Today In History with The Retrospectors

Latest Episodes:

The Tunnel Under The Thames Mar 25, 2025

Show notes

Marc Brunel’s visionary under-water tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping finally opened to the public on 25th March, 1843. It had taken 18 years to build, and was massively over-budget, but was the first tunnel successfully created under a navigable river anywhere in the world.

Its construction had cost lives, caused controversy and changed the way tunnels would be built forever. But it soon became notorious as a gangway frequented by pickpockets and prostitutes.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Brunel had to build a vertical tunnel before embarking upon his horizontal one; tot up its takings as an enormously popular tourist attraction; and explain how the injuries sustained by Isambard Kingdom Brunel during its construction lead directly to his even more famous architectural masterpieces…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Opening Of The Thames Tunnel’ (SS Great Britain Blog Brunel, 2021): https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/the-opening-of-the-thames-tunnel/

• ‘Open again after 145 years, the eighth wonder of the world’ (The Independent, 2010): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/open-again-after-145-years-the-eighth-wonder-of-the-world-1920723.html

• ‘The Thames Tunnel Archive - Part 5/5’ (Brunel Museum London, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HADkw-laAM

This episode originally aired in 2022

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kidnapping Ronnie Biggs Mar 24, 2025

Show notes

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 history on 24th March 1981.

A media frenzy ensued as reporters awaited his arrival, thanks to a tip-off by the operation's leader, John Miller. But Biggs found himself released by Barbados authorities, sparking a diplomatic clash between Brazil and the UK over extradition proceedings.

In this episode, The Retrospectors explain why Biggs, back in Brazil, had little choice but to make a living through public appearances; consider his surprisingly insignificant involvement in the heist he is so strongly associated with; and reveal what happened when Biggs came back to England, after more than thirty years on the run…

Further Reading:

• ‘Kidnapping of Ronnie Biggs ends in farce’ (The Guardian, 1981): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/mar/25/ronnie-biggs-train-robbery-kidnap

• ‘Former mercenary who tried to make it Biggs’ (The Herald, 1997): https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12290059.former-mercenary-who-tried-to-make-it-biggs/

• ‘No One Is Innocent’ (Sex Pistols, 1979): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWiAMeAS7bM&t=5s

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Most Expensive Divorce Ever Mar 21, 2025

Show notes

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 the grounds of consanguinity - meaning they were too closely related by blood. And yet both parties went on to marry people to whom they were even more closely related.

Henry of Anjou was Eleanor’s next husband - a move which made her the only woman in history to have been both Queen of France AND Queen of England. Meanwhile, Louis lost half his Kingdom - and had to sit and watch as Eleanor popped out male heir after male heir with her new hubby.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Arion explain why going on a Holy War is not great marriage therapy; get between the sheets with the Royal couple; and consider how an attempted kidnapping might have made for an awkward family atmosphere at Eleanor and Henry’s wedding reception…

Further Reading:

• ‘Eleanor of Aquitaine - Queen of France, Queen of England, By Ralph V. Turner’ (Yale University Press, 2009): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine/dVcslrfl1V4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Eleanor+of+Aquitaine+annulment&printsec=frontcover

• ‘Eleanor Of Aquitaine: The Medieval Queen Who Took On Europe's Men’ (HistoryExtra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/eleanor-of-aquitaine-the-medieval-queen-who-took-on-europes-most-powerful-men/

• ‘The Court of Love - Eleanor of Aquitaine #2’ (Extra History, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_KgUiDUPs0

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stealing the World Cup Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

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. The theft sparked a massive Police investigation and multiple offers of rewards for its recovery.

Astonishingly, the trophy had not been heavily guarded or alarmed, so the thieves stole it with bolt cutters. In a twist straight out of Enid Blyton, the cup was eventually discovered not by the boys in blue - but by a pet dog called Pickles, who was then lauded as a national hero.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the identities of the London gangsters who poached the Cup; explain what music hall star Tommy Trinder had to do with it; and discover how, in Brazil, the Cup was to go AWOL again…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy - The Hidden History of the 1966 World Cup, By Martin Atherton (Meyer & Meyer, 2008): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Theft_of_the_Jules_Rimet_Trophy/m7SbwNM4Y0sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theft+of+the+world+cup+1966&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover

• ‘The World Cup is stolen’ (The Guardian, 1966): https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/mar/21/world-cup-stolen-football-archive-1966

• ‘Pickles - The dog who saved the 1966 World Cup’ (The Sun, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQjZagahHKU

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome To Las Vegas Mar 19, 2025

Show notes

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, and setting the stage for town’s transformation into Sin City.

When the Boulder Dam project began, drawing thousands of workers nearby, Fremont Street exploded into a Saturday night hotspot. And when mobster Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo in 1946, glitzy Hollywood-style resorts followed in his wake, with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack drawing in high-rollers and cementing the city’s glamour.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Vegas boom was enabled by the election of tough-on-crime L.A. mayor Fletcher Bowron; discover why the City was known as the "Mississippi of the West”; and reveal how a 50-room hotel was once considered a cutting edge attraction in the Strip…

Further Reading:

• ’How Las Vegas Became a Gambling Mecca’ (HISTORY, 2022):

https://www.history.com/news/las-vegas-history-mobsters-gambling

• ’Nevada marks 90th anniversary of legal gambling’ (The Mob Museum, 2021): https://themobmuseum.org/blog/nevada-marks-90th-anniversary-of-legal-gambling/

• The City of Las Vegas: The Early Years(City of Las Vegas TV, 2019):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czyMm5DdqAY

#30s #US #Crime #Games #Racism

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Birth of Fast Fashion Mar 18, 2025

Show notes

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 send off for a red bandana print or a black and white pop art dress made of cellulose. It was intended as a press stunt to promote durable napkins, but, to everybody’s surprise, half a million units were sold in just eight months.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask whether these teenage kicks of the ‘60s presaged the 21st century trend for ‘fast fashion’; reveal how Richard Nixon got in on the act; and explain how, even if you think it sounds ridiculous, you’ve probably worn an outfit inspired by paper dresses at some point in your life, without even realising it…

Further Reading:

• ‘Fashion: Real Live Paper Dolls’ (TIME, 1967): http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836820,00.html

• ‘Paper Fashion in the 1960s: The Genesis of Fast Fashion’ (Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, 2018): https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcostume/2018/03/17/paper-fashion-in-the-1960s-the-genesis-of-fast-fashion/

• ‘Paper Clothing of the 1960s and the Rise of Fast Fashion’ (ElleYeah, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zZBjNuenMc

This episode originally aired in 2022

Thanks so much for supporting the show! We massively appreciate it.

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

Ollie Peart

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marie Stopes' "Mother's Clinic" Mar 17, 2025

Show notes

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 advice for the first time. However, her organisation's full name - "The Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress" - reveals her disturbing underlying belief in selective breeding for racial progress; a commitment that only strengthened as time went on, and she corresponded with Hitler.

In this episode, The Retrospectors consider Stopes’s pioneering work on female desire and sexual health in her bestselling book, "Married Love,"; explain how she pivoted from paleobotany to reproductive health and racism; and ask why Marie Stopes International waited until the 21st century to rebrand itself…

Further Reading:

• ‘Family planning in the 1920s: Marie Stopes and the ‘wise precaution of delay’’ (The National Archives blog, 2022): https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20speople-family-planning-in-the-1920s-marie-stopes-and-the-wise-precaution-of-delay/

• ‘Marie Stopes: a turbo-Darwinist ranter, but right about birth control’ (The Guardian, 2011): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/sep/02/marie-stopes-right-birth-control

• ‘Marie Stopes’ Eugenics, Feminism and Birth Control’ (Wellcome Collection, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPqog-EV9jI

This episode originally aired in 2024

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Making The Mikado Mar 14, 2025

Show notes

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 creative tensions and their previous show flopping, Gilbert and Sullivan’s partnership was on the rocks, so The Mikado’s success took both completely by surprise.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at why the setting of The Mikado is really Japan in name only; discuss how Gilbert found inspiration in a sword hanging on his wall; and explain why Gilbert and Sullivan almost parted ways because of a magical love lozenge…

Further Reading:

• ‘A big day in history: Gilbert and Sullivan unveil 'The Mikado'’ (History Extra, 2012): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/a-big-day-in-history-gilbert-and-sullivan-unveil-the-mikado/

• ‘Arthur Sullivan - A Victorian Musician’ (Taylor & Francis, 2018): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Arthur_Sullivan_A_Victorian_Musician/VXt_DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

• ‘The Mikado’ (BBC, 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkOWxcbzn0&t=561s

This episode originally aired in 2023

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mata Hari: Showgirl, Seductress, Spy Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

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.

Sporting a gold jeweled breastplate and bracelets, Mata Hari’s performance was a striptease that left little to the imagination. But even the wildest imagination couldn’t envisage what lay ahead for the exotic dancer, courtesan, traitor and spy whose name became synonymous with the femme fatale.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca, and Olly discuss how she played both sides of the First World War for fools; uncover how she met her husband through a newspaper ad; and explain why she always wore a breastplate during sex…

Further Reading:

• ‘Mata Hari: exotic dancer, femme fatale, traitor and spy’ (History Extra, 2019): https://www.historyextra.com/period/first-world-war/mata-hari-exotic-dancer-femme-fatale-traitor-wwi-spy/

• ‘“I am ready”: Mata Hari faced a firing squad for spying — and refused a blindfold.’ (The Washington Post, 2017): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/15/i-am-ready-mata-hari-faced-a-firing-squad-for-spying-and-refused-a-blindfold/

• ‘Buckwild Facts About Mata Hari, The Exotic Dancer Who Became A WWI Spy’ (Weird History, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sh-fB_qMUg

This episode originally aired in 2023

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When The Dixie Chicks Got Cancelled Mar 12, 2025

Show notes

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 Chicks’) for decades.

Just days before the US invasion of Iraq, and to cheers from the British crowd, she said from the stage: “We’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” A Guardian journalist jotted it down, and when those words reached the other side of the Atlantic, all hell broke loose. Dixie Chicks CDs were steamrolled in protest, country radio stations blacklisted their songs, and the band never recovered.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly talk through the Chicks’ damage control strategy; ask whether the backlash was an organic response from Conservative Country fans, or an orchestrated, sexist campaign; and reveal how Taylor Swift has taken note of their downfall…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Dixie Chicks | Music’ (The Guardian, 2003): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/mar/12/artsfeatures.popandrock

• ’The Chicks' 2003 George W. Bush Controversy: An Oral History’ (Billboard, 2022): https://www.billboard.com/music/country/chicks-radio-banned-george-bush-oral-history-1235087442/

• ‘Inside The Chicks’ SCANDAL in 2003 and Their GRAMMYs Comeback’ (Entertainment Tonight, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0C3TrCBAOA

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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: Ollie Peart

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Today In History with The Retrospectors

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected