Dan Snow's History Hit

Eric Thompson has had his finger literally on the nuclear button. He joined the Royal Navy submarine service in the early days of the Cold War. He served on WW2 era ships and submarines before ending his career as a senior officer on Britain's state of the art nuclear submarines. Each one is armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear tips. He took Dan to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport to show him around one of the finest preserved submarines in the world, HMS Alliance. He told Dan how they kept the beer cold and why his main concern at sea was the toilet.

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.

We need your help! If you would like to tell us what you want to hear as part of Dan Snow's History Hit then complete our podcast survey by clicking here. Once completed you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 voucher to spend in the History Hit shop.

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In 1888 Louis Le Prince shot the world’s first motion picture in Leeds, England. In 1890, weeks before the public unveiling of his camera and projector – a year before Thomas Edison announced that he had invented a motion picture camera – Le Prince stepped on a train in France – and disappeared without a trace. He was never seen or heard from again. No body was ever found.

Paul Fischer, film producer and author, has unearthed one of the Victorian age’s great unsolved mysteries. Paul joins Dan on the podcast to discuss Le Prince’s career, the story behind the first motion picture, and the lawsuit to determine who, in the eyes of the law, was the inventor.

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.

We need your help! If you would like to tell us what you want to hear as part of Dan Snow's History Hit then complete our podcast survey by clicking here. Once completed you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 voucher to spend in the History Hit shop.

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The greatest anti-imperial rebellion of the nineteenth century, The Indian Rebellion of 1857, witnessed mass violence against the British. Ninety years later, Indian freedom was founded on a deadly fratricide that singularly spared the outgoing masters. As a result, India’s founding fathers were tasked with how to steer the new nation in a context rife with hatred and violence.

Shruti Kapila, Associate Professor in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss the major history of the political thought that laid the foundations of modern India - from the dawn of the twentieth century to the independence of India and the formation of Pakistan in 1947.

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.

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On April 2nd 1982 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands in the Southern Atlantic. To make sense of the conflict on its 40th anniversary, the podcast is bringing you a special season of episodes marking the key moments of the war with the help of experts, veterans, islanders and more.

This first episode is Falklands 101: Dan gives a potted history of the rocky archipelago and is joined by military historian and friend of the podcast Dr Peter Johnston who runs through the who, the what and the why of the Falklands War.

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.

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The enclosure of the commons was a centuries-long process. Gradually, through a combination of legal degrees and private acts, the land across Britain moved from a system of open field system to larger, enclosed farms. This was a transformative political, social and agricultural shift – that is still the source of much debate by historians. 

Joining Dan for this episode of the podcast is Dr Katrina Navickas who has studied protest and collective action, especially in relation to contested spaces and places in Britain from the 18th century through to today. They discuss how and why enclosure took place, its impact on the demographics of the countryside and how it has shaped the British landscape.

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.

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One of the world's much loved stage and screen characters has just returned to the cinema in a new film version starring Peter Dinklage. But what may not be generally known is that Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person who was sharper, funnier and more modern than the romantic hero he inspired.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Cyrano's biographer Ishbel Addyman, about an extraordinary figure, whose brave, independent and visionary thinking was years ahead of its time.

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.

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Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a scientist, inventor, writer and diplomat. As one of the leading figures of early American history, Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776, worked to negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War in 1783, and was a delegate to the convention that produced the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

Ken Burns joins Dan to explore the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century's most consequential and compelling characters. They discuss how Franklin's life spanned an epoch of momentous change in science, technology, literature, politics, and government.

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.

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The Demerara Rebellion of 1823 was an uprising of over ten thousand enslaved people in the Crown colony of Demerara-Essequibo (now part of Guyana) on the coast of South America. Having grown tired of their servitude, the enslaved sought to resist in the most direct way they could. The rebellion took place on August 18, 1823, and grew to become a key trigger in the abolition of slavery across the empire.

Author Thomas Harding joins Dan on the podcast to chart the lead-up to the uprising in the British colony, right through to the courtroom drama that came about as a consequence. They also discuss vital questions about the legacy that the British have been left with and whether generations of those who benefited from slavery need to acknowledge and take responsibility for White Debt.

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.

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On 28 March 1942, in the darkest months of World War Two, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook “the greatest raid of all”, turning an old destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi stronghold. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded - more than in any similar operation.

Giles Whittell, author and journalist, has unearthed the untold human stories of Operation Chariot. Giles joins Dan on the podcast to discuss how the most daring British commando raid of World War Two was fundamentally misconceived - its impact and legacy secured only by astonishing bravery.

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.

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Towering above the Wiltshire countryside, Stonehenge is perhaps the world's most awe-inspiring ancient stone circle. Shrouded in layers of speculation and folklore, this iconic British monument has spurred myths and legends that persist today. Dan is joined by Neil Wilkin, curator of a special exhibition housed at the British Museum, that reveals the secrets of Stonehenge, shines a light on its purpose, cultural power and the people who created it.

For more about Stonehenge, check out History Hit's February book of the month How to Build Stonehenge by Mike Pitts. It draws on new research to explore why, when and how Stonehenge was built.

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.

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