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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

13:15

The Playboy, the Architect and the Showgirl

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/25

Architect Stanford White was shot three times at close range by millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw during a performance of Broadway comedy ‘Mamzelle Champagne’ on 25th June, 1906. At first, the stunned audience thought it was part of the show.Thaw claimed White had “ruined” his wife, showgirl Evelyn Nesbit - often called America’s first ‘It Girl’ - who at just 16 had been lured into White’s orbit and ‘seduced’ by White - though a reading of Nesbit’s diary makes it sound a lot more like rape. But

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11:32

The Town That Danced To Death

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/24

‘Dancing Mania’ - in which people spontaneously danced to exhaustion, some until they broke their ribs and subsequently died, took hold of Aachen, Germany on 24th June, 1374. We still don’t really know why. Had the victims ingested ergot, a mould from rye bread that can inspire hallucinations? Was it a hysterical mass response to a stressful and traumatic environment? Or a kind of pre-smartphone flashmob? In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the likely causes and cures for this

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12:39

Busting 'The Teflon Don'

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/23

John Gotti, the infamous ‘Teflon Don’ boss of New York’s Gambino crime family, smiled as he received a life sentence in a Brooklyn courthouse on 23rd June, 1992. Outside, chaos reigned as nearly a thousand supporters flipped over a federal marshal’s car and chanted in defence of the mobster, framing his conviction as an anti-Italian injustice. But the FBI had been determined to bring Gotti down. After multiple failed attempts - including a memorable trial with a bribed juror - they finally found

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12:21

Inside The Black Hole of Calcutta

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/20

When the East India Company surrendered Fort William (in modern-day Kolkata) to the Nawab of Bengal on 20th June, 1756, dozens of British captives were imprisoned in a cell measuring only 18ft long and 14ft wide, with just two tiny windows - ‘the Black Hole of Calcutta’.Among the prisoners was John Zephaniah Holwell, whose pamphlet describing the terrors of the airless room caused a sensation back in Britain and became a cause célèbre in the idealization of imperialism in India. Holwell claimed

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13:22

It's A Royal Cock-up

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/19

The Grand Knockout Tournament (also known as It’s a Royal Knockout) was a one-off charity event first shown on BBC1 on 19th June 1987, to an audience of 18 million gobsmacked viewers. The brainchild of the then 23 year old Prince Edward, the slapstick spectacle featured the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of York captaining rival teams in a series of preposterous rounds involving celebrities including Rowan Atkinson, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard, John Travolta and Les Dawson. In this episode,

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13:11

Amelia Earhart Flies To Fame

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/18

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air on June 18th, 1928… but on this occasion didn’t actually fly the plane; she was a passenger aboard the Friendship, a three-engine seaplane piloted by Wilmer Stultz and co-piloted by Louis Gordon. Originally, a wealthy heiress was meant to take the flight, but her family vetoed it as too dangerous. So Earhart, smart, skilled, and camera-ready, was chosen to be “Lady Lindy”, and that one journey launched her into the

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10:22

The Arrival Of Lady Liberty

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/17

Still the tallest statue in the USA, the Statue of Liberty arrived from France - in no less than 214 crates - in New York City on 17th June, 1885. Costing just $10m in today’s money, the Lady went on to symbolise the immigrant journey - even though the designers and engineers behind it had no such intention. And it wasn’t supposed to be green, either - that’s because it’s oxidized. In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion consider whether NYC bagged themselves a bargain, reveal the origins of the

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10:07

'Nureyev's 'Leap To Freedom'

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/16

Russia’s brightest ballet star, Rudolf Nureyev, evaded his KGB minders and defected from the USSR on 16th June, 1961. According to feverish newspaper reports, the dancer dashed towards the barrier, proclaiming in English, "I want to be free," and was swiftly escorted to the airport police station, marking the start of his life in the West. His defection, while fraught with personal sacrifice - including a potential permanent separation from his family and homeland - became a major propaganda

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12:51

Marion Donovan: Housewife Inventor

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/12

Until the mid-20th century, putting nappies on babies involved folding and pinning cloth towelling, then pulling a pair of rubber pants over the top. That all began to change on June 12th, 1951, when the US inventor Marion Donovan patented a new kind of nappy, with an envelope-like plastic cover and an absorbent insert.Her invention ultimately netted her a million dollars (nearly $10 million in today’s money) and paved the way for the development of disposable nappies which have become ubiquitous

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12:41

The Second Mrs McCartney

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/11

Paul McCartney married Heather Mills in an extravagant ceremony at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, Ireland, on 11th June, 2002. 300 VIP guests were in attendance, including Elton John, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr, but only one official photo was ever released - so local teens with disposable cameras became unlikely paparazzi for hire. The couple’s doomed love story began in 1999 at the Pride of Britain Awards, but when the tabloid press got hold of their relationship, eyebrows were raised

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11:49

The Very First 'Boat Race'

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/10

The Oxford v Cambridge Men’s Boat Race has been an annual tradition since 1856 - but the first one was the result of a light-hearted bet between two friends called Charles on 10th June, 1829. When Wordsworth (Christ Church College, Oxford) and Merivale (St. John’s, Cambridge) challenged each other to race up the Thames in Henley, they never could have known their schoolboy jape would attract 20,000 spectators, nor that it would go on to become one of the major sporting events in the British

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11:33

Meet Donald Duck

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/09

The Wise Little Hen’, the Silly Symphonies short from was released on 9th June, 1934 and introduced a new Disney character: Donald Duck. With his distinctive strangled quacking (born from the unique talents of Clarence Nash - a man who’d spent his childhood mimicking barnyard sounds), Donald's hot-tempered, accident-prone slapstick sensibilities brought a welcome unpredictability to the sanitised world the studio had constructed around their hero, Mickey Mouse. But Donald wasn’t just a

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12:43

Digging Up Josef Mengele

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/06

Notorious Nazi doctor, ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele, spent the last twenty years of his life on the run. His remains were recovered in São Paulo on 6th June, 1985, when Brazilian Police dug up the grave of a man named “Wolfgang Gerhard” - later proven to be Mengele, who’d drowned at a beach resort at the age of 68.Mengele, responsible for sending up to 400,000 Jews to their deaths at Auschwitz, was able to escape to Argentina via Italy after the War, even living freely under his real name for a

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12:34

So I Acquitted An Axe Murderer

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/05

Lizzie Borden’s murder trial began on June 5, 1893 in New Bedford Courthouse, Massachusetts. The 32 year-old was accused of killing her father, wealthy magnate Andrew Borden, and his wife Abby, her stepmother, who had been crushed by the blows of a hatchet - 11 and 19 times, respectively.In attendance were three judges, Borden’s high-powered defense team (paid for from her late father’s estate), and reporters and onlookers keen to parse the lurid details of the shocking deaths in the Borden

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12:36

The 'Ten Cent Beer Night' Riot

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/04

Twice the usual crowd turned up to see the Cleveland Indians take on the Texas Rangers on June 4th, 1974 - drawn in not by the baseball match, but by an innovative promotion: for just 10 cents, fans could grab 10 ounces of beer. The lines never stopped, as fans circled back, drank in line, and kept the buzz going.Tensions were high, as this was a rematch with the Texas Rangers following a brawl. Fans cheered when a Rangers player got injured, and started throwing trash, rocks, and batteries onto

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11:07

The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/03

Radical playwright Valerie Solanas, author of the SCUM Manifesto (for the ‘Society of Cutting Up Men’) attempted to assassinate pop artist Andy Warhol at The Factory on 3rd June, 1968. As a result, Warhol wore a corset for the rest of his life; security had to be introduced at the previously open-door environment of The Factory; and Solanas’ name went down in infamy. In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca ask whether her feminist writing would carry more weight if she’d never committed this

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12:03

When UEFA Banned England

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/06/02

Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall the shocking events of the Heysel Stadium disaster, which lead to all English football clubs being banned from European competitions for five years from 2nd June, 1985. The tragedy occurred during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, when hooligans from both clubs had infiltrated the neutral sections. The policing was inadequate, with officers diverted by minor thefts, and the stadium's security measures woefully insufficient. 39 fans died, and

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13:07

The Peasants Are Revolting

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/05/30

The most significant rebellion of the Medieval era, the so-called Peasant’s Revolt, kicked off in Brentwood, Essex on 30th May, 1381, when tax collector John Bampton attempted to collect unpaid poll tax.The protest triggered a violent confrontation, rapidly spreading across the south-east of the country. Within a month, the rebels were marching towards London, massacring merchants and razing the palace of the king’s uncle, John of Gaunt. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether

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12:58

The First Bank Holiday

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/05/29

Whit Monday became the first of the new ‘Bank Holidays’ on 29th May, 1871, as millions of Britons got an officially-sanctioned paid day off. The brainchild of eccentric polymath (and former banker) Sir John Lubbock, the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 created four official days off, cleverly packaged as innocuous financial regulation so as to sneak through Parliament without incurring moral panic. So admired was the innovation that the holidays became informally known as “Saint Lubbock’s Days”. But, in

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12:24

Here Comes The Spanish Armada

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2025/05/28

A naval juggernaut of 137 ships, 10,000 sailors, 2,500 guns, and 20,000 soldiers was launched at England by Philip II of Spain on May 28th, 1588: the Spanish Armada. Their goal? A full-scale invasion to dethrone Queen Elizabeth I and restore Catholicism, no less. Unfortunately, their commander, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, had no naval experience. And the English got wind of the "secret" invasion months in advance. When they finally arrived, the Spanish were struggling with storms, rotting

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1,129 results

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