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
Captain Blood and the Crown Jewels
Rerun: Fugitive Thomas Blood sneaked his way into the Tower of London’s jewel room on 9th May, 1671 - bludgeoning the 77 year-old Keeper of the Jewels, Talbot Edwards, in the process.
Disguised as a…
00:12:00 |
Thu 09 May 2024
Cocaine + Caffeine = Coca-Cola
John Pemberton launched Coca-Cola from a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on 8th May, 1886. Legend has it that a serendipitous mishap had led to the addition of carbonated water, transforming the medici…
00:12:27 |
Wed 08 May 2024
The Earliest Ambulance
Rerun: During the Siege of Malaga, on 7th May 1487, Queen Isabella of Spain commissioned bespoke bed-wagons to transport injured soldiers from the battlefield to specially-erected tent hospitals, the…
00:11:40 |
Tue 07 May 2024
Sending Out Spam
The first ‘spam’ email, sent to ARPANET users on behalf of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), landed in Inboxes on 3rd May, 1978.
Marketer Gary Thuerk was responsible for the idea - but his exe…
00:11:02 |
Fri 03 May 2024
Creating The King James Bible
Accessible and rigorous, the King James Bible was published on 2nd May, 1611, at the behest of the Monarch after which it was named - and perhaps even he would be surprised at the book’s extraordinar…
00:11:37 |
Thu 02 May 2024
America's Celebrity Child Soldier
Eleven year-old Johnny Clem formally became part of the Union Army on 1st May, 1863 - though he had already been participating as a Drummer Boy for the 22nd Michigan Infantry in the American Civil Wa…
00:12:10 |
Wed 01 May 2024
Meet Mr Potato Head
The advertising industry underwent a minor revolution on 30th April 1952 when Mr Potato Head starred in the first ever nationally televised ad campaign for a toy, unleashing the demon force of kiddie…
00:11:52 |
Tue 30 Apr 2024
Roget's Lexical Legacy
Peter Mark Roget waited until retirement to compile his personal collection of synonyms into a book for publication: the first edition of Roget’s Theasurus, released on 29th April, 1852.
Despite ini…
00:12:11 |
Mon 29 Apr 2024
The First Mountaineer
The Italian poet Petrarch hiked up Mont Ventoux in Provence on 26th April, 1332 - an event claimed for centuries to be the first time mountaineering for pleasure had been attempted.
His celebrated l…
00:11:39 |
Fri 26 Apr 2024
The Band of Gold Mystery
Rerun: Freda Payne’s banger ‘Band Of Gold’ sounds like a Motown record, but actually isn’t. Although written by Berry Gordy’s hit-making trio Holland-Dozier-Holland, it was released on their breakawa…
00:11:25 |
Thu 25 Apr 2024
Jane Fonda's Workout
Two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda expanded her repertoire beyond acting and activism into exercise videos on 24th April, 1982, with the release of her bestselling aerobics VHS, "Workout."
What seemed…
00:10:50 |
Wed 24 Apr 2024
Me At The Zoo
On 23 April 2005, software engineer Jawed Karim posted an 18-second clip of himself standing in front of some elephants at the San Diego Zoo – a video which is largely unremarkable, except for the fa…
00:11:39 |
Tue 23 Apr 2024
The 'Hitler Diaries' Hoax
Extracts from Adolf Hitler's long-lost diaries were brought to the world’s attention on 22nd April, 1983, provoking an international sensation - until they were quickly exposed for being a hoax.
Res…
00:12:38 |
Mon 22 Apr 2024
Marathon Woman
Katherine Switzer became the first woman to officially participate in the Boston Marathon on 19th April, 1967, when, disguised in a hooded sweatshirt and joggers, she ran under a race number she’d re…
00:11:50 |
Fri 19 Apr 2024
Poland's Italian Queen
Milanese Princess Bona Sforza married the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund the Old, in Krakow Cathedral on 18th April, 1518 - making her the first Italian Queen of Poland, and one of the world’s mo…
00:12:10 |
Thu 18 Apr 2024
The World's Weirdest War
A 335-year-long ‘war’ (in which not a single shot was fired) officially ended on 17th April, 1986, when the UK’s Dutch ambassador landed on the Isles of Scilly and declared an end to hostilities betw…
00:10:50 |
Wed 17 Apr 2024
Alex Haley's Faction Phenomenon
When ‘Roots: The Saga of an American Family’ made novelist Alex Haley an international sensation, he revisited Juffure, Gambia - the village where he claimed his 18th-century ancestor Kunta Kinte had…
00:12:08 |
Tue 16 Apr 2024
Tommy Cooper Dies On Stage
Tommy Cooper's unexpected death on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre on 15th April, 1984 remains one of the saddest and most surreal moments in UK comedy history.
Known for his slapstick humour and bot…
00:11:28 |
Mon 15 Apr 2024
The First Man in Space
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin left Kazakhstan for space on 12th April, 1961 - the first human to venture beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. As the rocket roared into the sky, Gagarin's now-f…
00:11:51 |
Fri 12 Apr 2024
Let's Go To Butlin's
Rerun: The first holiday camp in Britain, Butlin’s Skegness, opened to the public on 11th April, 1936 - although one member of the public, a certain Freda Monk from Nottingham, was so keen to attend …
00:11:54 |
Thu 11 Apr 2024
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