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
How Not To Invade Britain
The ‘Last Invasion’ of Britain was not, as most people assume, The Battle of Hastings - but actually a farcical French attempt to conquer the Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard on 24th February, 1797.
…
00:12:04 |
Thu 24 Feb 2022
The Dress That Launched Google Images
When Jennifer Lopez turned up on the Grammys’ red carpet wearing a green Versace dress on February 23rd, 2000, there was such a rush from the public to see the image that it became the most searched-…
00:12:01 |
Wed 23 Feb 2022
The Most Famous Sheep in the World
Dolly The Sheep, the first ever successfully cloned mammal, was introduced to the world’s press at the Roslin Institute in Scotland on 22nd February, 1997.
Born seven months earlier, with the compara…
00:11:55 |
Tue 22 Feb 2022
The First Hijack
Pan-Am pilot Byron Rickards was surrounded by soldiers and told he had become the prisoner of a revolutionary organisation shortly after landing in Arequipa, Peru on 21 February 1931 - the first reco…
00:11:44 |
Mon 21 Feb 2022
The Prince Who Drowned in Wine
Sentenced to death for treason against his brother King Edward IV, George, Duke of Clarence was executed on 18th February, 1478 - and, according to legend, chose to be drowned in a butt of his favori…
00:11:56 |
Fri 18 Feb 2022
Britain Goes To School
The 1870 Education Act was the first to deal specifically with the provision of British schools. Speaking in the House of Commons, William Edward Forster MP proposed: "I believe that the country dema…
00:11:51 |
Thu 17 Feb 2022
Pope Gregory's Sneeze
Why do we say ‘God Bless You’ when we sneeze? Some historians trace it back to 16th February, 600 - and a decree supposedly issued by the pun-loving, God-fearing Pope Gregory to ward off the effects …
00:11:52 |
Wed 16 Feb 2022
The Delia Smith Backlash
TV chef Delia Smith built a stellar career on the success spawned from her first book, ‘How To Cheat At Cooking’ in 1971. So, when she published a reboot on 15th February, 2008, it seemed a shoo-in t…
00:11:54 |
Tue 15 Feb 2022
The Night of 206 Stars
The Rockettes kicked off a celebrity line-up including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli, Jimmy Stewart, Al Pacino and Miss Piggy at ‘The Night of 100 Stars’, a benefit for the Actors Fund of America re…
00:11:42 |
Mon 14 Feb 2022
The Urinary Leash
The first women’s public toilets in London opened on Bedford St on 11th February, 1852 - attempting to capitalize on the success of George Jennings’ ‘monkey closets’, used by over 800,000 visitors to…
00:11:57 |
Fri 11 Feb 2022
Trouble at the Tavern
Violent ‘town versus gown’ confrontations have been part of Oxford life ever since the University was founded - but reached an ignominious peak on 10th February, 1355, when almost 100 people were mas…
00:11:35 |
Thu 10 Feb 2022
Horseracing Hits Britain
Chester Racecourse hosted Britain’s first ever recorded horse-racing meet on 9th February, 1539. The winner received a set of silver bells to hang from their bridal.
Mayor Henry Gee had come up with …
00:11:57 |
Wed 09 Feb 2022
Inventing The Credit Card
Diners Club, the world’s first credit card, was used for the first time at Major’s Cabin Grill in New York City on February 8th, 1950. Perhaps at odds with the debonair image the company went on to c…
00:11:36 |
Tue 08 Feb 2022
Preventing Technological Surprise
Inventing the internet and pioneering satellite navigation, U.S. government agency DARPA has had an illustrious history since being founded by President Eisenhower (as the Advanced Research Projects …
00:11:51 |
Mon 07 Feb 2022
Barry Bremen, The Great Imposter
Disguised variously as a baseball umpire, NFL referee, pro golfer, and even Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Barry Bremen earned his reputation as America’s greatest pitch invader - a career that kicked o…
00:11:57 |
Fri 04 Feb 2022
Who Killed Belle Starr?
The women of the Wild West mostly spent their lives laundering men’s clothes, bringing up children, and avoiding getting caught in the crossfire - but that didn’t stop a legend forming around them; n…
00:12:06 |
Thu 03 Feb 2022
Christian Bale's Terminator Freakout
TMZ posted leaked footage of Christian Bale’s infamous meltdown on the set of ‘Terminator Salvation’ on 2nd February, 2009.
Triggered by the film's Director Of Photography, Shane Hurlbut, repeatedly …
00:12:01 |
Wed 02 Feb 2022
The Hashish Club
Theophile Gautier’s account of ‘green jam’ cannabis consumption at the drug-addled dinner parties of the ‘Club des Hachichins’ - alongside literary figures Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and Honoré de …
00:11:28 |
Tue 01 Feb 2022
McMoscow
McDonald’s invested $50million to establish an outpost in the Soviet Union, and after 14 years of preparation, their first Russian restaurant opened in Moscow’s Pushkinskaya Square on 31st January, 1…
00:11:57 |
Mon 31 Jan 2022
Lego Shifts To Plastic
Stud-and-tube bricks, which paved the way for Lego to become one of the most successful companies in Denmark, were patented on 28th January, 1958. But this family business had already been in existen…
00:11:24 |
Fri 28 Jan 2022
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