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
Death of the 9 Day Queen
Lady Jane Grey - Queen of England for just nine days - was executed at the Tower of London on 12th February, 1554.
Edward VI, who had died aged 15, named the teenager as his successor in his will, ev…
00:12:02 |
Mon 12 Feb 2024
Will vs Gareth
Before ‘The X Factor’ and ‘The Voice’, there was ‘Pop Idol’, the ITV behemoth that spawned Simon Fuller’s global mega-hit ‘American Idol’.
Season One climaxed on 9th February, 2002, when Gareth Gate…
00:12:20 |
Fri 09 Feb 2024
Inventing The Credit Card
Rerun: Diners Club, the world’s first credit card, was used for the first time at Major’s Cabin Grill in New York City on February 8th, 1950. Perhaps at odds with the debonair image the company went …
00:11:37 |
Thu 08 Feb 2024
Chaplin: Birth of The Tramp
The first film to feature Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Tramp’ character was filmed on 7th February, 1914: the Keystone comedy short, ‘Kid Auto Races at Venice’.
Remarkably, Chaplin had created the character o…
00:12:37 |
Wed 07 Feb 2024
I Am Anastasia
Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1917 - yet, on 6th February, 1928, a mentally troubled Polish factory worker claiming to be her was welcomed to New York by Romanov…
00:12:43 |
Tue 06 Feb 2024
The Plastic That Changed The World
On this day in 1909 Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite to the American Chemical Society.
Having already earned a fortune selling his photographic patent to Kodak, the Belgian-born chem…
00:12:11 |
Mon 05 Feb 2024
The First Groundhog Day
Long before Bill Murray turned up, Gobbler's Knob, Punxsutawney hosted its first ever Groundhog Day on 2nd February, 1887 - as a day for huntsmen to eat the local rodent.
Over time, the delightful, y…
00:11:37 |
Sat 03 Feb 2024
The First Groundhog Day
Long before Bill Murray turned up, Gobbler's Knob, Punxsutawney hosted its first ever Groundhog Day on 2nd February, 1887 - as a day for huntsmen to eat the local rodent.
Over time, the delightful, y…
00:11:37 |
Fri 02 Feb 2024
The Hashish Club
Rerun: Theophile Gautier’s account of ‘green jam’ cannabis consumption at the drug-addled dinner parties of the ‘Club des Hachichins’ - alongside literary figures Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and Hon…
00:11:29 |
Thu 01 Feb 2024
TV's First Soap Opera
These Are My Children premiered on NBC on 31st January, 1949; the world's first televised soap opera. It lasted only four weeks on air, was broadcast live, and had a tiny budget, but influenced the p…
00:11:48 |
Wed 31 Jan 2024
Bring Me The Head of Oliver Cromwell
Revolutionary leader Oliver Cromwell was executed on 30th January, 1661 - despite having been dead for more than two years. His body was exhumed from its tomb in Westminster Abbey on the instruction …
00:12:07 |
Tue 30 Jan 2024
Bush, Frum and the Axis of Evil
George W. Bush’s controversial State of the Union address from 29th January, 2002 - saw the introduction of the phrase ‘the Axis of Evil’.
Speechwriter David Frum had initially grouped Iraq, Iran an…
00:12:15 |
Mon 29 Jan 2024
The Man Who Sold The Wind
French artist Yves Klein concluded his artwork "Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle" on 26th January 1962 - by throwing half the gold he received for the artwork into the Seine, and burning th…
00:12:06 |
Fri 26 Jan 2024
Soundtracking the Royal Wedding
Walking down the aisle to Wagner’s ‘Here Comes The Bride’ and departing to Mendelssohn’s ‘The Wedding March’ remains a popular choice at wedding ceremonies - a precedent established by the Princess R…
00:11:18 |
Thu 25 Jan 2024
I've Struck Gold!
The California Gold Rush was ignited by James Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24th, 1848. The news led to a lawless and chaotic surge of wannabe prospectors heading to the St…
00:12:48 |
Wed 24 Jan 2024
The Elephants of War
Elephants have played a surprisingly important role on the battlefield, even before the birth of Christ; notably in 5th Century BCE India, and during the Punic Wars in Africa.
But on 23rd January, 9…
00:11:58 |
Tue 23 Jan 2024
Bjorn Borg's Retirement Bombshell
When tennis fans learned that their idol, multiple Grand Slam winner Bjorn Borg, might be about to retire from the professional game, at the age of only 26.
Why did the Swedish star, whose young fe…
00:12:02 |
Mon 22 Jan 2024
I Impregnated Lucy
When Lucille Ball's character gave birth on "I Love Lucy" on 19th January 1953, 44 million people tuned in: an astonishing 72% of TV-owning Americans, surpassing the number who watched President Eise…
00:11:47 |
Fri 19 Jan 2024
Arriving At Botany Bay
Rerun: ‘The First Fleet’ - the eleven ships carrying around 1400 people from Britain, most of whom were convicted criminals - landed in New South Wales on 18th January, 1788.
Australia had been home …
00:11:40 |
Thu 18 Jan 2024
Ireland's First Divorce
Heavily influenced by the Church, Article 43 of the Irish Constitution forbade divorce - a law that stood until 17th January, 1997, when a Judge granted a terminally ill husband the right to divorce …
00:11:28 |
Wed 17 Jan 2024
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