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
The First TV Weather Report
Rerun. A weather map was first broadcast on TV on 18th August, 1926 - but there were no fancy graphics, no on-screen forecaster, and only one intended recipient: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …
00:11:40 |
Thu 18 Aug 2022
Party at the Palace
Louis XIV was among the V.I.P. guests at Nicolas Fouquet’s lavish houseparty on 17th August, 1661 - and was supposedly so consumed with jealousy that he had Fouquet arrested for treason.
Although not…
00:11:56 |
Wed 17 Aug 2022
The Deadly Air Race
Aviation in the 1920s could be a lethal business, as proven on 16th August 1927, when only 2 of the 15 planes that entered The Dole Derby - a $35,000 contest to fly from California to Hawaii - succes…
00:11:59 |
Tue 16 Aug 2022
America's Nazi Summer Camps
Camp Siegfried hosted a ‘Nazi Camp Fete’ for 40,000 attendees on 15th August, 1938. The Summer resort, on Yaphank, Long Island, was the epicentre of the German-American Bund: an organisation devoted …
00:12:05 |
Mon 15 Aug 2022
The Bodies Buried at Bedlam
When 42 bodies buried near Liverpool Street Station in London were dug up as part of the works on Crossrail on 12th August, 2015, they were thought to be victims of the Great Plague of 1665. The inci…
00:12:00 |
Fri 12 Aug 2022
The Long Count
Rerun. The 7,885 year-long calendar that the Mayan people used to measure long stretches of time, ‘The Long Count’, began on 11th August, 3114 B.C.
The combination of a Haabʼ and a Tzolkʼin date iden…
00:11:58 |
Thu 11 Aug 2022
Hollywood’s Favourite Dog
Rin Tin Tin, the German Shepherd who starred in more than 27 Hollywood films, died on 10th August, 1932 at the age of 13. Radio stations around the country interrupted programming to announce his dea…
00:11:28 |
Wed 10 Aug 2022
The Not-Yet Leaning Tower of Pisa
Construction began on a white marble bell tower for Pisa’s new Cathedral complex on 9th August, 1173. Little did the engineers working on the project know that their building would become famous all …
00:11:59 |
Tue 09 Aug 2022
When The Beatles Crossed The Road
Abbey Road was a street known only to North Londoners until The Beatles posed on the zebra crossing outside EMI Studios on 8th August, 1969. Photographer Iain MacMillan took just six snaps, one of wh…
00:11:31 |
Mon 08 Aug 2022
The Girl in the Comic Strip
Little Orphan Annie, Harold Gray’s plucky heroine, made her newspaper debut on 5th August, 1924. The iconic comic strip then ran for an astonishing 86 years.
Although now most associated with the sac…
00:11:23 |
Fri 05 Aug 2022
Dom Perignon Tastes the Stars
Rerun. Benedictine monk Dom Perignon is said to have discovered champagne on 4th August, 1693. 200 million bottles are now produced and sold every year.
The sparkliness was originally considered a de…
00:11:55 |
Thu 04 Aug 2022
Storming the Sacred City
Sir Francis Younghusband’s band of British troops reached Lhasa on 3rd August, 1904. Along the way, they’d massacred thousands of bewildered Tibetans - but justified their incursion with the (false) …
00:11:39 |
Wed 03 Aug 2022
Don't Mess With Jeanne
Olivier Clisson III was beheaded for treason on 2nd August, 1343 - an event which triggered his wife Jeanne to violently avenge his death for years: a brutal killing spree that earned her the nicknam…
00:11:52 |
Tue 02 Aug 2022
Let's Do The Twist
Chubby Checker's "The Twist", the most popular single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, was released on 1st August, 1960.
It was just a cover version of a B-side which had already been release…
00:11:55 |
Mon 01 Aug 2022
The Cult of Olaf
Viking King Olaf II Haraldsson was killed on 29th July, 1030, kicking off a campaign, led by an English clergyman, to declare him a Saint.
The cult of Olaf continues in Norway still, with festivals, …
00:11:36 |
Fri 29 Jul 2022
Fingerprints Go Legit
#throwbackthursday William James Herschel, a British colonial magistrate in India, first used fingerprints as a means of identification on 28th July, 1858 - not to catch a criminal, but to implement …
00:11:05 |
Thu 28 Jul 2022
Let's Go To Berni Inn
Famous for steaks, maroon banquettes, schooners of sherry and sexist advertising, family restaurant chain and ‘70s date night favourite Berni Inn first opened its doors at the historic Bristol pub Th…
00:11:51 |
Wed 27 Jul 2022
The Eccentric Outlaw
Charles E. Boles, otherwise known as ‘Black Bart’, was one of the Wild West’s most unlikely stagecoach robbers; being as he was a spiffy and quietly-spoken former teacher from Norfolk. But on 26th Ju…
00:12:03 |
Tue 26 Jul 2022
When Mao Went Swimming
Chairman Mao Zedong swam in the Yangtze River on 25th July, 1966. Despite being in his Seventies, the leader was said by party propagandists (and hence every newspaper in China) to have set a world-r…
00:11:37 |
Mon 25 Jul 2022
When Longbows Defeated Scotland
William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace was defeated by fearsome English archers at the Battle of Falkirk on 22nd July, 1298; when Edward I’s army first used longbows against their Scottish adversaries, with de…
00:11:51 |
Fri 22 Jul 2022
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are the property of The Retrospectors. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by eachpod.com.