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
Shooting 'Dr. No'
It had a budget of just $1 million, a lead actor wearing a toupee, and the baddie in the first draft of the script was a monkey. But the first James Bond film, ‘Dr. No’, which began shooting in Jamai…
00:11:59 |
Tue 16 Jan 2024
Wikipedia: Hello World
Rerun : Wikipedia launched with the cheery words “Hello World!” on 15th January, 2001.
The project arrived almost by accident, as the side-project of a more serious effort by tech entrepreneur Jimmy …
00:12:03 |
Mon 15 Jan 2024
Motown Begins
When Berry Gordy, Jr. founded Tamla Records in Detroit on 12th January, 1959, he reshaped popular music forever. With an iconic artist roster that included The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and The Jack…
00:11:39 |
Fri 12 Jan 2024
England's First Lottery
Rerun: With a top prize of £5,000 and a celebrity backer in the form of Queen Elizabeth I, England embarked on its first ever national lottery draw at St Paul’s Cathedral on 11th January, 1569.
The r…
00:11:56 |
Thu 11 Jan 2024
Opening Up University
The Open University began welcoming students on 10th January 1971 - but they did not meet up for Fresher’s Week, due to this innovative institution (brainchild of Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson)…
00:11:22 |
Wed 10 Jan 2024
Let's Bury Nelson
Naval commander Horatio Nelson became the first non-Royal to receive a full British state funeral on 9th January, 1806, when tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of London to pay tribute t…
00:12:21 |
Tue 09 Jan 2024
Can You Smell Eggs?
In New York City on 8th January, 2007, an unexplained pervasive egg smell was reported.
Baffled authorities scrambled to try to work out whether it had been caused by a gas leak, a chemical spill, a …
00:12:02 |
Mon 08 Jan 2024
Meet Jekyll and Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ was published in the USA on 5th January, 1886. It had been intended for release as a Christmas horror story the pre…
00:11:55 |
Fri 05 Jan 2024
Dawn of the Hit Parade
Billboard introduced the first-ever pop music chart on 4th January, 1936. Catering to jukebox operators, rather than everyday music fans, the chart was an occasional magazine feature, listing top tra…
00:12:22 |
Thu 04 Jan 2024
The Siege of Sidney Street
A dramatic standoff between Metropolitan Police and Latvian anarchists unfolded in the East End of London on 3rd January, 1911 - when two men suspected of murdering policemen in a jewellery heist wer…
00:12:21 |
Wed 03 Jan 2024
Ronald Reagan: Hollywood's Governor
Former actor and SAG President Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as Governor of California just after midnight on 2nd January, 1967: the end of the beginning of a hugely successful political career that …
00:12:16 |
Tue 02 Jan 2024
Inside Barnum's Museum
Happy New Year! Our first episode of 2024 recalls Today In History in 1842 - the day P.T. Barnum opened his ‘American Museum’ in New York, replete with a flea circus, ‘Siamese’ twins, and a ‘mermaid’…
00:11:34 |
Mon 01 Jan 2024
Best of 2023: Captain Kidd: Pirate or Privateer?
We’re back with new episodes on New Year’s Day, but, before we finally turn our backs on 2023 for good, here’s Olly’s choice for his favourite episode of the year - our story from 23rd May, the day i…
00:14:58 |
Fri 29 Dec 2023
Best of 2023: Richard I's Awkward Wedding Night
Arion’s favourite episode from 2023 is this romp from May 12th, the day on which, in 1911, Richard the Lionheart finally got hitched. His Bride? Berengaria of Navarre, daughter of King Sancho VI – a …
00:13:34 |
Thu 28 Dec 2023
Best of 2023: The Counterfeit Queen of Soul
This week we’re revisiting our favourite episodes of 2023, and Rebecca has chosen to replay our episode from 15th February, the day in 1969 when Mary Jane Jones - known professionally as Vickie Jones…
00:14:02 |
Wed 27 Dec 2023
Retrospectors Quiz Of The Year 2023
It’s been a hell of a year at Retrospectors HQ - from Clyde Barrow's first scrape with the law to the installation of Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America.
BUT when it comes to retaining trivia, who i…
00:24:02 |
Fri 22 Dec 2023
Mariah's Christmas Hit
Rerun: All I Want For Christmas Is You has made Mariah Carey a fortune - but it took an astonishing 25 years for the song to finally reach Number One on the Billboard Hot 100; a feat it achieved on 2…
00:12:04 |
Thu 21 Dec 2023
Panto's Greatest Dame
Victorian music hall star Dan Leno, creator of Widow Twankey and Mother Goose, was born on 20th December, 1860. A child prodigy of the stage, Leno kicked off his career as "Little George, the Infant …
00:12:46 |
Wed 20 Dec 2023
The War on Christmas
England’s Puritan Parliament attempted to purge Christmas of Catholic influences on 19th December, 1644, by passing The Ordinance for the Better Observation of the Monthly Fast, an attempt in the leg…
00:11:06 |
Tue 19 Dec 2023
Introducing The Nutcracker
The premiere of Tchaikovsky’s seminal ballet ‘The Nutcracker’, on 18th December, 1892, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg. It was NOT a hit.
The composer, who thought the Alexander D…
00:11:42 |
Mon 18 Dec 2023
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