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
Killing Lincoln's Killer
John Wilkes Booth was on the run for twelve days before being tracked down to a tobacco barn at Garrett’s Farm in Port Royal, Virginia, and shot in the neck. He died of his injuries on 26th April, 18…
00:11:31 |
Tue 26 Apr 2022
The Band of Gold Mystery
Freda Payne’s banger ‘Band Of Gold’ sounds like a Motown record, but actually isn’t. Although written by Berry Gordy’s hit-making trio Holland-Dozier-Holland, it was released on their breakaway label…
00:11:23 |
Mon 25 Apr 2022
The Man Who Cycled The World
Riding a Penny Farthing bicycle from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Yokohama, Japan, Thomas Stevens began his epic two-and-a-half year journey around the world on 22nd April, 1884.
Along the way, he …
00:11:53 |
Fri 22 Apr 2022
Not The Loch Ness Monster
The ‘Surgeon’s Photograph’, as it came to be known - a supposed glimpse of Nessie papped from the lochside - was debated by Loch Ness Monster aficionados for decades after being published in a sensat…
00:11:43 |
Thu 21 Apr 2022
The Truth About Timbuktu
No European had returned alive from Timbuktu until French adventurer René Caillie, who arrived in the ‘City of Gold’ on 20th April, 1828 after an arduous year-long journey. He was fêted by the Sociét…
00:11:32 |
Wed 20 Apr 2022
Meet Shirley Temple
Child star Shirley Temple made her feature film debut aged six in ‘Stand Up And Cheer’, released at the height of the Depression, on 19th April, 1934 - and never looked back. In one year alone she wo…
00:11:46 |
Tue 19 Apr 2022
Introducing The Highway Code
Britain had no driving test, no enforced rules on drink-driving, and a network of roads reliant on hand signals on 14th April, 1931 - the publication day of surprise national bestseller The Highway C…
00:11:59 |
Thu 14 Apr 2022
The Crazy Queen of Spain
Joanna of Castile, was, as a young lady, remarked upon for her intellect and good companionship, and married off to prize catch Philip the Handsome - but by the time she died on 13th April, 1555 she …
00:12:08 |
Wed 13 Apr 2022
The First Casino Royale
A chaotic, shambolic and critically panned parody, the first on-screen incarnation of Ian Fleming’s novel ‘Casino Royale’ received its London premiere on 12th April, 1967 - with final edits still bei…
00:12:02 |
Tue 12 Apr 2022
The Birth of Butlin's
The first holiday camp in Britain, Butlin’s Skegness, opened to the public on 11th April, 1936 - although one member of the public, a certain Freda Monk from Nottingham, was so keen to attend that sh…
00:11:54 |
Mon 11 Apr 2022
Venus, Reborn
The most famous armless statue of all time, ‘Venus de Milo’ was discovered by a farmer on the Aegean island of Milos on 8th April, 1829, sparking an international bidding war that saw her eventually …
00:11:54 |
Fri 08 Apr 2022
The Notorious Dick Turpin
Highwayman Dick Turpin was executed at York on 7th April, 1739, for stealing horses. He was 34.
But, whilst the date and manner of his death are accurately recalled, almost everything else about Tur…
00:11:55 |
Thu 07 Apr 2022
The Kodak Moment
George Eastman filed a patent for the first ever celluloid roll film on 6th April, 1889 - an incremental development following the release of the first Kodak handheld camera, released in 1888, but a …
00:12:00 |
Wed 06 Apr 2022
Helen Keller’s Living Word
Deaf and blind since toddlerhood, Helen Keller was seven years old when her teacher, Anne Sullivan, took her to a water-pump on 5th April, 1887 - and she learned the word ‘water’.
It was a eureka mom…
00:12:00 |
Tue 05 Apr 2022
Chinese Restaurant Syndrome
MSG, the umami seasoning frequently added to Chinese cuisine, came under fire on 4th April, 1968 - when Dr Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine musing about the po…
00:11:44 |
Mon 04 Apr 2022
Unearthing Pompeii
Under the orders of King Charles III - who wanted marble and classical art for his palace at Portici - Spanish military engineer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre excavated some Campanian ruins on 1st Apri…
00:11:46 |
Fri 01 Apr 2022
Meet The Teletubbies
Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po were introduced to British viewers on 31st March, 1997 - launching an international phenomenon and changing kid’s television forever.
‘Teletubbies’ was an enormous hi…
00:11:53 |
Thu 31 Mar 2022
Dr Long's Ethereal Adventures
Pain-free surgery eluded physicians for centuries, but 26-year-old Crawford Williamson Long successfully removed a tumour from the neck of patient James Venable on 30th March, 1842 - whilst Venable w…
00:11:18 |
Wed 30 Mar 2022
The World’s Strongest Man
Edward Lawrence Levy, a bald and bespectacled 40 year old choir-master from Birmingham, became the first ever winner of an international weightlifting contest at Cafe Monaco in London on 28th March, …
00:11:57 |
Mon 28 Mar 2022
The Tunnel Under The Thames
Marc Brunel’s visionary under-water tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping finally opened to the public on 25th March, 1843. It had taken 18 years to build, and was massively over-budget, but was the fir…
00:12:01 |
Fri 25 Mar 2022
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