Dan Snow's History Hit

What comes to your mind when you think of a witch? Broomsticks? Black cats? Warts?Early modern witchcraft expert, John Callow, is Betwixt the Sheets with Kate to explain the history behind the stereotypes we have today. They also chat about the Bideford Witches, the last three women to be hanged for witchcraft in England, as well as the misogyny in witch trials throughout the ages.You can find out more about John's work via his website johncallow.co.uk.WARNING this episode includes some strong language.Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Seyi Adaobi.Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit. This podcast includes an archive clips from The Witch's Curse 1962. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to reinvent the world's oldest living language? China today is one of the world's most powerful nations, yet just a century ago it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, left behind in the wake of Western technology.Jing Tsu is a cultural historian, linguist and literary scholar. Joining Dan on the podcast, Jing tells the story of China's most daunting challenge as a linguistic one: to make the formidable Chinese language - a 2,200-year-old writing system that was daunting to natives and foreigners alike - accessible to a globalised, digital world and transform China into a superpower in the process.This episode was produced by Hannah Ward, the audio editor was Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February 1882 the SS Dunedin departed New Zealand on a voyage that would revolutionise the way we eat and kickstart the globalisation of the world's food supply chain. Aboard were thousands of mutton, lamb and pig carcasses as well as 250 kegs of butter, hare, pheasant, turkey, chicken and 2226 sheep tongues. This cargo would be kept fresh in the ship's hold using a Bell-Coleman compression refrigeration machine and would mark the first time fresh goods had ever been transported over such a distance. However, the journey was far from plain sailing though as you will hear in this episode.To tell the Dunedin's story and to celebrate the new digitisation project by Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s Heritage & Education Centre Dan is joined by Charlotte Ward and Max Wilson from the Foundation. This episode was first released on 30th June 2021.The audio editor for this episode was Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over Britain’s first century of mass democracy, from the Great Depression to the pandemic, politics has lurched from crisis to crisis. How does this history of political agony illuminate our current age of upheaval?Phil Tinline is a leading producer and presenter of historical narrative documentaries for BBC Radio 4. Phil joins Dan on the podcast to reveal how politics is transformed through fear— providing answers to fascinating questions: How did the Great Depression’s spectres of fascism, bombing and mass unemployment force politicians to think the unthinkable and pave the way to post-war Britain? And, how was Thatcher’s road to victory made possible by a decade of nightmares?This episode was produced by Hannah Ward, the audio editor was Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are talking warships: from the revolutionary Tudor ships to modern aircraft carriers, and all the innovations along the way.In this episode of Patented: History of Inventions Dan, a self-confessed Maritime history nerd, joins Dallas on a whistle-stop tour of nearly 200 years of naval history. From the rise of wooden warships, to how these feats of engineering were built and how they transformed the world, forever.This episode was produced by Emily WhalleyThe senior producer is Charlotte LongEdited and mixed by Seyi AdaobiIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June 1815 the French army under the command of Napoleon was decisively beaten by an allied army led by Britain and Prussia at Waterloo in what is now Belgium. This titanic clash took a terrible toll on both men and animals. An estimated 20,000 men lost their lives that bloody day. As archaeologists have attempted to unpick the events of Waterloo a mystery has emerged. What has happened to the remains of the soldiers who fought there?Very few human or animal remains have been found on the site of the battle. However, an international team of archaeologists and historians have joined forces in a bid to solve this enduring puzzle. A new discovery this summer has found some astonishing evidence to now say why that is. It seems enterprising profiteers likely plundered the site for illegal bone trading, predominantly for the European sugar industry.Joining Dan on the podcast is Professor Tony Pollard archaeological director of Waterloo Uncovered, historian and scholar Rob Schaefer and Bernard Wilkin Senior Researcher at the Belgian State Archive. They discuss their theory about the fate of the Waterloo remains and why so few have survived.The paper Tony recently published on graves at Waterloo is available to all as a free open access download - These spots of excavation tell: using early visitor accounts to map the missing graves of waterloo.Warning: this episode contains frank discussion of dead bodies, animal carcasses, mass graves and amputations.This episode was produced by Mariana Des Forges, the audio editor was Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the Second World War, the Germans liked to boast that there was 'no escape' from the infamous fortress and POW camp Colditz. However, the elite British officers imprisoned there were determined to prove the Nazis wrong and get back into the war; since then the fortress became just as famous for its escape attempts. As the officers dug tunnels, removed bricks and got lines of communication to the outside world the Gestapo were determined to uncover their secrets and planted a double agent- Walter Purdy in their midst. It was a race against time for the British officers to expose Purdy for the traitor he was.Drawn from unseen records, Robert Verkaik tells Dan this extraordinary never-before-told story and tries to make sense of why, despite committing treason, Purdy was able to escape the gallows, not once but twice.Robert's book is called 'The Traitor of Colditz'.The producer was Mariana Des Forges and the audio editor was Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1989, Beijing's Tiananmen Square became the focus of large-scale demonstrations as mostly young students crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy. On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing into the crowds of protesters. The events produced one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century - of ‘Tank Man,’ an unidentified protester who stood in front of a line of army tanks.Louisa Lim is an award-winning journalist who grew up in Hong Kong and reported from China for a decade. Louisa joins Dan on the podcast to discuss what led to the protests and how they grew, the turmoil that ensued and why the events remain a highly sensitive topic in China.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Numerous novels, TV shows and as many as 5 movies- including the Hollywood classic starring Clarke Gable and Marlon Brando - have immortalised the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty in the popular imagination forever. The mutiny on the HMS Bounty occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant Bligh, and set him and eighteen loyalists adrift in a rowing boat. The mutineers settled on Tahiti and Pitcairn Island, while Bligh navigated more than 4,000 miles in the rowing boat to safety. and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.Direct descendent of lead mutineer Fletcher Christian, Harrison Christian joins Dan on the podcast to seperate the myth from the truth in this epic tale of a rebellious crew, a mammoth journey and a lost colony in the far-flung tropics of the Pacific Ocean. The legends started when William Bligh returned to Britain and immediately rewrote the facts of what happened to fit his narrative; novelists and film-writers have been doing the same ever since.The producer was Mariana Des Forges and the audio editor was Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2/2. It's a big summer for British politics with Boris Johnson's resignation and the race between conservative hopefuls Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to take his place, firmly on. To make sense of this coveted premiership, we've delved into the History Hit podcast archives for our rampaging explainer on the history of British Prime Ministers. In this second episode, Dan is joined by the brilliant Robert Saunders, Reader in Modern British History at Queen Mary University of London. Together, they tackle the period following the Battle of Waterloo all the way up to Winston Churchill, including Peel, Gladstone and Lloyd George.You can listen to Part 1 here.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.