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 Ancients v The Moderns
Modern art was controversially celebrated on 27th January, 1687, when Charles Perrault read his poem ‘The Century of Louis The Great’ at the Académie Française - railing against the prevailing wisdom…
00:11:56 |
Thu 27 Jan 2022
Brides on the Move
Sometimes termed ‘The Diaper Run’ due to the large number of babies on-board, the S.S. Argentina set sail from Southampton to New York City on 26th January, 1946 - transporting 456 ‘War Brides’ and t…
00:12:00 |
Wed 26 Jan 2022
Soundtracking the Royal Wedding
Walking down the aisle to Wagner’s ‘Here Comes The Bride’ and departing to Mendelssohn’s ‘The Wedding March’ remains a popular choice at wedding ceremonies - a precedent established by the Princess R…
00:11:17 |
Tue 25 Jan 2022
Henry VIII's Head Injury
Henry VIII is typically remembered as he was at the end of his life - weighing in at a colossal 28 stone, with ulcerated legs, failing eyesight and an explosive temper. But, prior to the jousting acc…
00:11:58 |
Mon 24 Jan 2022
The Chastity Belt and the Frenchman
Henri Littière and his adulterous wife Suzanne thought they’d come up with a novel way to combat her philandering - by commissioning a custom-made chastity belt. But on 21st January, 1934, Littière w…
00:11:34 |
Fri 21 Jan 2022
Ozzy vs. Bat
Ozzy Osbourne orally decapitated a bat live on stage in Des Moines, Iowa on 20th January, 1982; an act that quickly went down as one of the most outrageous moments in rock n roll history.
Concertgoer…
00:11:37 |
Thu 20 Jan 2022
Introducing the BlackBerry
Research In Motion were once the world’s most popular maker of smartphones, but when they launched the BlackBerry 850 on 19th January, 1999, the device had no phone functionality: it was marketed as …
00:11:50 |
Wed 19 Jan 2022
Arriving At Botany Bay
‘The First Fleet’ - the eleven ships carrying around 1400 people from Britain, most of whom were convicted criminals - landed in New South Wales on 18th January, 1788.
Australia had been home to indi…
00:11:59 |
Tue 18 Jan 2022
Rebooting 'The Rivals'
The first night of Richard Sheridan’s classic comedy ‘The Rivals’ did not go according to plan. Critics thought it was too long, the Irish gentry in the audience were insulted, and an actor was pelte…
00:11:40 |
Mon 17 Jan 2022
New York meets Snow White
Disney’s long-awaited feature ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was rapturously received at Radio City, New York, inspiring three-hour queues for tickets. The reviews that America woke up to on 14th …
00:12:05 |
Fri 14 Jan 2022
A Deadly Day At The Races
Chariot racing was a dangerous and violent sport at the best of times, but on 13th January, 532, a hooligan-led protest at the Hippodrome of Constantinople - known as ‘the Nika rebellion’ - ultimatel…
00:11:52 |
Thu 13 Jan 2022
The Cryogenic Rush Job
Dr James Bedford became the first dead body to be cryogenically frozen on 12th January, 1967 - a day still commemorated in the ‘suspended animation’ community as Bedford Day.
But in this burgeoning (…
00:12:09 |
Wed 12 Jan 2022
England's First Lottery
With a top prize of £5,000 and a celebrity backer in the form of Queen Elizabeth I, England embarked on its first ever national lottery draw at St Paul’s Cathedral on 11th January, 1569.
The results …
00:11:56 |
Tue 11 Jan 2022
Sinclair's Electric Dream
The Sinclair C5, Sir Clive Sinclair’s disastrous entry into the EV market, launched at Alexandra Palace on 10th January, 1985.
Looking like a cross between a mobility scooter and a child’s pedal car…
00:12:02 |
Mon 10 Jan 2022
The Retrospectors Quiz of the Year
It’s our last episode of 2021, and Olly is putting Arion and Rebecca to the test to see what they’ve learned from our first 168 episodes...
How many copies of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ were in the orig…
00:20:30 |
Fri 24 Dec 2021
The Night Before The Night Before Christmas
Before becoming the most valuable poem in American Literature, ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas’ was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel on 23rd December, 1823 - its author remaining a secret for fo…
00:11:39 |
Thu 23 Dec 2021
Edison's Christmas Lights
The first string of lights to be festooned upon a tree dazzled visitors to the New York home of Edward Johnson, Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, on 22nd December, 1882.
Lit patrio…
00:11:44 |
Wed 22 Dec 2021
Mariah’s Christmas Hit
All I Want For Christmas Is You has made Mariah Carey a fortune - but it took an astonishing 25 years for the song to finally reach Number One on the Billboard Hot 100; a feat it achieved on 21st Dec…
00:12:02 |
Tue 21 Dec 2021
It’s A Wonderful Premiere
Festive favourite 'It’s a Wonderful Life' originated as a short story transcribed into Christmas cards by its author Philip Van Doren Stern. But it received disappointing box office returns following…
00:11:50 |
Mon 20 Dec 2021
Meet The Simpsons
The debut episode of the world’s longest-running animated sitcom - 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' - aired in the U.S. on 17th December, 1989; attracting the Fox network’s highest ever Sunday nig…
00:12:01 |
Fri 17 Dec 2021
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.