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
How Not To Invade Britain
The ‘Last Invasion’ of Britain was not, as most people assume, The Battle of Hastings - but actually a farcical French attempt to conquer the Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard on 24th February, 1797.
…
00:12:05 |
Sun 23 Feb 2025
The First Hijack
Pan-Am pilot Byron Rickards was surrounded by soldiers and told he had become the prisoner of a revolutionary organisation shortly after landing in Arequipa, Peru on 21 February 1931 - the first reco…
00:11:44 |
Fri 21 Feb 2025
How Orkney Became Scottish
On 20 February, 1472, Orkney and Shetland officially became part of Scotland having been offered up as security for the dowry of the daughter of King Christian of Norway and Denmark.
The marriage was…
00:11:39 |
Thu 20 Feb 2025
Mexico's 45 Minute President
Pedro Lascuráin set an unbeatable record in presidential speedrunning—serving as Mexico’s president for a paltry 45 minutes on 19th February, 1913. His one achievement? To hold the title just long en…
00:12:08 |
Wed 19 Feb 2025
I Discovered Pluto
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto - 84 years after star-spotters first began their hunt for a ninth planet in our solar system, the elusive ‘Planet X’ on 18th February 1930.
The 24-year-old made the g…
00:12:26 |
Tue 18 Feb 2025
Britain Goes To School
The 1870 Education Act was the first to deal specifically with the provision of British schools. Speaking in the House of Commons, William Edward Forster MP proposed: "I believe that the country dema…
00:11:52 |
Mon 17 Feb 2025
The Night of 206 Stars
The Rockettes kicked off a celebrity line-up including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli, Jimmy Stewart, Al Pacino and Miss Piggy at ‘The Night of 100 Stars’, a benefit for the Actors Fund of America re…
00:11:42 |
Fri 14 Feb 2025
The 500,000 Year-Old Spark Plug
The Coso Artifact - a man-made, cylindrical object apparently encased in a geode - was discovered by Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell while prospecting for gems in Olancha, California o…
00:12:13 |
Thu 13 Feb 2025
The Forbidden City's Final Emperor
Henry Puyi, the six-year old Emperor of China, abdicated the throne on 12th February, 1912 —but of course it was his adoptive mother, Empress Dowager Longyu, who did the paperwork. With tears in her …
00:13:07 |
Wed 12 Feb 2025
The Monstrous Gerrymander
Elbridge Gerry, a founding father and governor of Massachusetts, rearranged the electoral districts of a map in order to give his Democratic Republican party an electoral advantage on 11th February 1…
00:11:41 |
Tue 11 Feb 2025
Trouble at the Tavern
Violent ‘town versus gown’ confrontations have been part of Oxford life ever since the University was founded - but reached an ignominious peak on 10th February, 1355, when almost 100 people were mas…
00:11:37 |
Mon 10 Feb 2025
Preventing Technological Surprise
Inventing the internet and pioneering satellite navigation, U.S. government agency DARPA has had an illustrious history since being founded by President Eisenhower (as the Advanced Research Projects …
00:11:50 |
Fri 07 Feb 2025
Here Come The Minstrels
Blackface performers The Virginia Minstrels - replete with white clown mouths, oversized tailcoats, and bookended by tambourine and bones players - first appeared on 6th February, 1843, at the New Yo…
00:11:54 |
Thu 06 Feb 2025
Too Mad To Rule: King George III
George III’s mental incapacitation was formally recognised by Parliament on February 5th, 1811, when The Regency Act handed power to his son, the future George IV.
Though George III had struggled wi…
00:13:03 |
Wed 05 Feb 2025
Meet The Sims
The debut of ‘The Sims’ happened on this day, February 4th, 2000.
Will Wright (‘Sim City’) developed an initial concept which revolved around architecture - but soon the Sims themselves proved to be…
00:12:16 |
Tue 04 Feb 2025
Who Killed Belle Starr?
The women of the Wild West mostly spent their lives laundering men’s clothes, bringing up children, and avoiding getting caught in the crossfire - but that didn’t stop a legend forming around them; n…
00:12:07 |
Mon 03 Feb 2025
Chimps In Space!
Before Yuri Gagarin, before Alan Shepard… a chimp called Ham was blasted into space for six-and-a-half minutes of weightlessness on 31st January, 1961. He successfully returned to Earth without serio…
00:12:07 |
Fri 31 Jan 2025
Hannah Hauxwell: Britain's First Reality Star
Running a remote Yorkshire farm, with no flushing toilet and no electricity is an unlikely route to TV stardom, but 46 year-old spinster Hannah Hauxwell managed it on 30th January, 1973, when ITV air…
00:11:32 |
Thu 30 Jan 2025
The First Burns Supper
When fans of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, suggested holding an annual dinner to mark his birthday, they probably didn’t realise a) it would still be happening over 200 years later; and b) …
00:12:31 |
Wed 29 Jan 2025
The Search For Pancho Villa
General John J. Pershing’s mission to capture the guerrilla leader Pancho Villa in Mexico was quietly withdrawn on 28th January, 1917
Initiated in response to Villa's cross-border raid on Columbus, …
00:12:13 |
Tue 28 Jan 2025
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