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
The End of The Pirate Monk
Bandit, Admiral, wizard, pirate... ‘Eustace The Monk’ did it all - and was decapitated for his troubles, at the Battle of Sandwich on 24th August, 1217.
Previously a licensed criminal for the court o…
00:11:43 |
Tue 24 Aug 2021
Bogie and Bacall Burn Up The Screen
Howard Hawks’ film noir ‘The Big Sleep’ finally hit cinemas on 23rd August, 1946, after extra crowd-pleasing repartee had been inserted, featuring real life couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
…
00:11:23 |
Mon 23 Aug 2021
One Direction - The Movie
‘This Is Us’ premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square on 20th August, 2013. 10,000 ‘Directioners’, some of whom had slept rough for three nights, were there to catch a glimpse of their favourite boyba…
00:11:36 |
Fri 20 Aug 2021
The Surprising Start of Vietnamese Nail Bars
Tippi Hedren, star of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ and ‘Marnie’, was already known for her activism - primarily rescuing big cats - when, on 19th August, 1975 she visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in Sacr…
00:11:11 |
Thu 19 Aug 2021
The First TV Weather Report
A weather map was first broadcast on TV on 18th August, 1926 - but there were no fancy graphics, no on-screen forecaster, and only one intended recipient: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis…
00:11:39 |
Wed 18 Aug 2021
The Dingo Baby-Snatcher
When two month-old Azaria Chamberlain was taken from her tent by a dingo on the night of August 17th, 1980, the majority of the Australian public believed that her mother, Lindy Chamerlain, had done …
00:11:57 |
Tue 17 Aug 2021
On Tour with the Siamese Twins
Conjoined teenagers Chang and Eng Bunker began their world tour in Boston, Massachusetts on 16th August, 1829.
‘Discovered’ by Scotsman Robert Hunter in Siam (now Thailand), the boys inspired the ter…
00:11:12 |
Mon 16 Aug 2021
The Fake King of Albania
German circus performer Otto Witte went to his death-bed claiming he had been crowned King of Albania on 13th August, 1913 for a five-day reign which culminated with him being chased out of the count…
00:11:24 |
Fri 13 Aug 2021
Ponzi Gets Busted
The ‘Get Rich Quick’ scheme pioneered by scamster Charles Ponzi came to an end with his arrest on 12th August, 1920 - but ‘Ponzi schemes’ remain a popular form of swindling to this day.
After promis…
00:10:53 |
Thu 12 Aug 2021
The 'Long Count' Begins
The 7,885 year-long calendar used by the Mayan people measure long stretches of time, ‘The Long Count’, began on 11th August, 3114 B.C.
The combination of a Haabʼ and a Tzolkʼin date identifies a day…
00:11:58 |
Wed 11 Aug 2021
The Slap Heard Around The World
Whilst visiting traumatised U.S. soldiers in an evacuation hospital on 10th August, 1943, General George S. Patton encountered a man he believed to be a coward. So he slapped him in the face with his…
00:11:23 |
Tue 10 Aug 2021
Britain's First Nudist Beach
Black Rock - a 200-yard strip of pebbly beach in Brighton - was first set aside for naked bathers on 9th August, 1979. It came after a campaign by the Central Council For British Naturism, who had pr…
00:11:35 |
Mon 09 Aug 2021
The Shocking Debut of the Electric Chair
Axe murderer William Kemler became the first person to be put to death by electric chair at Auburn Prison, New York on 6th August, 1890. It did not go smoothly.
The first charge failed, and the secon…
00:11:37 |
Fri 06 Aug 2021
Houdini’s Last Escape
Harry Houdini survived 91 minutes in an underwater coffin at the Shelton Hotel, New York on 5th August, 1926.
The stunt had been arranged to counter the claims of Hindu mystic Rahman Bey, who said s…
00:11:24 |
Thu 05 Aug 2021
Dom Perignon Tastes The Stars
Benedictine monk Dom Perignon is said to have discovered champagne on 4th August, 1693. 200 million bottles are now produced and sold every year.
The sparkliness was originally considered a defect - …
00:11:55 |
Wed 04 Aug 2021
The Fake Critic
Eyebrows were raised when Dave Manning - a previously unknown film critic - was suddenly receiving star billing on Hollywood movie posters. He turned out to be fictional. This climaxed with a lawsuit…
00:10:45 |
Tue 03 Aug 2021
Who Killed William II?
William II, son of William The Conqueror, took a hunting trip to the New Forest on 2nd August, 1100 - and was shot dead by an arrow, which punctured his lung.
But, whodunnit? Chroniclers laid the bl…
00:11:53 |
Mon 02 Aug 2021
When Noel Gallagher Met Tony Blair
The ‘Cool Britannia’ party - held at 10 Downing Street on 30th July, 1997 - quickly became one of the most iconic events of the New Labour era. Celebrities including Helen Mirren, Eddie Izzard and Le…
00:11:34 |
Fri 30 Jul 2021
The First Boy Scouts
Robert Paden-Powell took twenty boys to Brownsea Island, Poole on 29th July, 1907, to embark on a ten-day camp. The trip was, essentially, a laboratory for his subsequent books - and, therefore, the …
00:11:22 |
Thu 29 Jul 2021
Fingerprints Go Legit
William James Herschel, a British colonial magistrate in India, first used fingerprints as a means of identification on 28th July, 1858 - not to catch a criminal, but to implement two-step verificati…
00:11:05 |
Wed 28 Jul 2021
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