DAN SNOW ISN’T just @thehistoryguy (as he’s known on Twitter) — to audiences in the U.K. and North America, he’s THE History Guy.

From his regular appearances on BBC’s The One Show and his ever-expanding catalog of television documentaries to his books, articles and his series of digital apps, Snow is Great Britain’s de facto historian-at-large.

And for the 36-year-old broadcaster, exploring history involves more than just hitting the archives – it’s about rolling up one’s sleeves and diving right in to experience the sights and sounds, not to mention the pain and discomfort, of the past first hand. Climbing tall ships’ rigging, flying in vintage warbirds, donning 100-pound suits of armour, traversing fields of razor wire — it’s all in a day’s work for television’s first full-contact historian.

MilitaryHistoryNow.com managed to catch up with the energetic journalist and creative force behind the interactive media studio Ballista Digital earlier this week. In this MHN podcast, we asked Snow about his latest projects, his favourite characters from the past and how he survives the often-risky world of living history.