Dan Snow's History Hit

Every family has a history and delving into the history of one ordinary French family over three centuries provides a remarkable picture of deep social and economic changes. Accounts of the lives of the rich and powerful families of history are commonplace. We have all read about the Kennedy's, the Windsors or the Habsburgs but what about an ordinary family? Dan is joined by Emma Rothschild,...

Today's podcast is about French Resistance spies! Dan is joined by the author Roland Phillips who has uncovered the story of Mathilde Carré who was codenamed agent Victoire and nicknamed La Chatte & who spied for both the French Resistance & the Nazis. In this episode, Roland takes us through a fascinating tale of love, betrayal, espionage, patriotism and cynicism during the Second World War. Host...

Saint Helena is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. Nearly a thousand mile from the nearest piece of land, this recently created volcanic effusion is a wonder of geography and biodiversity. But it's also got a remarkable history. Napoleon was sent there after Waterloo. It was the safest place the British government could think of to imprison the most dangerous man in the world....

Here in the UK, it's census time! Today, I'm joined on the podcast by one of the nations favourite family historians Dr Michala Hulme who certainly knows her way around a historical census. The first census was back in 1801 so we now have over 200 years of census information. We discuss why the census was first created, how the census can give us a real insight into how people lived their lives an...

In this episode taken from our archive, I talk to Dr Bill Frankland (19 March 1912 – 2 April 2020), a veteran of World War Two who lived through a Japanese prisoner of war camp and who also made important contributions to our understanding of allergies. You can listen to part 2 of this podcast here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I am joined once again by Professor David Runciman to talk about the second series of his brilliant History of Ideas podcast. The series looks at some of the most important political thinkers of all time and tells us about their lives, their theories and why their thinking still matters. We discuss the series and look at the philosophies of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jeremy Bentham, Frederick D...

We all have a story about St Patrick's Day and our guest on the podcast today, Adrian Mulligan has a few. Adrian is an Associate Professor of Geography at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. We had a fascinating talk about the origins of St Patrick's day, Irish Nationalism, how it has become a global phenomenon, the Irish American experience and how it's celebration has been influenced by the Iri...

On the 16th March 1968, the My Lai Massacre occurred in South Vietnam. 350-500 men, women, children and babies were brutally killed by US troops during a counterinsurgency operation. It was the worst war crime perpetrated by US forces during the Vietnam War.  To try and find out what made those men snap and commit those terrible crimes I spoke to Erik Villard a Historian at the U.S. Army Cent...

Today's podcast is an episode taken from our sibling podcast The Ancients . In 4 BC, the Ides of March took on a new significance. Previously observed as the first full moon of the new year, the 15 March is today remembered as the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar. In this episode, Dr Emma Southon talks Tristan through the events leading up to the Caesar’s assassination: was he for...

On the podcast today we have the legendary Linda Colley to talk all about her new book examining the phenomenon of written constitutions. From Corsica in 1755 onwards via the United States and into the modern world constitutions represent an attempt by people to write down and codify the laws that govern a state. We discuss how these important documents are, and continue to be, a powerful symbol o...

The Vikings were one of the great exploring peoples of the past. They travelled east along the rivers to the Silk Road, they explored west across the seas to the United Kingdom, they settled Iceland and Greenland and famously reached North America. L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada has been identified as a Viking site, but it seems that this was only a staging post for longer journey's bu...

Throughout history homelessness has been given many names vagrancy, vagabonding, tramping. Indeed, homeless people have been seen in different lights. Sometimes portrayed as romantic heroes maintaining their freedom to roam and refusing to accept the yoke of a capitalist, settled society but also as an existential threat to order and property. I spoke to Professor of Contemporary British History N...

Vince Houghton joins me on the podcast today to talk about some of the weirdest and craziest ideas put forward during the twentieth century. We're talking exploding bats, sonic cats, aircraft carriers made of icebergs and detonating a nuclear missile on the moon just to show that you could do it! This is a really fun episode and as you'll hear many of these ideas came closer to becoming reality th...

In this archive episode, Dan Snow wrangles with a Python! He talks to comedy legend Michael Palin about his book, Erebus The Story of a Ship. The book tells the devastating true story of the Franklin expeditions to find the Northwest Passage, and how their history only slowly came to light. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To help celebrate International Women's Day I am joined on the podcast by Tania Hershman, Ailsa Holland and Jo Bell founders of On This Day She. Women have often been deliberately written out of history with their accomplishments been credited to men. On This Day She sets out to redress this imbalance and give voice to women, from all different backgrounds, that have been left out of history. It i...

I am joined by an absolute legend on the podcast today; Eddie the Eagle. He became an overnight sensation during the 1988 Winter Olympics as the first person to represent Great Britain in ski jumping since 1928. Although he finished last in both the 70 metres and the 90 metres he became a worldwide phenomenon due to his positive attitude and the extraordinary story of how he reached the games. He...

Nicholas Crane is a geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. He has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town. The Making Of The British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present is out now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the podcast we're going to talk all about the Renaissance. We have all heard of it as a reawakening, a rebirth of European culture but what truly was it and why was it so important and are we going through our own renaissance now? I wanted to really get under the skin of the Renaissance and find out what exactly happened in Italy in the 15th and 16th century. Joining me to do just that is...

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 Myanmar and put the events into context I am joined on the podcast by the filmmaker Alex Bescoby, who has spe...

Today's episode is from our brilliant sibling podcast The Ancients . Cheddar Man is the oldest almost complete skeleton of a Homo sapien ever found in Britain and, for this fantastic episode, Tristan spoke to the scientist who has drilled a (very small) hole in him. Dr Selina Brace is a biologist who works with ancient and degraded DNA. At the Natural History Museum in London, where Cheddar Man cu...

Joining me on the podcast today are Alice Doyard and Anthony Giacchino to discuss their film Colette: The french resistance fighter confronting fascism which has been shortlisted for the Oscars 2021 in the Documentary Short category. The documentary tells the story of Colette Marin-Catherine who was part of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of France in the Second World War. 90-year...

In today's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Katherine Pangonis a historian specialising in the medieval world of the Mediterranean and Middle East. She has recently written a fantastic book about the powerful women who dared to rule in the Crusader States of Outremer following the First Crusade; something that was largely absent from other states of the period. We talk about how and why...

On this day thirty years ago a ceasefire was declared bringing ground operations in the first Gulf War to an end. An overwhelmingly powerful coalition force had stormed across the desert driving Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait and concluding the ground campaign after only 100 hours of fighting. To commemorate this anniversary I am joined on the podcast by General Sir Rupert Smith who command...

The 19th century saw the world in the grip of the industrial revolution, a firepower revolution on the battlefield and a communications revolution with the telegram. But there was another revolution happening at the same time; the medical revolution. This led to giant strides forward being made in the fields of public health, surgery and pharmaceuticals. Monica Walker, Curator at Old Operating The...

Today, we're talking about one of the great stories of American military history; The Doolittle Raid. In 1942 after the humiliation assault on Pearl Harbour and determined to show that America still had offensive capabilities the charismatic figure of James Doolittle came to President Rosevelt with the proposal to fly army bombers off aircraft carriers and attack Tokyo the capital of the Japanese...