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Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

BEST DAILY SHOW (British Podcast Awards Nominee, 2026). Curious, funny, surprising daily history - with Olly Mann (Answer Me This!), Rebecca Messina (The Week Unwrapped) and Arion McNicoll (The Chaser). 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! Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or

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All Episodes

10:48

Jane Austen and the Profligate Prince

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/28

George IV’s impressive Library included all the novels of Jane Austen, for whom he had a particular fondness. But what was not known (until a receipt was discovered in the Royal Archives in 2018) was that the Prince Regent had almost certainly been Austen’s very first customer - buying a copy of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ for 15 shillings on 28th October, 1811. His admiration for the anonymous 35 year-old author’s work lead to an awkward moment later in her career, when she felt obligated to dedicate

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12:21

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/27

The brutal murder of Alan R. Schindler Jr. on 27th October 1992 revealed the harsh realities faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in the military. Schindler, a young Navy radioman, who suffered bullying and isolation due to his sexual orientation, had attempted to report the harassment, but faced obstacles due to the military’s exclusionary policies on gay personnel. Tragically, his life was cut short when two shipmates attacked him in a homophobic assault, sparking a wave of public outrage. Occurring

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12:51

Mourning Jane Seymour

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/24

ing Henry VIII’s third wife, Queen Consort Jane Seymour, died aged just 29 on 24th October, 1537 - 12 days after giving birth to their son, future King Edward VI. Her death was attributed to complications following a prolonged and challenging labour, though recently it has been speculated it was in fact a pulmonary embolism. Despite her limited education, Jane's gentle nature and domestic skills appealed to Henry, who was, perhaps, looking for a more ‘girl next door’-type following his disastrous

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11:20

Meet The Smurfs

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/23

Peyo’s comic album ‘Johan and Peewit’ provided the platform for The Smurfs’ debut on 23rd October, 1958 - a cameo that their Belgian creator considered an unremarkable side-hustle. But the tiny blue creatures (“Schtroumpfs”, in the original text) went on to become a global cultural phenomenon.Within a year, the Smurfs got their own stories, and by 1959 were starring in dedicated comics. Then came the merch: first as plastic figurines in cereal boxes, then as collectible cuddly toys. When NBC’s

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11:23

Not The End Of The World

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/22

Jesus failed to show up on the day that came to be known as ‘The Great Disappointment’ - 22nd October, 1844. It was an embarrassment for the New England preacher, William Miller, who had prophesied Christ’s return; and devastating for his 100,000+ followers in North America alone. Miller had calculated the end of the world via an idiosyncratic interpretation of Daniel 8:14 (“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed”). In this episode,

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11:48

Madonna's Naked Photos

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/21

Berated by the tabloids as exhibitionist pornography, Madonna’s coffee table book, ‘Sex’, quickly sold out upon its release on 21st October, 1992. Influenced by artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy Sherman, the book included images of full-frontal nudity, simulated gay sex, mixed race couples, threesomes and trans imagery. Madonna vigorously defended it, in a series of interviews, as a portrayal of female sexuality. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask if Madonna was fighting an uphill

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11:29

Parachute!

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/20

Losing control of his monoplane at 2,000 ft, First Lieutenant Harold R. Harris made history on 20th October, 1922, when he became the first person to use a manually-activated parachute to save his life. He landed in the grape arbor of a family house in Dayton, Ohio, narrowly missing the occupants, and escaping with just a few scratches. During World War I, many countries believed that giving pilots parachutes would encourage them to abandon planes, rather than fight to the end. But Harris’s

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12:09

The Sound of the Circus

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/17

The traditional music for the circus, "Entrance of the Gladiators", wasn’t actually written for the circus at all, instead when it was composed on 17th October, 1899, it was in fact intended to be a military march. Julius Fučík composed it, in part, to showcase the cutting-edge capabilities of the era's brass instruments, which had become quicker and more precise than ever before. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate how a sober military march ended up being associated with

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11:33

The Baby in the Well

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/16

In front of the world’s TV cameras, 18-month-old Jessica McClure - affectionately known as “Baby Jessica” - was lifted from a disused well in Midland, Texas on 16th October, 1987, having been trapped down there for two and a half harrowing days. Jessica had slipped into the eight-inch-wide shaft while playing in her aunt’s backyard. The hole was too narrow for adults to enter, and too deep for a simple rescue; within hours, the local emergency had turned into a media storm. CNN, still a young

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11:43

How Lincoln Got His Beard

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/15

Future President Abraham Lincoln had yet to grow his iconic facial fuzz when he received a letter from Grace Bedell - an 11 year-old resident of Westfield, New York - dated 15th October, 1860. “I have yet got four brothers... and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin”, she wrote. “All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be

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11:02

Mary Queen of Plots

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/14

Accused of planning the assassination of her cousin Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots stood trial for treason on 14th October, 1586.Mary’s coded letters, delivered to her co-conspirators in beer barrels, had been intercepted by Sir Francis Walsingham, who had deciphered and copied them and built a case against the former Scottish monarch. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Mary had come to be exiled in not one, but two, palaces; consider her pleas of innocence, in the light of

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12:49

Suffragettes... in the House!

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/13

Margaret Travers Symons was the first woman to make herself heard in the British House of Commons - albeit without permission - on 13th October, 1908.During a tour of Westminster, the suffragette campaigner escaped her escort and interrupted a debate on children’s issues, making a bold demand for votes for women. Meanwhile, outside Parliament, some 60,000 people were protesting for the cause. Symons’ act of defiance occurred during a pivotal time for the women’s suffrage movement. The Women’s

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13:00

Governing Outer Space

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/10

On 10th October, 1967 a treaty went into force that has gone on to become the backbone for all international space law – a United Nations-approved agreement known as the The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, but better known today as the Outer Space Treaty. It’s a relatively succinct document of just 17 articles, some as short as a single sentence, but it represented a lot of

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12:28

When Sumo Came To London

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/09

The Royal Albert Hall was the unlikely venue for the biggest Sumo wrestling tournament ever staged outside of Japan on 9th October, 1991. Around forty wrestlers, described in the press as “bouncing like fat Buddhas,” thundered across a ring on clay sourced from a field near Heathrow. Part of the grand Japan Festival - a four-month cultural takeover marking 100 years of the Japan Society, including kabuki at the National Theatre and Buddhist sculptures at the British Museum - demand for tickets was

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11:24

The Permanent Wave

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/08

Hairdressers descended upon Oxford Street on October 8th, 1906 to witness Karl Nessler’s first public demonstration of his pioneering new ‘perm’ - a style which didn’t have its heyday until some eighty years later.Creating a long-lasting curl had been a goal for many stylists over the decades, but Nessler had hit upon a winning combination of technique and chemicals. He achieved this by subjecting his wife, Catherine, to a seemingly endless onslaught of painful and laborious experiments. In this

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11:55

TV's Greatest Salesman

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/07

Ron Popeil, inventor of The Pocket Fisherman, the Amazing Smokeless Ashtray, and the Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler, was (satirically) awarded an Ignoble Award for Consumer Engineering on 7th November, 1993. But the ‘Infomercial King’ had spun an enviable career from his talent for selling; from humble beginnings shilling vegetable choppers on the shop floor of Woolworth’s to establishing Ronco, a $55 million ‘As Seen On TV’ company that eventually went bankrupt. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca

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10:58

America’s 1st Train Robbery 🚂💰

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/06

The Reno Brothers pulled off the first moving train robbery in U.S. history in Jackson County, Indiana, on 6th October, 1866.Overpowering the guard, the gang made off with a significant haul of gold, cash, and canvas bags (though, while they tried to steal a hefty safe, they couldn’t open it and simply pushed it off the train). Their daring heist revolutionised the way criminals targeted trains forever. Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how the crew evolved their activities from "bounty jumping"

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11:54

When Sinéad Shocked America

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/03

Irish popstar Sinéad O’Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during her performance of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ on NBC’s TV show ‘Saturday Night Live’ on 3rd October, 1992. The unexpected act was meticulously planned by O'Connor; a protest against child abuse within the Catholic Church. The performance left the audience almost silent, and, although she faced significant backlash, O'Connor remained unapologetic, writing in her memoirs that it was one of her proudest achievements. In this episode,

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12:38

Meet Charlie Brown

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/02

Happy 75th birthday, ‘Peanuts’! Charles Shulz’ iconic comic strip made its debut (although Snoopy had yet to appear) on 2nd October, 1950. Peanuts would grow into a global phenomenon, running in 2,600 papers across 75 countries. At its peak, it was translated into 21 languages - but never lost its bittersweet mix of humour, disappointment, and charm, making Charlie Brown and the gang cultural touchstones for decades. The first words of the strip? “Here comes good ol’ Charlie Brown… How I hate

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11:45

Postcards - The Poor Man's Telephone

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/10/01

A 12 x 8.5cm ‘Correspondenzkarte’, the earliest progenitor of the modern-day postcard, was created by the Austrian Post on 1st October, 1869.Cheaper and more practical than sending long-form letters, the new medium was an instant sensation with the public - with three million postcards being sent in the first three months. But cultural conservatives felt it would lead to poor grammar, a capitulation of individuality, and a brash new form of self-expression... In this episode, Arion, Olly and

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