Today In History with The Retrospectors

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Blackadder Begins Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

Rerun. Rowan Atkinson headed up the cast and writing team, yet the first series of ‘The Black Adder’ drew a decidedly mixed reaction from audiences and critics when it debuted on BBC TV on 15th June, 1983.

Set in 1484, and filmed in castles across England, the series led some wags to quip that it ‘looks a million dollars, but cost a million quid’. It was only later, when Ben Elton joined Richard Curtis to write subsequent series, that its iconic comedy characters truly took shape.

In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion consider the role of Oxbridge privilege in the genesis of the series, ask whether it was ever really an ‘alternative comedy’, and quote some funny lines at each other – because this is a discussion about Blackadder, after all…

Further Reading:

• The show’s profile on the BBC Comedy site (2014): https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theblackadder/

• ‘Blackadder at 35: why the writers completely reinvented him after one series’ (The i, 2018): https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/blackadder-reinvented-after-one-series-164228

• CLIP: ‘The Blackadder is Born’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na4v8CeKnxM

‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on Today in History with the Retrospectors: running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow, so follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors

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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.

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How Spiderman The Musical Lost $60m Jun 14, 2023

Show notes

The most expensive musical of all time, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, finally opened on June 14th, 2011, after completing a record-breaking run of 183 preview performances.

The show had been plagued by disaster even from its very beginnings when Tony Adams, the theatre producer who had approached Marvel to buy the stage rights to Spider-Man, died of a stroke just as the team was about to sign the contracts.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at how the original plot attempted to fuse together a 20th century comic book hero with an Ancient Greek myth; discuss where U2’s Bono and The Edge got their unlikely musical inspiration from; and explain why Saturday Night Live ended up running a sketch about a law firm specialising in Spider-Man related workplace injuries…

Further Reading:

• ‘How a Spider-Man musical became a theatrical disaster’ (BBC Culture, 2020): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201125-how-a-spider-man-musical-became-a-theatrical-disaster

• ‘Inside Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the Broadway bomb that almost killed its cast’ (The Daily Telegraph, 2021): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/inside-spider-man-turn-dark-broadway-bomb-almost-killed-cast/

• ‘Highlights From “Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark”’ (Playbill, 2011): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajg78Xez-OU

#2010s #Comics #Music #Theatre #US

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Tomorrow!: 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: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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You Have The Right To Remain Silent Jun 13, 2023

Show notes

The famous US police warning to suspects that begins “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law” dates back to a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court on June 13th, 1966.

Known as the Miranda rights, or Miranda warnings, the case of Ernesto Miranda, who was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and rape, reached the highest court in the land because of his lawyers’ contention that he had not been properly made aware of his rights.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss how a relatively unremarkable (though very serious) case came to have huge nationwide implications; detail the strange way Miranda made money after he got out of prison; and examine the bitter irony of Miranda’s own death at the hands of a fellow prison inmate…

Further Reading:

• ‘Miranda Rights: Your Rights of Silence’ (ThoughtCo, 2022): https://www.thoughtco.com/miranda-rights-your-rights-of-silence-3320117

• ‘The Miranda rights are established’ (History.com, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-miranda-rights-are-established

• ‘Do You Know Your Miranda Rights? | Debunker’ (NBC, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXXjUcI2kcc

#60s #US #Crime

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

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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: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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Marion Donovan: Housewife Inventor Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

Until the mid-20th century, putting nappies on babies involved folding and pinning cloth towelling, then pulling a pair of rubber pants over the top. That all began to change on June 12th, 1951, when the US inventor Marion Donovan patented a new kind of nappy, with an envelope-like plastic cover and an absorbent insert.

Her invention ultimately netted her a million dollars (nearly $10 million in today’s money) and paved the way for the development of disposable nappies which have become ubiquitous in many parts of the world today.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss how Donovan became one of the most prolific female inventors of her time; reveal that when she attempted to sell her invention, she was laughed out of boardrooms by male executives; and explain why one of her inventions, the “Zippity-Do”, could potentially be the undoing of Olly’s relationship with his wife…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Woman Who Invented Disposable Diapers’ (The Atlantic, 2014): https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-woman-who-invented-disposable-diapers/381310/

• ‘Marion Donovan: Waterproof Diaper Cover Inventor’ (National Inventors’ Hall of Fame, 2023): https://www.invent.org/inductees/marion-donovan

• ‘Inventors on "Not for Women Only" from 1975’ (Lemelson Center, 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-YtYOKt6T0

#50s #US #Inventions #Sexism

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

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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: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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The Day Nero Died Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Nero, the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, killed himself on 9th June AD 68. Having fled Rome to a suburban villa after being declared a ‘public enemy’ by the Senate, he stabbed himself through the throat. Probably.

Within months of his death, rumours began that Nero still lived and would return in glory to reclaim his empire. Instead, the historians of the era - albeit never averse to embellishment to make an artistic point - documented the horrors of his reign, including his forced marriage to a slave boy and turning Christians into wax candles.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look back on the more enlightened early days of Nero’s emperorship; consider his incestuous rise to the throne; and explain why his story, perhaps more than anything, is a warning about working with a frustrated actor…

Content Warning: suicide, incest, torture, religious persecution.

Further Reading:

• ‘Emperor Nero: Facts, Life and Biography’ (History Extra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/emperor-nero-facts-biography-tyrant-crimes-accomplishments/

• ‘On this day in AD 68: The death of the tyrannical Emperor Nero’ (Telegraph, 2017): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/09/day-ad-68-death-tyrannical-emperor-nero/

• ‘The Downfall of Nero's Scandalous Reign’ (Smithsonian, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJvQa_cnr5Q

We'll be back on Monday - unless you join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!

Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

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: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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The Hawaiian Pizza - A Legacy Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

Rerun. Sam Panopoulos, creator of the Hawaiian pizza, died on 8th June, 2017 at the age of 83. Originally Greek, he moved to Ontario, Canada at the age of 20 and opened a restaurant where he experimented with toppings far beyond the typical ‘60s triumvirate of mushroom/bacon/pepperoni.

Alongside a Chinese-American chef, he kick-started an international appetite for ham and pineapple that grows to this day - the Hawaiian becoming America’s favourite delivery pizza topping in 2021.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the merits of ‘Irish pizza’ (corn beef, cabbage and potato...); reveal that the ‘super-boring’ Napolitana was itself only ‘invented’ in 1889; and attempt to establish if the Hawaiian pizza is actually popular in Hawaii…

Further Reading:

• Sam Panopoulos’s obituary on CBC News’ ‘The National’ (2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DccNpObmrjk

• The Guardian’s obituary to Panopoulos (2017): https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/10/sam-panapoulos-inventor-of-hawaiian-pizza-dies-aged-83

• An alternative history? The menu to ‘Francine’s Pizza Jungle’ - uncovered in The Oregonian’s archives: https://twitter.com/mrgan/status/1303461195005833216

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

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: Sophie King.

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

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My Name Isn't Prince Jun 07, 2023

Show notes

When Prince announced he would no longer go by his birth name on June 7th, 1993, it took the public and his record label, Warner Brothers, by surprise. Henceforth he wanted to be known, he explained, as an unpronounceable ‘Love Symbol’; a bespoke mash-up of the Mars and Venus gender signs which wasn’t even available in font libraries.

The dispute centred on the fact that ‘The Artist’ had 500 unreleased songs in his studio vault at Paisley Park, but Warner believed to put them out too quickly would saturate the market with Prince albums and devalue their star signing. Prince began performing with the word “SLAVE” on his cheek, regarding his own name as a part of his contractual entrapment.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why, long before Warner’s got involved, Prince’s name had always been a Freudian nightmare; consider the purple one’s claims to be a ‘slave’ in the context of other African-American figures; and reveal the none-too-subtle pseudonyms he deployed when out on the town…

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Further Reading:

• The Artist, formerly known as Prince (Entertainment Weekly, 1999): https://ew.com/article/1999/06/04/artist-formerly-known-prince-2/

• ‘A Prince by Any Other Name’ (Vanity Fair, 2011): https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/10/prince-bio-201110

• ‘Larry King Live: Prince’ (CNN, 1999): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8mg7CxAYUM

#Music #Black #US #90s

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon

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: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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Digging Up Josef Mengele Jun 06, 2023

Show notes

Notorious Nazi doctor, ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele, spent the last twenty years of his life on the run. His remains were recovered in São Paulo on 6th June, 1985, when Brazilian Police dug up the grave of a man named “Wolfgang Gerhard” - later proven to be Mengele, who’d drowned at a beach resort at the age of 68.

Mengele, responsible for sending up to 400,000 Jews to their deaths at Auschwitz, was able to escape to Argentina via Italy after the War, even living freely under his real name for a period, before Mossad and ‘Nazi Hunter’ Simon Wiesenthal began hunting him down more assiduously.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how frustratingly close Israel’s secret services came to capturing him in his lifetime; explain how he was able to live under cover in South America for decades; and consider the irony of what finally happened to his skeleton…

Content Warning: depictions of Auschwitz, Holocaust torture techniques

Further Reading:

• ‘Son Says Mengele's Dead, Tells Why He Kept Silent : Learned of Death in 1979’ (Los Angeles Times, 1985): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-11-mn-10339-story.html

• ‘How did the infamous Josef Mengele escape punishment?’ (The Spectator, 2020): https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-did-the-infamous-josef-mengele-escape-punishment/

• ‘Confirming the remains of Josef Mengele’ (NBC, 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m46WUDwxxpA

#Nazis #Racism #Jewish #WW2 #Brazil #80s

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

We'll be back tomorrow! 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: Sophie King.

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

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So I Acquitted An Axe Murderer Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

Lizzie Borden’s murder trial began on June 5, 1893 in New Bedford Courthouse, Massachusetts. The 32 year-old was accused of killing her father, wealthy magnate Andrew Borden, and his wife Abby, her stepmother, who had been crushed by the blows of a hatchet - 11 and 19 times, respectively.

In attendance were three judges, Borden’s high-powered defense team (paid for from her late father’s estate), and reporters and onlookers keen to parse the lurid details of the shocking deaths in the Borden homestead. But, despite there being no other suspects, Borden was acquitted.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Lizzie just *may* have innocently been purchasing poison; consider whether this was the case that first ignited the female interest in ‘true crime’ stories in America; and reveal what’s happened to the ‘Borden Murder House’ in the 21st century …

Content Warning: domestic violence, description of brutal murder scene.

Further Reading:

• ‘Why 19th-Century Axe Murderer Lizzie Borden Was Found Not Guilty’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2019): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-19th-century-axe-murderer-lizzie-borden-was-found-not-guilty-180972707/

• ‘Lizzie Borden case: Images from one of the most notorious crime scenes in history’ (CBS, 2021): https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/lizzie-borden-case-images-crime-scene/

• ‘48 Hours: Lizzie Borden Took an Axe’ (CBS, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYDiEcyDUBU

#Crime #1800s #US #Macabre

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

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: Sophie King.

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

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

Who Invented The Telephone? Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson made an important discovery, by accident, on June 2, 1875. While working on their ‘harmonic telegraph’. Watson inadvertently plucked a reed that had been tightly wound around the pole of its electromagnet, producing a twang that Bell heard on a second device next door.

Meanwhile, Elisha Gray, co-founder of Western Electric Company, was working on, as his patent put it, “Transmitting Vocal Sounds Telegraphically.” Gray had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years; an innovation which mysteriously turned up in Bell’s technology after Gray filed his patent...

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover how Bell’s deaf wife and mother inspired his interest in the human voice; reveal Queen Victoria’s thoughts on being presented with the new technology; and declare which of the two men was the ‘Tesla’ of the race to invent the telephone…

Further Reading:

• ‘Ahoy! Alexander Graham Bell and the first telephone call’ (Science Museum): https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/ahoy-alexander-graham-bell-and-first-telephone-call

• The Invention and Evolution of the Telephone (ThoughtCo, 2021): https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-telephone-alexander-graham-bell-1991380

• ‘The life and work of Alexander Graham Bell (dramatisation)’ (BBC Teach, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n_5jG_9fAE

#Victorian #Inventions #Technology

We'll be back on Monday - unless you join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!

Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

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: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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