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
Harold Pinter vs The Critics
Nobel Prize-winning dramatist Harold Pinter's London premiere of his debut, ‘The Birthday Play’ was detested by most critics - on 19th May, 1958.
Set in a mundane seaside boarding house, the play …
00:12:13 |
Mon 19 May 2025
Beau Brummell: Dandy on the Run
Socialite, wit and fashion influencer Beau Brummell fled to France on 16th May, 1816, in order to escape his creditors, from whom he had racked up around £600,000 of gambling debts.
Staying at Dessi…
00:12:55 |
Fri 16 May 2025
Launch of the Sky Girls
Ellen Church became the first ever airline stewardess on May 15th, 1930 - when she took to the skies with a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California to Chicago.
A licensed airplane pilo…
00:12:11 |
Thu 15 May 2025
Death By Sex
The Adultery Act, passed into British law on 14th May, 1650, made having sex with a married woman a crime so severe it was punishable by death – but only for her.
Radical groups like the Ranters mo…
00:12:19 |
Wed 14 May 2025
The $8billion 'Kill Switch'
‘WannaCry’, the biggest cyberattack the world has seen, was stopped in its tracks on 13th May, 2017. British blogger Marcus Hutchins found the 'kill switch'. He was 22.
The ransomware had attacked t…
00:12:14 |
Tue 13 May 2025
The Real Winnie The Pooh
Winnie - the real-life bear who inspired A.A. Milne to create Winnie-the-Pooh - died at London Zoo on 12th May, 1934.
Brought to the UK by Canadian soldier Harry Colbourn, who’d named her afte…
00:12:00 |
Mon 12 May 2025
Victory Day For Housewives
Fourteen years of food rationing came to an end in Britain on 4th July, 1954, when restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted - and we're running this episode today as part …
00:12:28 |
Fri 09 May 2025
What You Didn't Know About VE Day
Today is the 80th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe Day’, but despite the popular impression of the joyous street parties and jubilant crowds that took over London on 8th May, 1945, the reality was r…
00:14:58 |
Thu 08 May 2025
Hanging Lord Haw Haw
Nazi propagandist William Joyce, best known to British radio listeners as ‘Lord Haw Haw’, was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint at Wandsworth Prison on 3rd January, 1946 - and we're running this episode t…
00:12:38 |
Wed 07 May 2025
Never In The Field Of Human Conflict
Winston Churchill had only been Prime Minister for three months when, on 20th August, 1940, he delivered ‘The Few’ - one of his most iconic speeches - in the House of Commons.
Arion, Rebecca and Ol…
00:12:24 |
Tue 06 May 2025
World War Two's Weirdest Battle
Americans and Nazis fought side-by-side in the ‘Battle For Castle Itter’ on 5th May, 1945 - an attempt to free high-profile French prisoners from a 13th century Austrian castle at the very end of the…
00:12:53 |
Mon 05 May 2025
The Shapes in the Sky
Scientists from around the world gathered in Rome on 2nd May 1922 to agree on a definitive list of 88 constellations, which up until then had been an astronomical free-for-all.
The collection of emi…
00:11:08 |
Fri 02 May 2025
Are You A Frequent Flyer?
In the deregulated skies of the 1980s, airlines needed new ways to make customers feel special. Enter the first major frequent flyer program, American Airlines’ AAdvantage, on 1st May, 1981.
Bob Cra…
00:12:43 |
Thu 01 May 2025
Land Rover's Rugged Beginnings
A British motoring icon made its debut at the Amsterdam Motor Show on 30th April, 1948: the Land Rover. The UK’s first off-road vehicle (that wasn’t a tractor!) had been sketched in sand by its creat…
00:12:10 |
Wed 30 Apr 2025
The Swedish Meatballs Controversy
Where are meatballs from, and why does it matter? Social media users frenziedly grappled with these very questions on 29th April, 2018, when Sweden’s official Twitter account proclaimed: “Swedish mea…
00:11:12 |
Tue 29 Apr 2025
Mutiny On The Bounty
History’s most famous mutiny kicked off on 28th April, 1789, when Captain William Bligh was ousted from his ship by his former friend, Fletcher Christian, and 23 rebelling crew members: ‘The Mutiny o…
00:12:53 |
Mon 28 Apr 2025
Lisztomania!
he German poet and journalist Heinrich Heine coined the term “Lisztomania” on 25th April 1844 to describe the phenomenon of frenzied fandom in Europe where women would physically assault Franz Liszt …
00:12:02 |
Fri 25 Apr 2025
The Last Ming Emperor
On 24th April 1644, the Chongzhen Emperor walked to Meishan, a small hill in present-day Jingshan Park and hanged himself on a tree, bringing a sudden end to the Ming dynasty.
The writing had been on…
00:12:04 |
Thu 24 Apr 2025
The 'New Coke' Debacle
Coca-Cola was approaching its 100th birthday on 23rd April, 1985, when it unveiled a new beverage at New York City's Lincoln Center: the ‘smoother, rounder, bolder’ flavour of ‘New Coke’.
The succes…
00:13:01 |
Wed 23 Apr 2025
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 …
00:11:54 |
Tue 22 Apr 2025
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