x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

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.

history film history

All Episodes

10:14

Disaster at the West Coast Woodstock

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/12/06

The Rolling Stones topped the bill at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California on 6th December, 1969 - a free festival intended to rival the recent Woodstock in New York. But it was an organisational shambles, and turned deadly when an audience member was murdered.Notorious gang Hell’s Angels had been hired (allegedly in return for free beer) to provide ‘security’ for the event. They sat on a tiny stage, badly positioned in the pit of the racetrack, and attacked the crowds with billiard cues

en

10:32

Christie's First Auction

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/12/05

James Christie held his first auction on 5th December, 1766 - billed as a sale of “genuine household furniture, jewels, plate, firearms, china and a large quantity of madeira and high flavoured claret” belonging to a “Noble Personage (deceased)”.His auction-house, Christie’s, went on to become one of the world’s leading dealers of fine art. But it took Christie many years to exploit this opportunity, which he accomplished partly by leveraging well-connected friends. His milieu included Richard

en

10:15

Rebuilding St Paul's

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/12/02

Sir Christopher Wren was officially appointed architect for the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral on 2nd December, 1697, though in truth he had been advising on it for some years already.Three decades later the celebrated British architect had produced a building that broke radically with the past, even if his original plans had to be adapted to the whims of the king, the clergy and the parliament.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why Wren loved domes so much; reveal the true reason

en

9:27

There’s Poison In My Pint

Today In History with The Retrospectors ·

2022/12/01

Rerun. Thousands of beer barrels were emptied into the streets across Lancashire on 1st December, 1900 - when it finally dawned on people that the cheap stout they’d been drinking with years was in fact contaminated with arsenic.Over 6,000 victims were poisoned, mostly across Manchester and Salford, thanks to the practice of padding out the barley used in the brew with inexpensive glucose syrup.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the role that the class system played in the initial

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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;

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

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

en

1,263 results

Similar Podcasts

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai

Madonna - Biography Flash

Inception Point Ai