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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

10:23

Let's Stop Smallpox

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/30

On 30th November, 1803 a surgeon called Dr Francisco Javier de Balmis left Spain at the head of the world's first ever international public health expedition.His ship was bound for the New World, supplied with smallpox vaccines. But the vaccines weren't in syringes or in vials, they were inside the 22 orphans who were on the ship with him.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look into how the first smallpox vaccines worked; revisit how Javier de Balmis’s unusual approach helped eradicate the

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10:32

Who Shot JFK?

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/29

Shortly after US president John F. Kennedy was shot dead, the Warren Commission was convened on 29th November, 1963 to answer the question on everybody’s lips: who did this and why?The shooting of America’s young president was a moment of trauma for many Americans, but when the commission returned its findings, most people were happy with their conclusions. However, as the years progressed conspiratorial thinking increasingly began to take hold. By the end of the 1970s, 81% of people surveyed

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10:40

The Cabbage Patch Riots

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/28

Towards the end of 1983, frenzied parents battled with one another in stores across the US in a desperate bid to buy their children the toy of the moment, the Cabbage Patch Kid.The so-called Cabbage Patch Riots culminated on 28th November 1983 at a Zayre department store in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, when a melee broke out that was so intense a store manager grabbed a baseball bat to protect himself, police dispersed the crowds and four people ended up in hospital.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca

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10:31

The Boy on the Raft

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/25

Elián González was just five years old when he was found clinging to an inner tube off the coast of Florida on 25th November, 1999. His mother, step-father, and all the other Cuban migrants who had been attempting to cross to the United States with him were lost at sea.Elián’s future then became a matter of high-stakes diplomacy between the two Cold War countries: should he be granted residency with his extended family in Little Havana, or returned back to actual Havana to the arms of his father?In

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10:33

The Lucy Fossil

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/24

Rerun. It took over three million years to find her. But palaeontologists Donald Johanson and Tom Gray uncovered the remains of ‘the Lucy Fossil’ - a previously undiscovered species of pre-human - in Hadar, Ethiopia on 24th November, 1974.Despite the find’s massive significance, the event was not greeted with untrammelled joy by all their rival fossil hunters. Some - who had wanted to claim such a discovery for themselves - began publicly disputing that Lucy was indeed a missing link in the

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10:22

Meet The Jukebox

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/23

The ‘Nickel In The Slot Player’ - the world’s first jukebox - made its debut at the Palais Royale Saloon bar in San Francisco on 23rd November, 1889.Created by Louis Glass and William S. Arnold, the contraption was an Edison Class M wax cylinder phonograph fitted with a coin mechanism and four stethoscope-like listening tubes, each operated individually and activated when a patron put a nickel in the slot.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the pianola still had the upper hand for

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10:16

Bye Bye Blackbeard

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/22

History’s most notorious pirate, Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, was killed and decapitated by lieutenant Robert Maynard, who besieged Blackbeard’s boats in Ocracoke on 22nd November, 1718.Now recalled as a fearsome and gratuitous murderer, Blackbeard’s demonic character is not documented in contemporary sources. In fact, very little is truly known about Teach (even, indeed, whether that was his real name), apart from the fact he a) had a beard, b) was from Bristol, and c) was very good at pirating. But

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10:25

Let's Revolve A Restaurant

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/21

La Ronde, the USA’s first revolving restaurant, opened on 21st November, 1961, at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. On the menu in the 298ft-tall tower was shrimp cocktail, mahi-mahi, and ‘the Queen of beefdom’.It had a predecessor, though, in perhaps an unlikely city: post-war Dortmund, Germany.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace the origins of rotating restaurants back to Ancient Rome (of course); recall Elvis Presley’s role in furthering the popularity of high-rise revolving dining at

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10:11

How Star Wars Changed Movie Trailers

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/18

The official trailer for ‘The Phantom Menace’ was uploaded to the Star Wars website on 18th November, 1998 - a reaction to the franchise’s rabid fans leaking their own camcorder footage to the web. It was the first time that an online preview of a movie trailer became a significant event in its own right.The trailer had been released into North American cinemas the day before, ahead of select screenings of ‘Meet Joe Black’, ‘The Heist’ and ‘The Waterboy’. Variety reported a lunch-time showing in

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10:33

The Last Sultan

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/17

Rerun. Mehmet VI stepped on to a British warship to seek refuge in Malta on 17th November, 1922 - thereby becoming the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, a dynasty stretching back to the 14th Century.He was accompanied by his first Chamberlain, his doctor, two secretaries, a velt, a barber, two eunuchs, and a bandmaster.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly dig into the archives to see how the event was portrayed in the triumphant West; consider the fate of the Royals left behind in modern-day

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10:40

Ivan vs Ivan

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/16

Why did Ivan The Terrible kill his son, Ivan? Ever since the day he supposedly brought a sceptre crashing down upon his head - 16th November, 1581 - this question has divided people. Did he suspect his son of a plot to overthrow him? Was he sexually assaulting his daughter-in-law? Was the whole tale dreamt up as a Catholic plot?It’s a controversy that remains a live issue in Russia, resulting in Ilya Repin's iconic painting ‘Ivan the Terrible and his Son Ivan’ being vandalized not once, but twice;

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10:37

The Best A Man Can Get?

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/15

King C. Gillette was granted a US patent for a “safety razor” on November 15th, 1904 - kickstarting both the disposable grooming industry, and the notorious ‘razor and blades’ business model.Prior to his invention, men who shaved at home would have to strop their blades on a big leather strap, and occasionally take their razors to a cutler to have them returned to their original sharpness.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Gillette savvily used Army contracts to establish his brand

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10:29

When Anne Married Mark

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/14

The Royal Wedding between Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips on 14th November, 1973 was a lavish affair at Westminster Abbey, with an anticipated global audience of 500 million - but the 23 year-old daughter of the Queen was clearly awkward about being the centre of attention, and asked to be only filmed from behind.Labelled ‘Princess Sourpuss’ by some of the tabloids, the public had yet to warm to Anne’s devotion to public service, love of horses and reticence to engage with the limelight.In

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10:19

Welcome To Stevenage

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/11

Britain's first ‘New Town’, built to accommodate 60,000 residents, was Stevenage, Hertfordshire - designated on 11th November, 1946 by Lewis Silkin, Labour’s Minister for Town and Country Planning.Inspired by the rush to accommodate Londoners displaced by the Nazi bombing of the capital, the construction of the concrete metropolis was heavily opposed by the 6,400 residents of ‘Old Stevenage’, the ancient town that was to be superseded.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace Silkin’s vision

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9:57

Birth of the Big Things

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/10

Rerun. In the early days of advertising, tyre company Goodyear sent a giant tyre on a coast-to-coast publicity trip. It was photographed on 42nd Street, New York on 10th November, 1930.Was this the birth of the ‘big things’ phenomenon that has lead us to roadside giant prawns, record-breaking sausages, and Instagrammable statues of Jeff Goldblum? Perhaps. We’ll go with it, anyway.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how Goodyear’s publicity nous went beyond photo opportunities and into

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10:24

The Last Shōgun

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/09

Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu (徳川慶喜) was the 15th and last shōgun of the Tokugawa shōgunate of Japan. On November 9, 1867, Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor.This restored traditional rule for the first time in over 250 years, yet also progressively reformed the country; ushering in the Meiji era, under an Emperor who was just 14 years old.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the country’s policy of isolationism had come to be tested - first by Portugese, then Dutch, and

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10:42

Mastermind of the Gunpowder Plot

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/08

Guy Fawkes has gone down in history as the most-remembered figure from the thwarted 17th century plot to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I. But the ringleader of this attempted terror attack was actually Warwickshireman Robert Catesby, who was shot and killed in Staffordshire on 8th November, 1605.This Catholic extremist, who had seen his father imprisoned for practicing his religion and sheltering priests, supposedly died clutching a portrait of the Virgin Mary. He was then

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10:29

The Elephant and The Donkey

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/07

Why are the Republican Party represented by an elephant, and the Democrats (unofficially) by a donkey? The answer lies in the work of revered political cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose picture ‘Third Term Panic’ was published in Harper's Weekly on 7th November, 1874 - the day before the mid-terms.His Aesop-style symbolism is rather tricky for modern readers to untangle, but the satiric thrust of this particular cartoon related to news that President Ulysses S. Grant was considering running for an

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10:35

Harry Potter: The Movie

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/04

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first big-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s best-selling book series, had its premiere in London's Leicester Square on November 4th, 2001.Among the glittering guest list were Sting, Cliff Richard, and the Duchess of York, but Baby Spice spoke for all of us when she told reporters “I don’t know what to expect, but I'm really excited!”In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore why Warner Bros was so nervous about bringing Harry Potter to the big

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10:38

The Day The (Rave) Music Died

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/11/03

Rerun. Attending or producing raves was made illegal in Britain with the passing of the Criminal Justice Act on 3rd November, 1994. The government even legislated against electronic dance music, “wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”These unprecedented restrictions were partly in reaction to the moral panic caused after a 'free party' at Castlemorton Common attracted 30,000-40,000 attendees, and the ire of the tabloid press.In this episode, Arion,

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