Today In History with The Retrospectors

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The Cryogenic Rush Job Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

Dr James Bedford became the first dead body to be cryogenically frozen on 12th January, 1967 - a day still commemorated in the ‘suspended animation’ community as Bedford Day.

But in this burgeoning (pseudo)science, there were plenty of preparations yet to be made. Which meant that the freezing team - lead not by scientists but enthusiasts - ran out of ice, and forgot to drain his blood.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly dive into the legal cases that sprang from this early period of cryogenic freezing; consider the psychological implications of being awoken from death, generations after your grandchildren have died; and propose a controversial solution for minimising future errors in the process…

Further Reading:

• ‘Cryonics: Will These Bodies Come Back From Death?’ (The Atlantic, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YjrQVVSSbI

• ‘Cool dude James Bedford has been cryonically frozen for 50 years’ (CNET, 2017): https://www.cnet.com/news/cool-dude-james-bedford-has-been-cryonically-frozen-for-50-years/

Photo credit: Alcor

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

• ‘Evaluation of the Condition of Dr. James H. Bedford After 24 Years of Cryonic Suspension’ (Alcor, 1991): https://www.alcor.org/library/bedford-condition/

#60s #Person #Science #Strange #Macabre #UK

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England's First Lottery Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

With a top prize of £5,000 and a celebrity backer in the form of Queen Elizabeth I, England embarked on its first ever national lottery draw at St Paul’s Cathedral on 11th January, 1569.

The results continued to be announced, day and night, for four months; a particularly prolonged process due to the fact that the prizes had to be divided into twelve, as the organisers had only sold a twelfth as many tickets as had been predicted.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the cost of entry had been set so high (a year’s salary for a working class labourer); reveal the desperate ‘get out of jail free’ tactic to flog more tickets; and ask whether, despite its apparent failure, the event was, at least, proof-of-concept for the state funded lotteries we still know today…

Further Reading:

‘It Could Be Ye: England’s first lottery’ (The History Press, 2019): https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/it-could-be-ye-england-s-first-lottery/
‘11 January 1569: England holds its first lottery draw’ (MoneyWeek, 2021): https://moneyweek.com/421338/11-january-1569-england-holds-its-first-lottery-draw
‘January 11 - The first recorded lottery’ (The Anne Boleyn Files and Tudor Society, 2020):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-XqukRpgk

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#1500s #Royals #Inventions #UK

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Sinclair's Electric Dream Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

The Sinclair C5, Sir Clive Sinclair’s disastrous entry into the EV market, launched at Alexandra Palace on 10th January, 1985.

Looking like a cross between a mobility scooter and a child’s pedal car, it had no on-board storage, was too heavy to climb uphill, and a top speed of 15km per hour. But Sinclair had contracted Hoover to produce the vehicle, expecting orders of 200,000 units per year.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the original publicity material for this doomed design classic; rank the public embarrassment of the car’s failure against Sinclair’s other high-profile flops; and reveal the contents of the optional ‘wet weather kit’ drivers could enjoy…

Further Reading:

• ‘A Revolution in Personal Transport’ - the original press kit from the launch (1985): www.sinclairql.net/downloads/1985-01-10_Sinclair_C5_launch_press_kit-SQPP.pdf

• ‘Sinclair C5: the history of Sir Clive Sinclair’s electric car’ (Auto Express, 2021): https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/356059/sinclair-c5-history-sir-clive-sinclairs-electric-car

• ‘Imagine a Vehicle that can drive you five miles for a penny’ - original Sinclair C5 TV advert (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EQetm_qWDg

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eevblog/

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#80s #Technology #Inventions #Mistakes #UK

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The Retrospectors Quiz of the Year Dec 24, 2021

Show notes

It’s our last episode of 2021, and Olly is putting Arion and Rebecca to the test to see what they’ve learned from our first 168 episodes...

How many copies of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ were in the original print run in 1811?

What (horrifying) ingredients were in Jane Asher’s 1990 ‘Mary, Mary’ cake for children’s parties?

Which four U.S. Presidents had been cheerleaders at College?

It’s a fight to the death to establish our Retrospectors champion of the year!

If you’ve enjoyed the show this year, please…

• leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and help other listeners discover the show:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-retrospectors/id1564093130

• join our Patreon, where you can support the show, get ad-free episodes and extra content every single week:

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• get in touch and let us know what we should cover in 2022!

theretrospectors@gmail.com

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Retrospectors will return on January 10th, 2022.

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

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The Night Before The Night Before Christmas Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

Before becoming the most valuable poem in American Literature, ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas’ was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel on 23rd December, 1823 - its author remaining a secret for fourteen years.

The work, commonly known as ‘The Night Before Christmas’, was eventually revealed to be written by philosopher and lecturer Clement Clark Moore - although, in recent years, the family of Major Henry Livingston Jr. have claimed that their ancestor was its true author.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the poem has influenced our perception of Santa’s rotundness, but not his height; reveal the Protestant-Catholic divide deftly swerved by Moore in his setting of his story; and explore just what else the Troy Sentinel brought the world…

Further Reading:

• ‘'Twas The Night Before Christmas - Narrated by Michael Bublé’ (Michael Bublé, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Y1IpCGHss

• ‘The Mystery Behind the World's Most Famous Christmas Poem’ (Mental Floss, 2016): https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/26719/mystery-behind-worlds-most-famous-christmas-poem

• ‘Clement Clarke Moore, American scholar and author’ (Britannica): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clement-Clarke-Moore

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#1800s #Arts #US

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Edison's Christmas Lights Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

The first string of lights to be festooned upon a tree dazzled visitors to the New York home of Edward Johnson, Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, on 22nd December, 1882.

Lit patriotic red, white and blue, the tree also revolved; wowing a reporter from The Detroit Post and Tribune. “At the rear of the beautiful parlors, was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect,” he wrote. “It was brilliantly lighted with… eighty lights in all encased in these dainty glass eggs… One can hardly imagine anything prettier.”

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal what electric lights have in common with potatoes; ask why Americans were frightened of wired bulbs, yet quite content to set candles on fire and attach them to flammable resin in their own homes; and untangle how a failed patent application was responsible for the trend finally catching on…

Further Reading:

‘Untangling the History of Christmas Lights’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2016): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untangling-history-christmas-lights-180961140/
‘Who Invented Christmas Lights?’ (PBS, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qB61a_qbuo

• ‘Thomas Edison planned to invent a machine to talk to the dead’ (weirdhistorian, 2016): https://www.weirdhistorian.com/thomas-edison-talked-to-the-dead/

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#1800s #Inventions #Technology #US

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Mariah’s Christmas Hit Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

All I Want For Christmas Is You has made Mariah Carey a fortune - but it took an astonishing 25 years for the song to finally reach Number One on the Billboard Hot 100; a feat it achieved on 21st December, 2019, becoming America’s first festive-themed chart-topper since The Chipmunk Song in 1958.

When originally released in 1994, neither Carey nor her co-songwriter Walter Afanasieff expected great things. Afanasieff voiced concerns that it sounded ‘like someone singing vocal scales’, and Carey concluded that, at Christmas time, the public would always prefer to hear the standards.

In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca expose the bizarre corner of the internet that denies Afanasieff co-wrote the song; explore why so many people around the world, of all different faiths, identify with its message; and weigh up Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis’s attempts to de-throne the diva…

Further Reading:

• ‘Mariah Carey is Christmas: The Story of 'All I Want for Christmas is You' (Amazon Music, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Vhz5BiypU

• ‘'All I Want for Christmas' Co-Writer Says Success Is 'Bittersweet'’ (Variety, 2019): https://variety.com/2019/music/news/mariah-carey-all-i-want-for-christmas-co-writer-walter-afanasieff-interview-1203447527/

• ‘How Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Dominates Charts’ (TIME, 2019): https://time.com/5708874/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-you-mariah-carey/

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#2010s #Music #Person #US

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It’s A Wonderful Premiere Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

Festive favourite 'It’s a Wonderful Life' originated as a short story transcribed into Christmas cards by its author Philip Van Doren Stern. But it received disappointing box office returns following its premiere on 20th December, 1946 - and was not considered ‘a classic’ for decades.

In the 1970s someone at Paramount forgot to renew its copyright, so the film became free for any TV channel to broadcast – which they did, time after time after time after time, right up until 1993 - solidifying America’s relationship with Frank Capra’s movie each December.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly conduct a risk assessment on Beverly Hills High School’s ‘swim-gym’; ask if Jimmy Stewart gets off more lightly than Ebenezer Scrooge; and investigate the film’s little-known ‘90s sequel, ‘Clarence’...

Further Reading:

• ‘IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - Official Trailer’ (Paramount, 1946): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLR3gZrU2Xo

• ‘How Frank Capra’s ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Became a Christmas Classic’ (History Hit, 2017): https://www.historyhit.com/1946-wonderful-life/

• ‘How 'It's a Wonderful Life' transformed the use of fake snow’ (NY Post, 2021): https://nypost.com/2021/11/17/how-its-a-wonderful-life-transformed-the-use-of-fake-snow/

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

#40s #Film #US

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Meet The Simpsons Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

The debut episode of the world’s longest-running animated sitcom - 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' - aired in the U.S. on 17th December, 1989; attracting the Fox network’s highest ever Sunday night ratings.

It was an instant sensation, with many contemporary critics remarking that the ‘dysfunctionality’ of The Simpsons was in-keeping with other 90s hits Roseanne and Married… With Children, while conservative voices including George H W Bush criticised what they saw as its celebration of underachievement.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how it came to be that a Christmas special should introduce the series; explain why Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit about it; and reveal how many colours are in the show’s distinctive paint palette…

Further Reading:

• ‘Honoring ‘Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire’’ (Vulture, 2018): https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/honoring-simpsons-roasting-on-an-open-fire.html

• ‘Did Tracey Ullman Get Rich Off ‘The Simpsons’?’ (Mental Floss, 2017): https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94628/did-tracey-ullman-get-rich-simpsons

• ‘Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire’ (Fox, 1989): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIfLqO3SSBs

There's three minutes more bonus material, about how Bart Simpson's campaign for Butterfinger candy swung the production deal!

To hear it - and extra material every single week - visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors* or click 'subscribe' in Apple Podcasts, and support the show!

*top two tiers only

We'll be back on Monday! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

#80s #TV #Funny #US

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The Krays in Soho Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

The Hideaway Club, now part of London’s Chinatown, opened on 16th December, 1964. Ronnie and Reggie Kray didn’t turn up for the big night, even though they had booked a table.

It was an opening gambit in a war of intimidation against the manager of the club, Huw Cargill McCowan - to whom the gangsters had proposed a protection racket; threatening him when he turned down their offer.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Krays’ (first) trial fell apart; consider how the brothers used the glamour of their West End nightclub to sanitise their personal brand; and explain how journalist John Pearson shaped the public understanding of these notorious bad boys while they were behind bars…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Kray Twins - Just Pictures’ (Rich2015, YouTube, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhR7dyGmipM

• ‘An Evening at El Morocco with the Kray Twins and Barbara Windsor’ (Flashbak, 2016): https://flashbak.com/evening-el-morocco-kray-twins-barbara-windsor-59411/

• ‘The hidden history of London's Chinatown’ (Telegraph, 2018): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/london-chinatown-history/

For bonus material and to support the show, visitPatreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

#60s #Person #Crime #UK

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