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
Kidnapping Ronnie Biggs
Fugitive Ronnie Biggs - infamous for participating in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, then escaping from Wandsworth Prison - was rescued by Bajan police after being kidnapped in Brazil today in hist…
00:12:10 |
Mon 24 Mar 2025
The Most Expensive Divorce Ever
Medieval power couple King Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, seemingly unable to produce a male heir, had a messy breakup. Their annulment on 21st March 1152 was granted by the Pope on th…
00:11:41 |
Fri 21 Mar 2025
Stealing the World Cup
The Jules Rimet, trophy of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from a stamp exhibition in Westminster Central Hall on March 20th, 1966 - the year England was hosting (and went on to win) the tournament. T…
00:12:03 |
Thu 20 Mar 2025
Welcome To Las Vegas
Las Vegas was a struggling mining outpost until March 19th, 1931, when Nevada Governor Fred B. Balzar signed Assembly Bill 98, also known as the Wide Open Gambling Bill: legalising casino gambling, a…
00:11:01 |
Wed 19 Mar 2025
The Birth of Fast Fashion
The craze for paper dresses was the huge and unexpected impact of a viral marketing campaign for the Scott Paper Company that debuted in TIME magazine on 18th March, 1966.
For $1.25, readers could s…
00:11:18 |
Tue 18 Mar 2025
Marie Stopes' "Mother's Clinic"
Marie Stopes’ “Mother’s Clinic” opened its doors in Holloway, on March 17th, 1826.
Stopes was a trailblazer, her birth control clinic providing working-class women with access to contraception and …
00:12:15 |
Mon 17 Mar 2025
Making The Mikado
The Mikado opened on March 14, 1885 to immediate acclaim, and went on to become W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most famous and best-loved operetta, despite its tortured genesis.
Due to growing …
00:11:28 |
Fri 14 Mar 2025
Mata Hari: Showgirl, Seductress, Spy
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known to the world as Mata Hari, set the Paris stage ablaze on March 13, 1905, with a scandalous dance routine that turned her into an overnight success.
Sporti…
00:11:55 |
Thu 13 Mar 2025
When The Dixie Chicks Got Cancelled
As the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer, Natalie Maines, made an off-the-cuff remark at a London concert on 12th March, 2003, she could not have known the comments would haunt her band (now known as ‘The Ch…
00:12:05 |
Wed 12 Mar 2025
COPS Hits TV
Producer John Langley had been pitching a no-frills, fly-on-the-wall documentary series following US Police Officers for six years when, in the midst of a writer’s strike, Fox finally bit. COPS made …
00:12:05 |
Tue 11 Mar 2025
Birth of the Book Club
The ‘Book of the Month Club’ was first launched, on March 10th, 1926.
Its inaugural selection, ‘Lolly Willowes’ by feminist Bloomsbury author Sylvia Townsend Warner, underscores the transformative …
00:11:15 |
Mon 10 Mar 2025
Abducting Ellen Turner
Kidnapped from her prestigious Liverpool boarding school on March 7, 1827, 15-year-old Ellen Turner was led to believe her family would be financially ruined if she didn’t marry her 30 year-old abduc…
00:11:13 |
Fri 07 Mar 2025
The Real Captain Birdseye
Birdseye Frosted Foods launched its first range of flash-frozen foods at a ‘test kitchen’ in Springfield, Massachusetts on 6th March, 1930 - and at the helm was Clarence ‘Bob’ Birdseye, an American e…
00:12:05 |
Thu 06 Mar 2025
Vietnam's Singing Soldier
Barry Sadler’s "Ballad of the Green Berets" reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100 on 5th March, 1966 - the only pro-Vietnam War hit to ever top the charts.
Before it even hit radio stations, Sa…
00:11:53 |
Wed 05 Mar 2025
Trashing The White House
When Andrew Jackson was inaugurated on 4th March, 1829, large crowds of recently emancipated, enthusiastic voters turned up to the Capitol to watch the former Army commander become President. But the…
00:11:44 |
Tue 04 Mar 2025
Serfdom's Up!
The Emancipation Statute was unveiled by Emperor Alexander II: March 3rd, 1861, liberating the serfs of Russia.
The culmination of years of bureaucratic efforts and peasant uprisings, the legislati…
00:12:12 |
Mon 03 Mar 2025
The Double Helix Quartet
Deciphering the structure of DNA was as complex as the double helix itself. On 28th February, 1953, Dr. James Watson and Dr. Francis Crick rushed to the pub and announced to their fellow drinkers in …
00:11:59 |
Fri 28 Feb 2025
Pokémon Hegemon
The first Pokémon videogames, ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ were launched in Japan on 27th February, 1996. The franchise went on to be the most successful ever video game to TV adaptation, and the highest sellin…
00:12:08 |
Thu 27 Feb 2025
The Shoe That Made Nike
Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, was on a quest for the perfect running shoe grip when he found inspiration in his wife’s waffle iron. Pouring polyurethane directly onto their wedding gift, he bega…
00:11:54 |
Wed 26 Feb 2025
Britain's Backyard Bunkers
The Anderson Shelter, the pop-up sheds distributed to millions of Londoners during the Blitz was first erected on February 25th, 1939 - in the garden of Mrs. Spong, in Carlsbad Street, Islington.
D…
00:12:33 |
Tue 25 Feb 2025
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