Today In History with The Retrospectors

By The Retrospectors

What's Today In History with The Retrospectors about?

Ten minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. It's history, but not as you know it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Today In History with The Retrospectors episodes:

04.19.2024
Marathon Woman
Katherine Switzer became the first woman to officially participate in the Boston Marathon on 19th April, 1967, when, disguised in a hooded sweatshirt and joggers, she ran under a race number she’d registered for without disclosing her first name. Her...
04.18.2024
Poland's Italian Queen
Milanese Princess Bona Sforza married the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund the Old, in Krakow Cathedral on 18th April, 1518 - making her the first Italian Queen of Poland, and one of the world’s most powerful women. There followed a...
04.17.2024
The World's Weirdest War
A 335-year-long ‘war’ (in which not a single shot was fired) officially ended on 17th April, 1986, when the UK’s Dutch ambassador landed on the Isles of Scilly and declared an end to hostilities between the Netherlands and this tiny...
04.16.2024
Alex Haley's Faction Phenomenon
When ‘Roots: The Saga of an American Family’ made novelist Alex Haley an international sensation, he revisited Juffure, Gambia - the village where he claimed his 18th-century ancestor Kunta Kinte had been captured into slavery. On 16th April, 1977, he...
04.15.2024
Tommy Cooper Dies On Stage
Tommy Cooper's unexpected death on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre on 15th April, 1984 remains one of the saddest and most surreal moments in UK comedy history. Known for his slapstick humour and botched magic tricks, family favourite Cooper collapsed...
04.12.2024
The First Man in Space
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin left Kazakhstan for space on 12th April, 1961 - the first human to venture beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. As the rocket roared into the sky, Gagarin's now-famous exclamation of "Poyekhali!" ("Let's go!") echoed through...
04.11.2024
Let's Go To Butlin's
Rerun: The first holiday camp in Britain, Butlin’s Skegness, opened to the public on 11th April, 1936 - although one member of the public, a certain Freda Monk from Nottingham, was so keen to attend that she arrived a day...
04.10.2024
Yes, We Have Bananas
Bananas, the world’s favourite fruit, were first displayed in London on 10th April, 1633, in the shop window of botanist Thomas Johnson, editor for Gerard’s Herball. Despite societal taboos surrounding the banana's suggestive shape, its journey from obscurity to ubiquity was...
04.09.2024
Charles and Camilla's Wedding
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles broke royal norms by having a modest civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall on 9th April, 2005. Against a turbulent backdrop of past scandals and public opinion, the couple's union marked a delicate dance toward...
04.08.2024
The Nudge Revolution
Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler’s bestseller ‘Nudge’ was released on 8th April, 2008, catapulting a new method of behavioural economics into the public psyche - and the hands of policymakers, including David Cameron and Barack Obama. The book challenged the notion...
04.05.2024
The Battle on the Ice
A frozen Lake Peipus played host to a dramatic fight between 2,000 Catholic Crusaders and 6,000 Orthodox Christians on 5th April, 1242. The invading forces were the Teutonic Knights, armed with spears and swords to ‘Christianize’ what they saw as a...
04.04.2024
Chinese Restaurant Syndrome
Rerun: MSG, the umami seasoning frequently added to Chinese cuisine, came under fire on 4th April, 1968 - when Dr Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine musing about the possible causes of...
04.03.2024
The First Motorbike
Gottlieb Daimler's patent for his high-speed petrol engine (dubbed the "Grandfather Clock") on 3rd April, 1885, wasn't just a technological breakthrough—it inadvertently birthed the motorbike. Teaming up with Wilhelm Maybach, the duo had crafted a compact engine featuring float-metered carburetors and...
04.02.2024
When Tarzan Went To Hollywood
Johnny Weissmuller made his debut as ‘Tarzan The Ape Man’ on April 2nd, 1932, when MGM released the first talkie to feature the jungle hero - spawning a Tarzanmania craze. The blockbuster, loosely based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1912 novel, was...
03.28.2024
The World's Strongest Man
Rerun: Edward Lawrence Levy, a bald and bespectacled 40 year old choir-master from Birmingham, became the first ever winner of an international weightlifting contest at Cafe Monaco in London on 28th March, 1891. The event was an attempt to separate...
03.27.2024
Cleopatra ❤️ Caesar
Julius Caesar intervened to put his lover and ally Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne on 27th March, 47 BC - cementing their position as the world’s premier Power Couple. But Cleo's ascent to power was not just a power play. Rather,...
03.26.2024
Knights Gone Wild
‘The Combat of the Thirty’, happened in Brittany on 26th March, 1351. Despite being largely irrelevant in military terms, it was referenced for generations as the pinnacle of chivalric honour in France. The fighting was chaotic, brutal, and lasted for hours,...
03.25.2024
Flour Power: The Tichborne Dole and the Biddenden Maids
Each Lady Day, the Hampshire village of Tichborne hands out bags of flour to the locals - a tradition that began on 25th March, 1150 after Lady Marbella Tichborne, on her death-bed, suggested distributing a ‘Tichborne Dole’ to the needy. ...
03.22.2024
Welcome To Sea World
There were no orcas or rollercoasters, but there were ‘seamaids’ serving tropical drinks when Sea World San Diego first welcomed guests on 22nd March, 1964. Originally conceived as a themed restaurant with a marine show inside, the founders had pivoted to...
03.21.2024
Last Days of Alcatraz
Rerun: The world’s most famous high-security jail, Alcatraz, evicted its last prisoner on 21st March, 1963. Met by a huge crowd of reporters who asked him what he thought of ‘the rock’, armed robber Frank Weatherman responded, “Alcatraz was never...
03.20.2024
What Caused The Black Death?
The bubonic plague was blamed on witches, Jews, God’s wrath, and, on 20th March 1345, in a new theory propagated by the King of France, the rare planetary alignment between Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in Aquarius. Of course, the real cause...
03.19.2024
Gaudí's Magnum Opus
The cornerstone of the Sagrada Familia was laid on March 19, 1882, kicking off a construction project so ambitious that it is still going to this day. Perhaps unexpectedly, however, on the day it began, the cathedral that is now regarded...
03.18.2024
Braille For Your Feet
Tenji blocks (点字ブロック) - small raised shapes in the pavement to assist visually impaired people in crossing the road - were first installed near the Okayama School for the Blind in Japan on March 18th, 1967. Designed by Seiichi Miyake (三宅精一),...
03.15.2024
The Woman Who Made van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh’s genius was finally recognised 11 years after his death, when, on March 15th, 1901, the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris debuted his first major exhibition. Without the persistence of his sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, it could probably not...
03.14.2024
Finger Lickin' Lawsuit
Rerun. Colonel Harland Sanders’ image continues to grace the logo of KFC, who continue to sell the chicken inspired by his ‘11 secret herbs and spices’. But on 14th March, 1978 the Colonel and the chain’s owners were at legal...
03.13.2024
Fall of the Maya
The Guatemalan island of Flores, once known as Nojpetén, witnessed the final clash between Spanish conquistadors and the last independent Maya kingdom on March 13th, 1697. The Itza warriors, equipped with ornate spears and swords, fought valiantly to defend their homeland;...
03.12.2024
Dennis The Menace(s)
On this day in 1951, by a peculiar quirk of fate, the world got not one, but two Dennis the Menaces. Both Dennises were mischievous rascals with slingshots, dogs, and striped outfits, but their personalities were as different as Yorkshire tea...
03.11.2024
Meet The Luddites
Disgruntled textile workers stormed a factory near Nottingham on March 11th, 1811, kickstarting the political movement famously known as Luddism. Their protest was not anti-technology per se; instead it stemmed from a desire for better work opportunities and wages, amidst economic...
03.08.2024
The Marx Brothers Bow Out
Comedy legends The Marx Brothers made their final on-screen appearance together on March 8th, 1959, in a TV short called "The Incredible Jewel Robbery." However, due to contractual reasons, Groucho's participation was kept a surprise until the end, with his...
03.07.2024
Constantine's Sunday Sabbath
Rerun: Why is Sunday the Christian day of rest? Because Jesus said so? No! It was Roman emperor Constantine The Great who decreed on 7th March, 320 that “on the venerable day of the sun, let the magistrate and the...
03.06.2024
Shutting Down Napster
Pioneering music-sharing platform Napster faced a pivotal legal showdown on March 6th, 2001, when - despite the company’s defence that it was merely a tool for innocent purposes - US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered the removal of all...
03.05.2024
Che In The Sky With Jacket
The famous 'Che' poster, entitled Guerrillero Heroico, taken by Alberto Korda at a mass funeral in Havana on 5th March, 1960. It went on to become one of the most reproduced photographs of all time. Korda snapped only two shots of...
03.04.2024
John Lennon's Jesus Controversy
John Lennon's controversial statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus was first published in the London Evening Standard on 4th March, 1966. The reporter, Maureen Cleave, documented the eccentricities of Lennon's life and his dissatisfaction with fame and...
03.01.2024
I Want My MTV
Mick Jagger, Madonna, and David Bowie were amongst the megastars who participated in the ‘I Want My MTV!’ campaign which debuted on 1st March, 1982; credited for getting music television to a sustainable number of cable providers and thereby kickstarting...
02.29.2024
Salem's Witchcraft Epidemic
The strange behaviour of two young girls, Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, sparked the infamous Salem Witch Trials on February 29th, 1692, when a Doctor pronounced that they were possessed by Satan. Accusations of witchcraft snowballed in the Puritan community, leading...
02.28.2024
Dord: The Ghost Word
Rerun: Webster’s New International Dictionary (Second Edition) was the largest book to be mass produced, but - as was revealed on 28th February, 1939 - it contained an embarrassing error: on page 771, between the entries for Dorcopsis (a type...
02.27.2024
Unmasking Mardi Gras
New Orleans witnessed its first modern Mardi Gras procession - kick-started by a group of students eager to revive the traditional masquerade, banned for six decades - on 27th February, 1827. The city’s parades and revelry can trace their origins back...
02.26.2024
Woodrow Wilson and the Grand Canyon
President Woodrow Wilson finally signed into law a bill establishing The Grand Canyon as the USA's 15th National Park on this day in 1919. Although preservation orders had given the Canyon some protection prior to this moment, it had been 37...
02.23.2024
The Plot To Kill The Cabinet
The Cato Street Conspiracy - a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Lord Liverpool and the entire Cabinet as they attended a private dinner party - was foiled on February 23rd, 1820. Thwarted by an informant within their ranks, the conspirators...
02.22.2024
The Most Famous Sheep in the World
RERUN: Dolly The Sheep, the first ever successfully cloned mammal, was introduced to the world’s press at the Roslin Institute in Scotland on 22nd February, 1997. Born seven months earlier, with the comparatively unremarkable name ‘Lamb Number 6LL3’, news of...
02.21.2024
When Polaroid Changed Photography
Edwin Land unveiled the world's first instant camera to the Optical Society of America on 21st February, 1947. Snapping a quick black-and-white selfie, Land astonished onlookers as the image emerged within 60 seconds. Despite its initial high price and complex development...
02.20.2024
Let's Colonise Florida
Departing from Puerto Rico with grand plans to establish a new colony, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León set out on his ill-fated second expedition to Florida on February 15th, 1521. Ponce de León's reputation as a conquistador preceded him,...
02.19.2024
When Jarvis Met Jacko
The frontman of Pulp, Jarvis Cocker, infamously crashed the stage of the Brit Awards while Michael Jackson was performing Earth Song at the 1996 Brit Awards on this day in London. The incident has gone down in history as one of...
02.16.2024
The Monk Who Met The Mongols
Multi-talented monk Andrew of Longjumeau embarked on a daring journey to the heart of the Mongol Empire on 16th February, 1249. As Ambassador of Louis IX, he led a delegation destined for the court of the Mongol Khan Güyük -...
02.15.2024
The Delia Backlash
RERUN: TV chef Delia Smith built a stellar career on the success spawned from her first book, ‘How To Cheat At Cooking’ in 1971. So, when she published a reboot on 15th February, 2008, it seemed a shoo-in to sell...
02.14.2024
Hollywood's Gossip Queens
Luella Parsons’s reign as Tinseltown’s top tittle-tattler was severely challenged on 14th February, 1938, following the print debut of rival column, ‘Hedda Hopper's Hollywood’. With her fiery style and incendiary content, Hopper quickly garnered a massive audience of her own. Together,...
02.13.2024
The Jamaican Bobsled Team
The Winter Olympics kicked off in Calgary on 13th February, 1988 - but the stand-out stars of the event did not qualify for a medal. Rather, the four-man Jamaican Bobsled team - who would later become (unreliably) immortalised in the...
02.12.2024
Death of the 9 Day Queen
Lady Jane Grey - Queen of England for just nine days - was executed at the Tower of London on 12th February, 1554. Edward VI, who had died aged 15, named the teenager as his successor in his will, even though...
02.09.2024
Will vs Gareth
Before ‘The X Factor’ and ‘The Voice’, there was ‘Pop Idol’, the ITV behemoth that spawned Simon Fuller’s global mega-hit ‘American Idol’. Season One climaxed on 9th February, 2002, when Gareth Gates - a 17-year-old former head chorister - and Will...
02.08.2024
Inventing The Credit Card
Rerun: Diners Club, the world’s first credit card, was used for the first time at Major’s Cabin Grill in New York City on February 8th, 1950. Perhaps at odds with the debonair image the company went on to cultivate, the...

What's Today In History with The Retrospectors about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Today In History with The Retrospectors episodes:

Marathon Woman

Poland's Italian Queen

The World's Weirdest War

Alex Haley's Faction Phenomenon

Tommy Cooper Dies On Stage

The First Man in Space

Let's Go To Butlin's

Yes, We Have Bananas

Charles and Camilla's Wedding

The Nudge Revolution

The Battle on the Ice

Chinese Restaurant Syndrome

The First Motorbike

When Tarzan Went To Hollywood

The World's Strongest Man

Cleopatra ❤️ Caesar

Knights Gone Wild

Flour Power: The Tichborne Dole and the Biddenden Maids

Welcome To Sea World

Last Days of Alcatraz

What Caused The Black Death?

Gaudí's Magnum Opus

Braille For Your Feet

The Woman Who Made van Gogh

Finger Lickin' Lawsuit

Fall of the Maya

Dennis The Menace(s)

Meet The Luddites

The Marx Brothers Bow Out

Constantine's Sunday Sabbath

Shutting Down Napster

Che In The Sky With Jacket

John Lennon's Jesus Controversy

I Want My MTV

Salem's Witchcraft Epidemic

Dord: The Ghost Word

Unmasking Mardi Gras

Woodrow Wilson and the Grand Canyon

The Plot To Kill The Cabinet

The Most Famous Sheep in the World

When Polaroid Changed Photography

Let's Colonise Florida

When Jarvis Met Jacko

The Monk Who Met The Mongols

The Delia Backlash

Hollywood's Gossip Queens

The Jamaican Bobsled Team

Death of the 9 Day Queen

Will vs Gareth

Inventing The Credit Card