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
- 1103
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
On This Day: The Last Sultan
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.
He w…
00:12:00 |
Wed 17 Nov 2021
When Space Mountain Saved EuroDisney
Disneyland Paris, now Europe’s most popular theme park, initially haemorrhaged money - at an estimated rate of $1 million per day. But, after three years, it finally returned its first profit on 16th…
00:11:56 |
Tue 16 Nov 2021
The (Lady) Pirates of the Carribbean
Anne Bonny and Mary Read - the most notorious women to swashbuckle and plunder in the ‘golden age of piracy’ - were captured near Jamaica by pirate-hunter Jonathan Barnet on 8th November, 1720.
Disgu…
00:11:55 |
Mon 15 Nov 2021
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
Jules Leotard first somersaulted off a trapeze at Cirque Napoléon in Paris on 12th November, 1859. His act inspired gymnasts and circus performers the world over - although Leotard is now best rememb…
00:11:42 |
Fri 12 Nov 2021
Alice Chaucer, Three Times A Wife
Geoffrey Chaucer’s granddaughter Alice was first married at the age of 11. She was granted a license to marry her third husband on 11th November, 1430; and became defined by her three powerful unions…
00:11:50 |
Thu 11 Nov 2021
Birth of the Big Things
In the early days of advertising, tyre company Goodyear sent a giant tyre on a coast-to-coast publicity trip. It was photographed on 42nd Street, New York on 10th November, 1930.
Was this the birth o…
00:11:24 |
Wed 10 Nov 2021
Roosevelt's Panamanian Photoshoot
Presidential diplomacy now routinely involves hundreds of trips on Air Force One - but, until Theodore Roosevelt travelled to inspect the Panama Canal on 9th November, 1906, no serving US President h…
00:10:47 |
Tue 09 Nov 2021
Scott and Charlene Get Hitched
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donavan’s characters in hit soap opera ‘Neighbours’ were wed in 1988, causing a shopping mall riot in Australia, and attracting an astonishing 20 million viewers to the UK tra…
00:11:50 |
Mon 08 Nov 2021
Kublai Khan's Kamikaze Climbdown
The Mongols attempted to invade Japan on 5th November, 1274. Despite having a fleet of 900 ships, they failed - in part due to a ‘kamikaze’ typhoon that whooshed their boats back to Korea.
Then they …
00:11:35 |
Fri 05 Nov 2021
Digging Up King Tut
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered by a water boy who serendipitously stumbled on a buried staircase in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings on 4th November, 1922. It marked the greatest triumph in archaeologi…
00:11:19 |
Thu 04 Nov 2021
The Day The (Rave) Music Died
Attending or producing raves was made illegal in Britain with the passing of the Criminal Justice Act on 3rd November, 1994. The government even legislated against electronic dance music, “wholly or …
00:12:06 |
Wed 03 Nov 2021
The First Cheerleader
Johnny Campbell, a medical student from the University Of Minnesota, spurred on his alma mater’s struggling football team by leading spectators in a rousing cheer on 2nd November, 1898 - and, in so d…
00:11:34 |
Tue 02 Nov 2021
We ❤️Emoji
The first ever emoji set, including the earliest incarnations of 🍷, ❤️, and 💩, was released in Japan on 1st November, 1997. But the only users could send and receive them were owners of a now-forgott…
00:10:52 |
Mon 01 Nov 2021
The M25 - Britain’s Biggest Carpark
Margaret Thatcher finally opened London’s first ring road - construction on which had begun in the 1970s - on 29th October, 1986, declaring: "I can't stand those who carp and criticise when they ough…
00:11:21 |
Fri 29 Oct 2021
Jane Austen and the Profligate Prince
George IV’s impressive Library included all the novels of Jane Austen, for whom he had a particular fondness. But what was not known (until a receipt was discovered in the Royal Archives in 2018) was…
00:10:49 |
Thu 28 Oct 2021
The Man Who Saved The World
Soviet naval officer Vasili Arkhipov lacks the name recognition of Castro, Kruschev and Kennedy - but his actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis probably prevented World War Three from erupting on 2…
00:11:10 |
Wed 27 Oct 2021
Making ‘Under Pressure’
When Queen and David Bowie met in Switzerland to record their iconic collaboration ‘Under Pressure’ on 26th October, 1981, *quite a lot* of drugs and wine were taken - to the extent that nobody can r…
00:11:47 |
Tue 26 Oct 2021
How To Bribe A Senator
The ‘Teapot Dome scandal’ reached its climax when Senator Albert Fall was found guilty of bribery, fined $100,000 and sent to jail on 25th October, 1929.
During the Presidency of Warren G Harding, Fa…
00:10:52 |
Mon 25 Oct 2021
Not The End Of The World
Jesus failed to show up on the day that came to be known as ‘The Great Disappointment’ - 22nd October, 1844. It was an embarrassment for the New England preacher, William Miller, who had prophesied C…
00:11:17 |
Fri 22 Oct 2021
Madonna's Naked Photos
Berated by the tabloids as exhibitionist pornography, Madonna’s coffee table book, ‘Sex’, quickly sold out upon its release on 21st October, 1992.
Influenced by artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy …
00:11:48 |
Thu 21 Oct 2021
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