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
There’s Something About Mary
The Pope finally defined the dogma of The Immaculate Conception on 8th December, 1854; confirming that, in the view of the Catholic Church, Christ’s mother Mary had not only been ‘full of grace’, but…
00:11:55 |
Thu 08 Dec 2022
Capturing The Blue Marble
The most famous photograph of Earth - the ‘Blue Marble’ shot captured by NASA astronauts on Apollo 17 - was taken on 7th December, 1972.
The deep blues of the ocean, the green continent of Africa, t…
00:12:04 |
Wed 07 Dec 2022
Disaster at the West Coast Woodstock
The Rolling Stones topped the bill at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California on 6th December, 1969 - a free festival intended to rival the recent Woodstock in New York. But it was an organisation…
00:11:44 |
Tue 06 Dec 2022
Christie's First Auction
James Christie held his first auction on 5th December, 1766 - billed as a sale of “genuine household furniture, jewels, plate, firearms, china and a large quantity of madeira and high flavoured clare…
00:12:02 |
Mon 05 Dec 2022
Rebuilding St Paul's
Sir Christopher Wren was officially appointed architect for the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral on 2nd December, 1697, though in truth he had been advising on it for some years already.
Three decad…
00:11:45 |
Fri 02 Dec 2022
There’s Poison In My Pint
Rerun. Thousands of beer barrels were emptied into the streets across Lancashire on 1st December, 1900 - when it finally dawned on people that the cheap stout they’d been drinking with years was in f…
00:10:57 |
Thu 01 Dec 2022
Let's Stop Smallpox
On 30th November, 1803 a surgeon called Dr Francisco Javier de Balmis left Spain at the head of the world's first ever international public health expedition.
His ship was bound for the New World, s…
00:11:53 |
Wed 30 Nov 2022
Who Shot JFK?
Shortly after US president John F. Kennedy was shot dead, the Warren Commission was convened on 29th November, 1963 to answer the question on everybody’s lips: who did this and why?
The shooting of A…
00:12:02 |
Tue 29 Nov 2022
The Cabbage Patch Riots
Towards the end of 1983, frenzied parents battled with one another in stores across the US in a desperate bid to buy their children the toy of the moment, the Cabbage Patch Kid.
The so-called Cabbage…
00:12:10 |
Mon 28 Nov 2022
The Boy on the Raft
Elián González was just five years old when he was found clinging to an inner tube off the coast of Florida on 25th November, 1999. His mother, step-father, and all the other Cuban migrants who had b…
00:12:01 |
Fri 25 Nov 2022
The Lucy Fossil
Rerun. It took over three million years to find her. But palaeontologists Donald Johanson and Tom Gray uncovered the remains of ‘the Lucy Fossil’ - a previously undiscovered species of pre-human - in…
00:12:03 |
Thu 24 Nov 2022
Meet The Jukebox
The ‘Nickel In The Slot Player’ - the world’s first jukebox - made its debut at the Palais Royale Saloon bar in San Francisco on 23rd November, 1889.
Created by Louis Glass and William S. Arnold, the…
00:11:52 |
Wed 23 Nov 2022
Bye Bye Blackbeard
History’s most notorious pirate, Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, was killed and decapitated by lieutenant Robert Maynard, who besieged Blackbeard’s boats in Ocracoke on 22nd November, 1718.
Now recalled …
00:11:46 |
Tue 22 Nov 2022
Let's Revolve A Restaurant
La Ronde, the USA’s first revolving restaurant, opened on 21st November, 1961, at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. On the menu in the 298ft-tall tower was shrimp cocktail, mahi-mahi, and ‘the Queen …
00:11:55 |
Mon 21 Nov 2022
How Star Wars Changed Movie Trailers
The official trailer for ‘The Phantom Menace’ was uploaded to the Star Wars website on 18th November, 1998 - a reaction to the franchise’s rabid fans leaking their own camcorder footage to the web. I…
00:11:41 |
Fri 18 Nov 2022
The Last Sultan
Rerun. Mehmet VI stepped on to a British warship to seek refuge in Malta on 17th November, 1922 - thereby becoming the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, a dynasty stretching back to the 14th Century…
00:12:03 |
Thu 17 Nov 2022
Ivan vs Ivan
Why did Ivan The Terrible kill his son, Ivan? Ever since the day he supposedly brought a sceptre crashing down upon his head - 16th November, 1581 - this question has divided people. Did he suspect h…
00:12:10 |
Wed 16 Nov 2022
The Best A Man Can Get?
King C. Gillette was granted a US patent for a “safety razor” on November 15th, 1904 - kickstarting both the disposable grooming industry, and the notorious ‘razor and blades’ business model.
Prior t…
00:12:07 |
Tue 15 Nov 2022
When Anne Married Mark
The Royal Wedding between Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips on 14th November, 1973 was a lavish affair at Westminster Abbey, with an anticipated global audience of 500 million - but the 23 year…
00:11:59 |
Mon 14 Nov 2022
Welcome To Stevenage
Britain's first ‘New Town’, built to accommodate 60,000 residents, was Stevenage, Hertfordshire - designated on 11th November, 1946 by Lewis Silkin, Labour’s Minister for Town and Country Planning.
…
00:11:49 |
Fri 11 Nov 2022
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