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
- 1105
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
When Zombies Came To Hollywood
Independent horror film ‘White Zombie’, starring Bela Lugosi, premiered in New York City’s Rivoli Theatre on July 28th, 1932. It marked the first time that zombies had featured in a Hollywood picture…
00:12:25 |
Fri 28 Jul 2023
Raleigh's Tobacco Adventures
Rerun. Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco back to Britain from Virginia on 27th July 1586 - and, in so doing, triggered a craze for smoking, which at the time was considered a tonic for halitosis, an…
00:11:04 |
Thu 27 Jul 2023
Rembrandt's Money Troubles
Following a successful early career, Rembrandt van Rijn filed for ‘cessie van goede’ (insolvency) on July 26th, 1656. The poor management of his finances magnified other difficulties that he had with…
00:12:50 |
Wed 26 Jul 2023
Is it a Boat? Is it a Plane? No, it's Hovercraft
The Hovercraft SR-N1, piloted by Captain Peter Lamb, sailed from Calais to Dover on 25th July 1959, fifty years to the day after Louis Blériot made the first crossing of the English Channel. It took …
00:12:01 |
Tue 25 Jul 2023
The Aussies Who Outswam The Soviets
The ‘Quietly Confident Quartet’ of Mark Tonelli (backstroke), Peter Evans (breaststroke), Mark Kerry (butterfly), and Neil Brooks (freestyle) won Gold in the 4 × 100 metres medley relay at the Summer…
00:13:16 |
Mon 24 Jul 2023
Herostratus: Burning Ambition
The fire that destroyed the second Temple of Artemis - one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world - was supposedly set on the day Alexander the Great was born: 21st July, 356 BC. The story goes th…
00:11:05 |
Fri 21 Jul 2023
Napoleon's Surname Decree
Rerun. France’s Jewish population mostly had no family surnames – until 20th July, 1808, when Napoleon issued a decree insisting they adopted one. They were not permitted to choose place names, and a…
00:11:15 |
Thu 20 Jul 2023
Surfin' 1800s USA
The boys who brought surfing to California were Hawaiian princes Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, David Kawānanakoa, and Edward Keliʻiahonui, who took a break from military school on 19th July, 1885, to su…
00:11:37 |
Wed 19 Jul 2023
The Web's First Image
Tim Berners-Lee uploaded a photo of parody doo-wop group Les Horrible Cernettes on 18th July 1992 - the first image to be shared online.
The photograph was taken at the CERN Hardronic Festival by Sil…
00:10:50 |
Tue 18 Jul 2023
Rebranding the Royal Family
Windsor became the official surname of the British Royal family on 17th July 1917, when King George V issued a proclamation declaring that “The Name of Windsor is to be borne by His Royal House and F…
00:11:57 |
Mon 17 Jul 2023
Mr. Dynamite
Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who demonstrated it in Britain for the first time on 14th July, 1867. He had discovered that when nitroglycerin, an explosive liquid, was absorb…
00:13:05 |
Fri 14 Jul 2023
Queen Vic's New Gaff
Rerun. Queen Victoria moved from her birthplace, Kensington Palace, and decreed Buckingham Palace her official residence on 13th July, 1837. She was 18, newly-crowned – and until then had shared a be…
00:11:21 |
Thu 13 Jul 2023
The Miners Dumped In New Mexico
A deputized posse illegally kidnapped and deported over a thousand striking mine workers from Bisbee, Arizona on July 12, 1917, and dumped them in New Mexico: an event that became known as The Bisbee…
00:13:38 |
Wed 12 Jul 2023
Blasphemy!
Mary Whitehouse successfully sued Gay News and publisher Denis Lemon at the Old Bailey in a trial that began on 11th July, 1977 - Britain’s last conviction for blasphemy.
What had ired the notorious …
00:12:19 |
Tue 11 Jul 2023
Adventures of the Boy Horsemen
The ‘Abernathy Boys’, Temple and Louis, were aged just 5 and 8 respectively when they departed Guthrie, Oklahoma for a 1,300-mile horseback trip to Roswell, New Mexico on July 10th, 1909. Alone.
Sons…
00:12:29 |
Mon 10 Jul 2023
Meet Pinocchio
Pinocchio, ‘The Story of a Puppet’, debuted in Giornale per i bambini, an Italian weekly magazine for children, on 7th July, 1881. Its author, Carlo Lorenzini - going by the pseudonym C. Collodi - in…
00:12:02 |
Fri 07 Jul 2023
Kalashnikov's Killing Machine
The AK-47 assault rifle, the 20th century’s deadliest weapon, went into production on 6th July, 1947.
Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, then a 22 year-old tank sergeant, the 600rpm gun was the winnin…
00:12:04 |
Thu 06 Jul 2023
Jeff Bezos and the Infinite Bookstore
Rerun. Amazon, created in the Seattle garage of Jeff Bezos, was incorporated on 5th July, 1994.
Before Bezos had settled on the site’s name as a way of conveying the size and scope of the e-commerce…
00:11:54 |
Wed 05 Jul 2023
Victory Day For Housewives
Fourteen years of food rationing came to an end in Britain on 4th July, 1954, when restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted. Members of the London Housewives’ Association h…
00:11:39 |
Tue 04 Jul 2023
When Bowie Killed Ziggy
David Bowie retired his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust live on stage at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 3rd July, 1973. To the surprise of most of his band, the Spiders From Mars, he announced to a devastate…
00:12:09 |
Mon 03 Jul 2023
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