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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

The Dingo Baby-Snatcher

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/17

Rerun. When two month-old Azaria Chamberlain was taken from her tent by a dingo on the night of August 17th, 1980, the majority of the Australian public believed that her mother, Lindy Chamerlain, had done the deed herself.Prosecuting authorities charged her with murder. She was imprisoned, but in 2012, a coroner found Azaria’s death was “the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo”.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why the Australian public were so inclined to disbelieve Lindy’s

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10:36

The First Accidental President

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/16

Angry protestors gathered outside The White House on 16th August, 1841, burning an effigy of President John Tyler, the first Vice-President to assume the Presidency (following the death of William Henry Harrison, just 31 days into his term). The mob, largely consisting of Tyler’s fellow Whigs, opposed his veto of a national banking bill.Although no serious scuffles or bloodshed occurred, the incident highlighted the vulnerability of the White House and the lack of a proper security detail during

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11:07

The Real Macbeth

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/15

Immortalised by Shakespeare, Scottish king Macbeth was killed in battle near Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire on 15th August 1057; a demise that brought significant changes to Scotland's monarchy.But the real Macbeth, contrary to his portrayal in the play, ruled for 17 relatively peaceful years and displayed generosity toward the church. That said, his relationship with the real Lady Macbeth - Gruogh, widow of Gilear, the previous king - was, let’s agree, rather complicated.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca

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11:13

Capturing Carlos The Jackal

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/14

A decades-long manhunt closed in on international terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Carlos the Jackal, on 14th August, 1994 - when he was sedated and kidnapped by French intelligence agents in Khartoum, Sudan, following a tip-off by the CIA.Affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Organization for Armed Arab Struggle, and the Japanese Red Army, the Venezuelan militant had been responsible for a slew of major terrorist attacks in the 1970s and 80s, notably the

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9:51

America's Biggest Mall

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/11

The Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened on 11th August, 1992, with more than 10,000 employees, 330 stores, and a Camp Snoopy theme park.With a gross area of 4.8 million square feet, the mall remains the largest in the United States; its roughly 40 million annual visitors equal to around eight times the population of the state of Minnesota.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how the mall is heated, despite having no central heating system; explain how the modern American

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9:56

The Slap Heard Around The World

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/10

Rerun. Whilst visiting traumatised U.S. soldiers in an evacuation hospital on 10th August, 1943, General George S. Patton encountered a man he believed to be a coward. So he slapped him in the face with his gloves, and waved a pistol in his face.On Eisenhower’s insistence, Patton apologised to the soldier, but never exhibited genuine remorse for his actions. He wrote in his diary, ‘It is rather a commentary on justice when an Army commander has to soft-soap a skulker to placate the timidity of those

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10:54

India's First Christians

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/09

Quilon, in present-day Kerala, became India’s first diocese on 9th August, 1329. In response to Marco Polo's accounts about an extant Christian community there, Pope John XXII had dispatched missionary Jordan Catalani to oversee the region.According to local legend, St. Thomas the apostle reached India around A.D. 50, where he established several churches. The story is not implausible, since the area enjoyed a long history of Middle Eastern migrations, due to its ideal conditions for spice

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9:28

I Need A Dollar

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/08

The dollar emerged as the official currency of the United States at a meeting of the Continental Congress on 8th August, 1786. During the American Revolution, various international coins had remained in circulation - alongside commodities like tobacco and cod.The transition to paper money faced challenges due to counterfeiting concerns, which persisted until the Civil War. The green colour was chosen to prevent easy replication using black and white photography. The value of the dollar was linked to

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10:56

The Aryan Polynesian Hypothesis

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/07

The Kon-Tiki expedition, led by Norwegian explorer and ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl, reached Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelag near Tahiti, on 7th August, 1947. The 45-foot-long balsa wood raft, with a five-man crew, had completed a 4,300-mile, 101-day journey from Peru.Heyerdahl wanted to prove his (now discredited) theory that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on ocean currents. The Kon-Tiki was made of indigenous materials and designed to resemble

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10:33

Put Him in the Stocks!

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/04

The public stocks in St Clement’s Dane’s parish (now Portugal Street in London’s Strand) were finally dismantled on 4th August, 1826. They had originally been mandated in 1351, to subjugate labourers demanding higher wages.Not to be confused for pillories (which restrain both head and hands), stocks (which restrain only the feet) were used for lesser ‘crimes’, such as homosexuality, heresy, and drunkenness. The treatment of prisoners was essentially at the crowd’s discretion: at the minor end of the

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9:19

The Fake Critic

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/03

Rerun. Eyebrows were raised when Dave Manning - a previously unknown film critic - was suddenly receiving star billing on Hollywood movie posters. He turned out to be fictional. This climaxed with a lawsuit, settled by Sony on 3rd August, 2005.Manning had been created by Columbia Pictures executive Matthew Kramer, who’d co-opted the name David Manning from a friend in his hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut. The public were entitled to a $5 refund if they’d attended a movie as a result of the

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12:00

How JFK Got His Purple Heart

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/02

It's rare to find a politician behaving as heroically as John F. Kennedy did on 2nd August, 1943. After his torpedo boat was exploded by a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific, he swam more than three miles to the nearest island, towing along with him all the way an injured crew member - using just his teeth.When asked to explain how he had come to be a hero, Kennedy replied laconically, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat." His actions during this ordeal helped ensure the survival of his men

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10:09

The First Michelin Guide

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/08/01

Andre and Edouard Michelin published their first Guide on 1st August, 1900. Now recognised as the gold standard in luxury restaurant reviews, the original guide was primarily created to encourage demand for automobiles - and, therefore, Michelin tyres. At the time, there were fewer than 3,000 cars on French roads.Nearly 35,000 copies of this first, free edition of the guide were distributed, providing information to motorists including maps, tyre repair and replacement instructions, car mechanics

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11:04

The Great Rum Debate

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/31

The Royal Navy were issued with their final daily ration of rum - ending a tradition of more than 300 years - on July 31, 1970. The day became known as ‘Black Tot Day’.The demise of the long-standing tradition was mainly due to safety concerns, following fears surrounding the more complex technology now in operation across the Navy. To show their disappointment, some sailors wore black armbands.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace back the origins of this quaint custom; explain why spirits

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10:55

When Zombies Came To Hollywood

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/28

Independent horror film ‘White Zombie’, starring Bela Lugosi, premiered in New York City’s Rivoli Theatre on July 28th, 1932. It marked the first time that zombies had featured in a Hollywood picture - albeit as the result of an evil voodoo master in Haiti rather than a condition passed on through bites, as in later zombie screenplays.Large portions of the film were shot on the Universal Studios lot, borrowing props and scenery from other horror films of the era, with an ultra-low budget of just

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9:34

Raleigh's Tobacco Adventures

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/27

Rerun. Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco back to Britain from Virginia on 27th July 1586 - and, in so doing, triggered a craze for smoking, which at the time was considered a tonic for halitosis, and even a cure for cancer.Despite Queen Elizabeth I being an advocate for the new drug, it didn’t take long for the anti-tobacco movement to kick into gear - with King James I writing a treatise against smoking by 1604.In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion revisit the phenomenon of ‘Dry Drunkenness’;

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11:20

Rembrandt's Money Troubles

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/26

Following a successful early career, Rembrandt van Rijn filed for ‘cessie van goede’ (insolvency) on July 26th, 1656. The poor management of his finances magnified other difficulties that he had with family, friends, neighbours, and patrons.Although Rembrandt’s bankruptcy was part of a scheme that purported to shield his house from his creditors, and pass it on to his family, he leant uncomfortably on his son Titus, insisting that once he turned 14 he was named in his will as his sole heir, shutting

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10:31

Is it a Boat? Is it a Plane? No, it's Hovercraft

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/25

The Hovercraft SR-N1, piloted by Captain Peter Lamb, sailed from Calais to Dover on 25th July 1959, fifty years to the day after Louis Blériot made the first crossing of the English Channel. It took 2 hours, 3 minutes.The brainchild of British engineer and inventor Christopher Cockerell, Hovercraft was described as a cross between an aircraft, a boat and a land vehicle, hovering just above the water on a cushion of air. Ultimately over 80 million people and 12 million cars crossed the Channel using

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11:46

The Aussies Who Outswam The Soviets

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/24

The ‘Quietly Confident Quartet’ of Mark Tonelli (backstroke), Peter Evans (breaststroke), Mark Kerry (butterfly), and Neil Brooks (freestyle) won Gold in the 4 × 100 metres medley relay at the Summer Olympics in Moscow on 24th July, 1980: the only time the United States had not won the event.It was Australia’s first Gold medal for eight years, but reaction back home to the swimmers’ astonishing victory was mixed, because some of their countrymen - including the Australian government - believed the

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9:35

Herostratus: Burning Ambition

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2023/07/21

The fire that destroyed the second Temple of Artemis - one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world - was supposedly set on the day Alexander the Great was born: 21st July, 356 BC. The story goes that the arsonist, Herosratus, was simply seeking notoriety.Herostratus was captured and tortured on the rack, where he confessed to having committed the arson in an attempt to immortalize his name. To dissuade those of similar intentions, the Ephesian authorities not only executed Herostratus, but

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