Today In History with The Retrospectors

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The Boy Who Poisoned His Granddad Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

William Alnutt tipped arsenic into the family sugar bowl on 20th October, 1847 - and five days later, the 12 year-old’s sweet-toothed grandfather, Samuel Nelme, was dead. It was the second time the deeply troubled Alnutt had attempted to murder his grandfather, following a failed plot to shoot him with a pistol in their garden. His trial caused a media sensation.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Alnutt’s arrest coincided with the burgeoning concept of juvenile delinquency; study Alnutt’s letters from prison, begging forgiveness from God; and uncover the alarming availability of arsenic in Victorian London…

Further Reading:

• ‘WILLIAM NEWTON ALLNUTT, for the willful murder of Samuel Nelme’ (Old Bailey transcript, 1847): https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/print.jsp?div=t18471213-290

• ‘Headlines from History - October crimes and punishment’ (The British Newspaper Archive Blog, 2017): https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2017/10/03/headlines-from-history-october-crimes-and-punishment/

• ‘Top 10 Most Evil Children In History’ (MindChop, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyBvr4-Cy_4

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.

#Victorian #1800s #Person #Crime #UK

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David Blaine, Trickless Magician Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

Ten thousand spectators gathered by the side of the Thames on 19th October, 2003 to watch street magician/illusionist David Blaine come back down to Earth, having spent 44 days suspended in a perspex box in a stunt called ‘Above The Below’.

It was an accomplishment almost sabotaged by the British tabloid media and general public, who had heckled him, tried to dismantle his crane, and even flown up a hamburger on a drone to taunt him.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why Londoners were so hostile to this performance art unfolding in their midsts; explain what Dizzee Rascal had to do with it all; and reveal exactly how Blaine did a wee, whilst suspended in mid-air…

Further Reading:

• ‘Above the Below’ - David Blaine’s Official Website: https://davidblaine.com/above-the-below/

• ‘Remembering David Blaine's 44 days in a glass box, which frustrated the British public like no other act of performance art’ (The Independent, 2018): https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/david-blaine-london-glass-box-stunt-reaction-starvation-above-below-a8523606.html

• ‘David Blaine - Above the Below’ (Harmony Korine, 2003): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki5fRls2uv4

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.

#2000s #Person #Arts #Funny #UK

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Calling Andrew Sachs Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

When Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross failed to reach their celebrity guest, 78 year-old ‘Fawlty Towers’ star Andrew Sachs, they instead left him a series of answerphone messages, joking about sexual encounters with Sachs's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. The segment aired on Brand’s Radio 2 show on 18th October, 2008, and became the third most-complained about programme in recent BBC history.

The presenters were suspended, the station controller resigned, and the BBC was fined £150,000. The event, which became known as ‘Sachsgate’, kick-started an era of ‘compliance’ at Britain’s national broadcaster, and was an early example of tabloid-generated ‘cancel culture’.

In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca ask whether the presenters would still be in their old jobs, were it not for the Mail On Sunday; discover a parallel between one of Sachs’ greatest comic moments and the voicemails that brought him back to national attention; and speculate whether ‘Sachsgate’ lead to the boom in comedy podcasts…

Further Reading:

• ‘Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross Abuse Andrew Sachs via Phone’ (BBC, 2008): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7IHJ66wj9g&t=476s

• ‘Sachsgate: The obscene prank calls from Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross that 'haunted' Andrew Sachs before his death’ (Daily Mirror, 2016): https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/sachsgate-obscene-prank-calls-russell-9376380

• ‘BBC apologises over Brand prank’ (BBC, 2008): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7692911.stm

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.

#2000s #Person #Arts #Funny #UK

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How Lincoln Got His Beard Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

Future President Abraham Lincoln had yet to grow his iconic facial fuzz when he received a letter from Grace Bedell - an 11 year-old resident of Westfield, New York - dated 15th October, 1860. “I have yet got four brothers... and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin”, she wrote. “All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.”

When Lincoln returned to Westfield (having just been elected), he had grown a beard - and thanked Bedell personally for the suggestion.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how jibes about Lincoln’s appearance had become part of his Presidential campaign; explain the origin of ‘sideburns’; and uncover the surprising story of how Lincoln’s beard lead to the creation of MB Games…

(Plus, for our supporters on Patreon* and our paid subscribers on Apple Podcasts, we discuss the SECOND letter Grace Bedell wrote to Lincoln in 1864, requesting his help gaining a job with the Treasury so that she could financially support her parents. Sign up now to hear it at patreon.com/Retrospectors)

*top two tiers only.

Further Reading:

• ‘The Surprising Reason Abraham Lincoln Grew a Beard’ (Biography, 2020): https://www.biography.com/news/abraham-lincoln-beard

• ‘Grace Bedell: Abraham Lincoln grew beard after girl, 11, wrote to him and said 'all the ladies like whiskers'’ (Mail Online, 2012): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240765/Grace-Bedell-Abraham-Lincoln-grew-beard-girl-11-wrote-said-ladies-like-whiskers.html

• ‘The Interesting Story Behind Lincoln's Beard’ (Today I Found Out, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJRrusMBGxU

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

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.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#1800s #Person #Politics #White #US

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Mary, Queen of Plots Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

Accused of planning the assassination of her cousin Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots stood trial for treason on 14th October, 1586.

Mary’s coded letters, delivered to her co-conspirators in beer barrels, had been intercepted by Sir Francis Walsingham, who had deciphered and copied them and built a case against the former Scottish monarch.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Mary had come to be exiled in not one, but two, palaces; consider her pleas of innocence, in the light of her apparent propensity for plotting; and paint a memorable picture of her decapitation at the hands of the State…

Further Reading:

• ‘Mary, Queen of Scots: Life Story (The Babington Plot)’, (Tudor Times, 2017): https://tudortimes.co.uk/people/mary-queen-of-scots-life-story/the-babington-plot

• ‘Facts about the execution of Mary Queen of Scots’ (History Scotland, 2020):

https://www.historyscotland.com/history/facts-about-the-execution-of-mary-queen-of-scots/

• ‘The Babington Plot’ (Russel Tarr, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1siZxHuzkdU

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 #Person #Royals #Crime #UK

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Martin Monti - American Traitor Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

The first ever U.S. officer to be convicted of treason, Army Lieutenant Martin J. Monti Jr., defected from the Air Service to the Nazis on 13th October, 1944.

After a stint in radio propaganda, he joined the Waffen-SS, was recaptured by the Americans, and then claimed to be a prisoner of War. His family petitioned his Senator to go lightly on his crimes, the full extent of which only became clear when he sensationally confessed to treason in court.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly attempt to understand Monti’s repeated flip-flopping; uncover the hidden community of German-born Americans who returned to the Motherland to support Hitler; and explain why even Roosevelt was predisposed to believe Monti was just an ‘eager beaver’...

Further Reading:

• ‘How a North County boy became the first U.S. military officer ever to be convicted of treason’ (St Louis Magazine, 2020):

https://www.stlmag.com/longform/the-first-traitor-north-county-world-war-II/

• ‘A Deserter and Confessed Traitor: The Amazing but True Story of Army Lieutenant Martin J. Monti Jr.’ (American Bar Association, 2017): https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/publications/litigation_journal/2017-18/fall/a-deserter-and-confessed-traitor-amazing-true-story-army-lieutenant-martin-j-monti-jr/

• ‘The Only U.S. Pilot to Defect to the Waffen-SS during WW2... in October 1944’ (House of History, 2020):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJd4aa0beQk

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.

#40s #Person #Crime #Politics #US #Germany

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Playboy's Identity Crisis Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

The world’s most famous adult magazine went ‘SFW’ on 12th October, 2015 - when Scott Flanders, then Playboy’s chief executive, announced that future editions would no longer contain full nudity.

The change lasted for only one year.

‘Reading it for the articles’ had, at one time, been a plausible option - the magazine had published stories by Margaret Atwood and interviews with Malcolm X, Vladimir Nabokov, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jimmy Carter. But, in the internet era, Playboy had become more lucrative as a clothing brand than as a credible print title, finally ceasing publication in 2020.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the first issue, from 1953; dig into Hugh Hefner’s burial plot; and visit Playboy’s website, FOR RESEARCH…

Further Reading:

‘Playboy to remove nudity from magazine’ (Channel 4 News, 2015): https://www.channel4.com/news/playboy-to-remove-nudity-from-magazine
‘Playboy's Postfeminism Problem’ (Diggit, 2018): https://www.diggitmagazine.com/column/playboys-postfeminism-problem

‘Playboy Is Bringing Nudity Back’ (ThinkTank, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiJzqwM4ibA

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 #Arts #Person #Fashion #US

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Branson’s Cola Gamble Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

Virgin Cola, Sir Richard Branson’s ultimately flawed contender in the Cola Wars, was certainly taken seriously by the competition. On 11th October 1994, a pokerfaced Coca-Cola spokesperson told The Independent: “Consumers consistently demonstrate, when given a free choice, that they prefer our product.

”Despite an extensive publicity campaign - including a stunt in Times Square, a bottle shaped like Pamela Anderson, and product placement on ‘Friends’ - the beverage never took off internationally, but did have success in the UK and Bangladesh, before being discontinued in 2009.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider Coke’s ‘gangster’ tactics; sympathise with Branson’s children and their classmates; and question why the maverick billionaire just wasn’t able to disrupt the cola market as he’d hoped…

Further Reading:

• ‘How Richard Branson Took On Coca-Cola’ (Intrigue Academy, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-PaJkPTQYk

• ‘What Richard Branson learned when Coke put Virgin Cola out of business’ (CNBC, 2017): https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/07/what-richard-branson-learned-when-coke-put-virgin-cola-out-of-business.html

• ‘Sir Richard Branson’s setbacks: from Virgin Cola to Virgin Brides’ (The Guardian, 2014): https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/06/sir-richard-branson-failures-vigin-cola-brides

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.

#90s #Food #Person #White #UK

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The Permanent Wave Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

Hairdressers descended upon Oxford Street on October 8th, 1906 to witness Karl Nessler’s first public demonstration of his pioneering new ‘perm’ - a style which didn’t have its heyday until some eighty years later.

Creating a long-lasting curl had been a goal for many stylists over the decades, but Nessler had hit upon a winning combination of technique and chemicals. He achieved this by subjecting his wife, Catherine, to a seemingly endless onslaught of painful and laborious experiments.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the system of weights, pulleys and chandeliers that facilitated these early experiments; discuss the parallel movement for (yet more risky) chemical relaxers in the African-American community; and compare notes on the weirdest hairdos they’ve permitted on their own heads...

Further Reading:

• ‘The Story Of Hair and The Nessler Wave’ (Timeless Tales, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pi11YxY4ww

• ‘Inside the heated history of the permanent wave machine’ (The State Museum of Pennsylvania): http://statemuseumpa.org/wave-machine/

• ‘Making waves: Celebrating the centenary of the perm’ (The Times, 2006): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/making-waves-tnttbrtt30n

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

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.

#1900s #Invention #Person #UK

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TV’s Greatest Salesman Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

Ron Popeil, inventor of The Pocket Fisherman, the Amazing Smokeless Ashtray, and the Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler, was (satirically) awarded an Ignoble Award for Consumer Engineering on 7th November, 1993.

But the ‘Infomercial King’ had spun an enviable career from his talent for selling; from humble beginnings shilling vegetable choppers on the shop floor of Woolworth’s to establishing Ronco, a $55 million ‘As Seen On TV’ company that eventually went bankrupt.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider Popeil’s pathological hatred of runny egg whites and reveal an award-winning way to collect samples of whale snot. But wait, there’s more! They also talk about the magic price point for Popeil’s inventions. It’s just $19.99, so ACT QUICKLY...

Further Reading:

• Popeil interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning (2000): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdLyKjKH_II

• ‘All Ronco Product Commercials (Internal Reel)’ (1970s-1980s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfcIPuvZE9I

• Homepage of the Ignoble Awards: https://www.improbable.com/

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.

#90s #Inventions #Technology #Person #White #Food #US

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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