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PODCAST

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

Curious, funny, surprising daily history - with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll. From the invention of the Game Boy to the Mancunian beer-poisoning of 1900, from Julius Caesar"s invasion of Britain to America"s Nazi summer schools... each day we uncover an unexpected story for the ages. In just ten minutes! Best Daily Podcast (British Podcast Awards 2023 nominee). Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

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All Episodes

10:28

Henry VIII's Head Injury

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/24

Henry VIII is typically remembered as he was at the end of his life - weighing in at a colossal 28 stone, with ulcerated legs, failing eyesight and an explosive temper. But, prior to the jousting accident he suffered 24th January, 1536, history had recorded him as merry, affable and physically attractive.Jousting was his favourite sport, but after being knocked off his horse and falling unconscious for two hours, he appears to have become increasingly erratic, irritable and cruel - not least to his

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10:04

The Chastity Belt and the Frenchman

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/21

Henri Littière and his adulterous wife Suzanne thought they’d come up with a novel way to combat her philandering - by commissioning a custom-made chastity belt. But on 21st January, 1934, Littière was sentenced to three months in prison for cruelty to his spouse.It’s a strange story, but not half as weird as how the myth of chastity belts gained traction in the first place - not from medieval days, but in fact thanks to Victorian prudishness.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pick holes in

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10:07

Ozzy vs. Bat

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/20

Ozzy Osbourne orally decapitated a bat live on stage in Des Moines, Iowa on 20th January, 1982; an act that quickly went down as one of the most outrageous moments in rock n roll history.Concertgoer Mark Neal, 17, said the bat was dead long before he threw it on stage. But this was not Osbourne’s first offence: he had previously shocked attendees at a CBS press launch by biting the head away from a live dove.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace the origins of Osbourne’s bizarre

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10:20

Introducing the BlackBerry

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/19

Research In Motion were once the world’s most popular maker of smartphones, but when they launched the BlackBerry 850 on 19th January, 1999, the device had no phone functionality: it was marketed as a two-way pager.However, the gadget’s ability to bounce emails from a desktop server to its users on the move, and its bespoke instant messaging service, BBM, ensured it soon became an essential tool in the executive businessperson’s arsenal. Until the iPhone came along, anyway…In this episode, Arion,

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10:29

Arriving At Botany Bay

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/18

‘The First Fleet’ - the eleven ships carrying around 1400 people from Britain, most of whom were convicted criminals - landed in New South Wales on 18th January, 1788.Australia had been home to indigenous people for at least 50,000 years - but was a barren and shocking destination for 'the poms', who’d endured an epic 252-day voyage to get there; a journey about which Robert Hughes wrote: “before them stretched the awesome lonely void of the Indian and Southern oceans, and beyond that lay nothing

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10:10

Rebooting 'The Rivals'

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/17

The first night of Richard Sheridan’s classic comedy ‘The Rivals’ did not go according to plan. Critics thought it was too long, the Irish gentry in the audience were insulted, and an actor was pelted with rotten fruit. It closed after one performance on 17th January, 1775.But then… after eleven days of rewrites, recasting and edits (a process Sheridan called “prunings, trimmings and patchings”), the show re-opened - and became the much-loved hit it remains to this day.In this episode, Arion,

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10:35

New York meets Snow White

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/14

Disney’s long-awaited feature ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was rapturously received at Radio City, New York, inspiring three-hour queues for tickets. The reviews that America woke up to on 14th January 1938 were euphoric: a masterpiece had landed.“It is a classic as important cinematically as The Birth Of A Nation”, Frank Nugent wrote in The New York Times.“You’ll not, most of the time, realise you are watching animated cartoons”, he continued. “And if you do, it will only be with a sense of

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10:21

A Deadly Day At The Races

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/13

Chariot racing was a dangerous and violent sport at the best of times, but on 13th January, 532, a hooligan-led protest at the Hippodrome of Constantinople - known as ‘the Nika rebellion’ - ultimately lead to over 30,000 deaths and the destruction of half the City.Upon hearing his wife urge him that ‘royalty is a good burial shroud’, the Emperor Justinian reportedly decided to slaughter his own people to maintain his position of power. Yet, despite this, he was ultimately deemed to have earned his

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10:38

The Cryogenic Rush Job

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/12

Dr James Bedford became the first dead body to be cryogenically frozen on 12th January, 1967 -a day still commemorated in the ‘suspended animation’ community as Bedford Day.But in this burgeoning (pseudo)science, there were plenty of preparations yet to be made.Which meant that the freezing team - lead not by scientists but enthusiasts - ran out of ice, and forgot to drain his blood.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly dive into the legal cases that sprang from this early period of cryogenic

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10:25

England's First Lottery

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/11

With a top prize of £5,000 and a celebrity backer in the form of Queen Elizabeth I, England embarked on its first ever national lottery draw at St Paul’s Cathedral on 11th January, 1569.The results continued to be announced, day and night, for four months; a particularly prolonged process due to the fact that the prizes had to be divided into twelve, as the organisers had only sold a twelfth as many tickets as had been predicted.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the cost of entry

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10:32

Sinclair's Electric Dream

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/01/10

The Sinclair C5, Sir Clive Sinclair’s disastrous entry into the EV market, launched at Alexandra Palace on 10th January, 1985.Looking like a cross between a mobility scooter and a child’s pedal car, it had no on-board storage, was too heavy to climb uphill, and a top speed of 15km per hour. But Sinclair had contracted Hoover to produce the vehicle, expecting orders of 200,000 units per year.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the original publicity material for this doomed design

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19:00

The Retrospectors Quiz of the Year

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/24

It’s our last episode of 2021, and Olly is putting Arion and Rebecca to the test to see what they’ve learned from our first 168 episodes...How many copies of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ were in the original print run in 1811? What (horrifying) ingredients were in Jane Asher’s 1990 ‘Mary, Mary’ cake for children’s parties? Which four U.S. Presidents had been cheerleaders at College?It’s a fight to the death to establish our Retrospectors champion of the year!If you’ve enjoyed the show this year, please…•

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10:09

The Night Before The Night Before Christmas

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/23

Before becoming the most valuable poem in American Literature, ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas’ was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel on 23rd December, 1823 - its author remaining a secret for fourteen years.The work, commonly known as ‘The Night Before Christmas’, was eventually revealed to be written by philosopher and lecturer Clement Clark Moore - although, in recent years, the family of Major Henry Livingston Jr. have claimed that their ancestor was its true author.In this episode, Arion,

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10:14

Edison's Christmas Lights

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/22

The first string of lights to be festooned upon a tree dazzled visitors to the New York home of Edward Johnson, Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, on 22nd December, 1882.Lit patriotic red, white and blue, the tree also revolved; wowing a reporter from The Detroit Post and Tribune. “At the rear of the beautiful parlors, was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect,” he wrote. “It was brilliantly lighted with… eighty lights in all encased in these

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10:32

Mariah’s Christmas Hit

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/21

All I Want For Christmas Is You has made Mariah Carey a fortune - but it took an astonishing 25 years for the song to finally reach Number One on the Billboard Hot 100; a feat it achieved on 21st December, 2019, becoming America’s first festive-themed chart-topper since The Chipmunk Song in 1958.When originally released in 1994, neither Carey nor her co-songwriter Walter Afanasieff expected great things. Afanasieff voiced concerns that it sounded ‘like someone singing vocal scales’, and Carey

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10:20

It’s A Wonderful Premiere

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/20

Festive favourite 'It’s a Wonderful Life' originated as a short story transcribed into Christmas cards by its author Philip Van Doren Stern. But it received disappointing box office returns following its premiere on 20th December, 1946 - and was not considered ‘a classic’ for decades.In the 1970s someone at Paramount forgot to renew its copyright, so the film became free for any TV channel to broadcast – which they did, time after time after time after time, right up until 1993 - solidifying

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10:31

Meet The Simpsons

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/17

The debut episode of the world’s longest-running animated sitcom - 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' - aired in the U.S. on 17th December, 1989; attracting the Fox network’s highest ever Sunday night ratings.It was an instant sensation, with many contemporary critics remarking that the ‘dysfunctionality’ of The Simpsons was in-keeping with other 90s hits Roseanne and Married… With Children, while conservative voices including George H W Bush criticised what they saw as its celebration of

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10:27

The Krays in Soho

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/16

The Hideaway Club, now part of London’s Chinatown, opened on 16th December, 1964. Ronnie and Reggie Kray didn’t turn up for the big night, even though they had booked a table.It was an opening gambit in a war of intimidation against the manager of the club, Huw Cargill McCowan - to whom the gangsters had proposed a protection racket;threatening him when he turned down their offer.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Krays’ (first) trial fell apart; consider how the brothers used

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9:50

Napoleon's Second Funeral

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/15

Napoleon was buried in an unmarked grave in St. Helena. But, 19 years later, on 15th December, 1840, he got buried again: this time at Les Invalides, Paris.It was an ornate state occasion, involving multiple caskets, 500 sailors, 14 semi-naked female statues... and a lot of lardy cakes.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal what Napoleon’s cadaver looked like; explain why a previous petition to relocate his remains had failed; and discover an unexpectedly culinary description of the day

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10:30

Dubya Dodges A Shoe-ing

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2021/12/14

When George W Bush flew to Baghdad for a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on 14th December, 2008, he had hoped the headlines would reflect his triumphant appraisal of his deployment of American troops. Instead, it became known as the day he got some shoes thrown at him.The man throwing the shoes was Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who yelled in Arabic: “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, dog!”. The president ducked, and Zaidi let his other shoe fly. “This

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1,261 results

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