Today In History with 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.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 12 minutes
- Episodes
- 1104
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Meet Lemuel Gulliver
Jonathan Swift’s enduring satire Gulliver’s Travels was first published on October 28, 1726 - though the true identity of the book’s author was concealed from readers.
A spoof of Daniel Defoe’s popu…
00:12:29 |
Mon 28 Oct 2024
How To Bribe A Senator
Rerun: The ‘Teapot Dome scandal’ reached its climax when Senator Albert Fall was found guilty of bribery, fined $100,000 and sent to jail on 25th October, 1929.
During the Presidency of Warren G Hard…
00:10:52 |
Fri 25 Oct 2024
Meet Mr Blobby
rerun: Mr Blobby made his anarchic television debut on 24th October, 1992, in a new segment called “Gotcha” on the hugely popular BBC show Noel’s House Party.
The googly eyed, perma-grinning, yellow …
00:12:03 |
Thu 24 Oct 2024
1,000 Songs In Your Pocket
When Steve Jobs took to the stage in Cupertino on 23rd October, 2001, he unveiled Apple’s first portable device: the iPod. As ever, his pitch was simple and on-point: "1,000 songs in your pocket."
Bu…
00:12:32 |
Wed 23 Oct 2024
The Body in the Cellar
Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate the story of Dr. Hawley Crippen, convicted of murdering his wife, music hall performer Cora Crippen, on 22nd October, 1910.
Cora’s corpse had been discovered in …
00:12:07 |
Tue 22 Oct 2024
The Greatest Samurai Battle ⚔️
The Battle of Sekigahara, on 21st October, 1600, was the largest in Japanese feudal history, with over 160,000 troops involved. And stakes were high: the victor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, became the Shōgun of…
00:11:20 |
Mon 21 Oct 2024
Calling Andrew Sachs
Rerun: When Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross failed to reach their celebrity guest, 78 year-old ‘Fawlty Towers’ star Andrew Sachs, they instead left him a series of answerphone messages, joking about …
00:10:46 |
Fri 18 Oct 2024
The Exploding Tank of Beer
Rerun: The London Beer Flood, which created a 15ft-high wave of booze, and claimed the lives of eight people, began on 17th October, 1814 - when an iron hoop came loose on a giant barrel at Meux’s fa…
00:11:53 |
Thu 17 Oct 2024
Crown The Concubine
Wu Zetian became China's first and only female Emperor on 16th October, 655 - cementing an extraordinary rise from Concubine to Secretary to Consort to Queen. On the day of her coronation in 690, a m…
00:13:11 |
Wed 16 Oct 2024
Journey To Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island, one of the best loved video games of the point-and-click era, was released on the 15th October, 1990, without, it must be said, a great deal of fanfare.
Inspired by the…
00:11:14 |
Tue 15 Oct 2024
Meet Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published on 14th October, 1892, was the collection of 12 stories that took his much-loved titular detective from the pages of magazine serials…
00:11:43 |
Mon 14 Oct 2024
Branson's Cola Gamble
Rerun: Virgin Cola, Sir Richard Branson’s ultimately flawed contender in the Cola Wars, was certainly taken seriously by the competition. On 11th October 1994, a pokerfaced Coca-Cola spokesperson tol…
00:11:43 |
Fri 11 Oct 2024
The Smell of the Big Screen
Rerun: Scent-o-Vision, an in-cinema olfactory experience, was unveiled at the New York World’s Fair on 10th October, 1940.
Accompanying a short film ‘My Dream’, its Swiss inventor, Hans Laube, pumped…
00:12:15 |
Thu 10 Oct 2024
Killing Yugoslavia's King
King Alexander of Yugoslavia embarked on a state visit to France on 9th October, 1934 - and was shockingly shot dead by an assassin in the crowd, the aftermath of which was captured by newsreels.
Yu…
00:12:00 |
Wed 09 Oct 2024
The World's First Constitution
The world's oldest oldest continuously surviving constitution, was adopted in the tiny country of San Marino on 8th October, 1600.
This was a good 187 years before the United States adopted its own …
00:11:48 |
Tue 08 Oct 2024
Invasion of the Identical Twins
A boatload of Swedish identical twins, aged 11 to 80, descended into Felixstowe on 7th October, 1977 - wearing matching outfits - for a shopping trip.
The eye-catching stunt was part of a scientific…
00:11:36 |
Mon 07 Oct 2024
Birth of The Breastaurant
Rerun: Hooters, the beach bar chain famous for its flirtatious waitresses, first flung open its doors in Clearwater, Florida on 4th October, 1983. Its publicity-friendly ‘Hooters Girls’ - and a chanc…
00:11:16 |
Fri 04 Oct 2024
The End Of Siegfried & Roy
Rerun: The Roy half of Siegfried and Roy was mauled on October 3rd, 2003, by a 380-pound white tiger live on stage in Las Vegas.
Roy lived, but was partially paralysed, which spelled the end for the …
00:11:50 |
Thu 03 Oct 2024
Creating Opus Dei
Secretive Catholic sect Opus Dei was founded on 2nd October, 1928 by the young, energetic priest Jose Maria Escriva, who believed his divine mission was to inject religious fervour into everyday life…
00:11:32 |
Wed 02 Oct 2024
Screening The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Tobe Hooper’s legendary low-budget horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, first screened in Austin on 1st October, 1974.
The movie was an international sensation - making £21.9 million from its £…
00:13:11 |
Tue 01 Oct 2024
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