Top History Podcasts

Bob Crawford of The Avett Brothers explores the post-presidential legacy of America’s sixth president: John Quincy Adams. Though often only seen as a failed one-term president and the son of a Founding Father, Adams spent his final decades in Congress fighting the slavocracy and forming a bridge between the founding of America and the era of Lincoln. Founding Son features Patrick Warburton as the voice of John Quincy Adams, Nick Offerman as the voice of Andrew Jackson, and Grey DeLisle as the voice of Louisa Adams.

In-depth, quirky, occationally funny history podcast by Francis Lundh

Explore some of the most powerful ideas, tensions, and political struggles that shaped the modern world.

Tony Robinson is best-known for playing turnip-brained Baldrick who always had 'a cunning plan' in the iconic TV show Blackadder. He's presented countless documentaries throughout his 50-year career, including 20-years on Channel 4's Time Team, inspired by his passion for history and for digging deep into the past to understand more about the present. That's his thing!

In his history podcast, Tony is delving into weird and wonderful stories that grab his attention. He’s asking: Why was Stonehenge built? What did the past smell like? Why were pies invented? Why do our dogs love us so much? When did tattoos stop being taboo? What do bones tell us about past humanity? When did Jelly become a thing? Who wrote the Bible? Who is Putin and what makes him tick? No subject is off limits, because everything has a history.

Along the way, Tony is joined by experts and special guests, including Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Fry, Raksha Dave, John Lloyd, Alice Roberts, Ben Elton, Grace Neutral and David Mitchell.

So join Tony Robinson as he hosts his cunningly curated history podcast. New episodes drop Thursdays.

Tony Robinson's Cunningcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Producer: Melissa FitzGerald

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New York City, 1973. Bob Guccione, the founder of the men’s magazine Penthouse, is about to drop his latest project, and it’s not quite what anyone is expecting. Enter Viva, an erotic magazine for women published by a porn king but staffed by – drumroll – a bunch of feminist writers and editors. Viva features groundbreaking full-frontal male nudes, writing by feminist icons like Betty Friedan, and profiles of literary legends like Maya Angelou. Its cover stars include Bianca Jagger and Shelley Duvall. Anna Wintour is even Viva’s fashion editor at one point. But what is originally conceived as a high-end, progressive, sexual utopia for women… doesn't quite turn out that way.

Stiffed is an Original Series from Crooked Media and iHeartPodcasts. You can listen to all 8 episodes out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

During the 63-year-long reign of Queen Victoria, seven men took the fateful decision to try to kill her. The seven men were within seconds of changing history - each could have brought the Victorian era to a premature end, yet each has been forgotten to history. This new podcast series narrated by Dr Bob Nicholson will look to answer the question of what led these men to try to kill the most famous and influential woman on the planet.

This podcast is produced by BBC Studios, a commercial company that is wholly owned by the BBC. No money from the licence fee was used to create this podcast. The money BBC Studios makes is re-invested to help fund the BBC.

This is the explosive inside story of James Meredith's battle to smash the system of white supremacy in the most racially segregated state in 1960s America.

By becoming the first black person to apply to the all-white university of Mississippi - Meredith will draw in the KKK and JFK - and trigger the largest number of troops ever deployed for a single disturbance on US soil.

Across 10 episodes and with US public radio journalist Jenn White as our guide - James Meredith takes us from his childhood in rural Mississippi where racism runs deep - to a pivotal flashpoint in US civil rights history that will be described as the last battle of the American Civil War.

This could be our last opportunity to hear James Meredith tell this story in his own words and in a way that's never been heard before.

"Essential listening..." Why the US and UK went to war in Iraq and its legacy. Gordon Corera investigates.

Twenty years ago a US-led coalition invaded Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The UK was America's main partner. For many it remains a war based on a lie. So why did it happen? Why was Washington so fixed on regime change in Iraq? And why did the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, commit the UK to taking part? The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera seeks to find new answers to why the war happened and what it meant. Gordon speaks to those at the centre of the story, including some of the decision-makers and those living with the consequences. Tony Blair explains his thinking and why he promised to support George Bush. Sir Richard Dearlove, who was head of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (also known as Mi6) at the time, defends the role of the intelligence services. The series also hears from the CIA's head of the Iraqi Operations Group, from weapons inspectors who were under pressure to find Saddam's WMD, and from Washington insiders. Gordon also speaks to Iraqis who experienced the "shock and awe" bombing campaign, the post-war instability and the arrival of ISIS. The series takes a fresh look at what really happened, revealing new information about the decision-making and the failures. And twenty years on, he explores some of the (ongoing) legacies of the invasion.