijing. It is known as the Beijing Central Axis, a World Heritage site containing a spectacular array of ancient buildings that together t...
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The Man Who Discovered Egypt
Chris Naunton investigates the Victorian maverick who pioneered modern field archaeology.
Most of us have never heard of Flinders Petrie, but this maverick genius undertook a scientific survey of the pyramids, discovered the oldest portraits in the world, unearthed Egypt's prehistoric roots - an...
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Stonehenge: The Discovery
Dan Snow pieces together the story of the magnificent Stone Age circle.
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Gladiators: History's Greatest Fighters
Gladiators, from Spartacus to Ridley Scott’s Maximus Decimus Meridius, we’ve been fascinated by them for hundreds of years. Dan Snow is on the hunt to find out why we’re still so obsessed with the men who controlled the Roman arena from the ground up!
Dan joins experts in Italy and England to in...
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The Road to Magna Carta
Magna Carta - one of the most important documents from the medieval period. It’s still held up as a totem of democracy even in today’s turbulent world. But why did Magna Carta get written and sealed in the first place?
In the first of two very special episodes, Prof. Michael Livingston is headin...
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The Trials of Joan of Arc
We all know the name, Joan of Arc. But who really was this celebrated voice of the people of France? For some she is a simple peasant girl - one of the people. For others, she is a champion of nation and church. For the English, she was simply the enemy.
Dr Eleanor Janega is on a mission to deci...
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The First Emperor of China
In March 1974, one of the most astonishing archaeological discoveries in history was made in the heart of China: the Terracotta Warriors. These incredible clay statues were built and buried over 2000 years ago - but who made them? And why?
Dan Snow comes face to face with the warriors and heads...
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Prehistoric Ireland
1 season
Tristan Hughes travels to Ireland to delve into the mysteries and myths of prehistoric Ireland.
In the first episode, History Hit’s Ancients expert Tristan Hughes travels to Ireland to delve into the mysteries of Newgrange and its surrounding tombs — exploring the secrets of Stone Age Ireland. A...
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The Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was the most numerous bomber which the Luftwaffe deployed during the Battle of Britain. It was capable of storing and delivering large bombs (250kg) and had state-of-the-art gyroscopic sights to improve its accuracy. The He 111 was protected armour plating and self-sealing fuel...
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Uncovering the Band of Brothers
1 season
80 years ago, millions of American soldiers started arriving in Britain, a friendly invasion that was here to prepare for the liberation of Europe. Amongst them was Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - that would become the famous Band of Brothers. Now, a team of volunteers, in...
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Captain Cook's Endeavour
Captain James Cook is one of the greatest maritime navigators in history. Born in 1728 to a Scottish father and English mother, Cook grew up in Yorkshire and soon developed a great fascination with the sea and exploration. In 1746 Cook joined the merchant shipping industry when he moved to the ne...