Notre Dame

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Join Dan Snow in the heart of Paris as he kicks off his summer series exploring Europe’s greatest historic sites. From a leafy Montmartre café to the towering Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Dan teams up with local historian and guide Achille Couderc to uncover the deep history of Paris’s Île de la Cité—birthplace of the city. They explore the story of the Notre Dame through the ages - a witness to coronations of kings and Emperors, revolution and a devastating fire in 2019.

This is your essential Paris listening before your summer getaway. Upcoming episodes in the series include: Edinburgh Castle, Napoleon's Paris, Pompeii, The Tower of London, Knossos and The Acropolis.

You can book a tour with Achille! Email: [email protected] for more information.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges, edited by Dougal Patmore, and the production manager was Beth Donaldson.

Join Dan and the team for a special LIVE recording of Dan Snow's History Hit on Friday, 12th September 2025!

To celebrate 10 years of the podcast, Dan is putting on a special show of signature storytelling, never-before-heard anecdotes from his often stranger-than-fiction career, as well as answering the burning questions you've always wanted to ask!

Get tickets here, before they sell out: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/dan-snows-history-hit/

We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.

You can also email the podcast directly at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello,
0:00.5	folks, Dan Snow here.
0:01.6	I am throwing a party to celebrate 10 years of Dan Snow's history hit.
0:06.1	I'd love for you to be there.
0:07.5	Join me for a very special live recording of the podcast in London,
0:10.4	in England on the 12th of September to celebrate the 10 years.
0:14.1	You can find out more about it and get tickets with the link in the show notes.
0:17.6	Look forward to seeing you there.
0:40.3	Hi folks, welcome to Dan Snow's history hit. You find me sitting at a street cafe. I'm shaded by leaves on the canopy. It is a perfect blue sky day here in the vibrant historic neighbourhood of Montmartre in Paris.
0:47.3	We're having a slow morning up here, watching Parisian life go by and this is something that Van Gogh,
0:52.3	Picasso, Renoir enjoyed in this part of town on
0:56.2	these cobbled streets with its vibrant cafe culture and its art galleries. We walked up this
1:02.0	morning, me in sensible footwear, Marianna, the producer, wearing Birkenstocks.
1:16.6	We're here because, well, no excuse needed really, because life is beautiful, life is short, and where else do you want to be at the height of summer than in Paris?
1:19.6	City of lovers and poets and frustrated military conquerors.
1:24.6	And actually lots of you have been in touch, and there are many of you who are planning on coming to Paris over the coming weeks, either from the UK or elsewhere in Europe or from
1:31.7	Canada and the US, to live out your dream European summer vacation. And for those of you who are
1:37.0	looking for a podcast before you set off, give you a bit of history, a bit of context, bit of inspiration,
1:41.3	well, this is your podcast, folks. I'm going to be your guide to Europe this summer.
1:48.1	Over the coming weeks, I'll be travelling round. I'm re teaming up with local experts to bring you
1:52.2	the stories behind some of Europe's biggest and most important historic sites. We're daring to cross
2:00.0	beneath the portcullis of the Tower of London. We're climbing
	...

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