Today In History with The Retrospectors

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Chuck Berry v the IRS Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

It was the THIRD time behind bars for legendary rock n’ roller Chuck Berry when he was found to have dodged $110,000 in income tax on 11th June, 1979.

He insisted on being paid cash-in-hand for his sometimes shambolic personal appearances, and his propensity for stashing it was so well-known that in Australia the authorities introduced limits on the amount of cash that could be transited across their border, specifically in response to him once stuffing $50,000 in his guitar case.

In this episode, Rebecca, Arion and Olly dig deeper into some of Chuck Berry’s former convictions; take a disturbing peek into his home video library; and reveal the true origins of the ‘duck walk’...

Content Warning: detail of underage, exploitative and non-consensual sexual acts

Further Reading:

• The New York Post on Berry’s scandalous sex life (2017):

https://nypost.com/2017/03/21/the-dark-past-of-chuck-berrys-scandal-filled-sex-life/

• Inc. on why Berry’s ‘musical genius was also his financial undoing’ (2017):

https://www.inc.com/jay-jay-french/how-chuck-berrys-musical-genius-was-also-his-financial-undoing.html

• Chuck Berry’s duck walk - a compilation:

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

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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: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2021.

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Benjamin Franklin's Kite 🪁⚡ Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

Benjamin Franklin’s legendary ‘kite experiment’ supposedly took place on 10th June, 1752, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the traditional account, the future Founding Father flew a kite fitted with a metal key into a storm cloud to prove that it contained electricity, leading to the creation of the lightning rod ⚡

Historians, however, point out there is no detailed contemporary record proving that events unfolded exactly as later retellings claimed, and, in fact, Franklin never explicitly stated in print that he had personally carried out the dramatic version of the experiment. Perhaps the iconic image survives partly because, like Newton’s falling apple, it captures a complicated scientific idea in a single memorable scene.

Regardless, lightning rods soon spread across Europe and North America, and the kite story is just one chapter in Franklin’s remarkably varied life. Alongside his scientific investigations, he worked as a printer, helped establish one of America’s first volunteer fire brigades, invented bifocal spectacles, and created the glass armonica, a bizarre musical instrument whose sound fascinated composers including Mozart and Beethoven.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover eighteenth century circus-style electricity sideshows; explain how Franklin helped popularise the "positive" and "negative" terms for electrical charge; and reveal why King George III’s preference for blunt lightning rods ignited a UK/US rod rivalry…

Further Reading:

• ‘Benjamin Franklin and the Kite Experiment’ (The Franklin Institute): https://fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/kite-key-experiment

• ‘Founding Father of Invention’ (The Washington Post, 2012): https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2012/03/21/founding-father-of-invention/

• ‘Did Lightning Strike Benjamin Franklin's Kite? | MythBusters’ (Discovery, 2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISRl3WEuU-s

#Discoveries #1700s #US #Science

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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: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

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The Day Nero Died Jun 09, 2026

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

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

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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: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2024.

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Who You Gonna Call? Jun 08, 2026

Show notes

‘Ghostbusters’ opened in US cinemas on 8th June, 1984, quickly becoming the highest-grossing comedy of all time.

The brainchild of SNL’s Dan Aykroyd - whose great-grandfather was a 19th-century psychic investigator - the film was pitched and delivered within 13 months. Drawing inspiration from 1930s ghost comedies, the wisecracking ensemble comedy smashed the Hollywood wisdom that big-budget comedies don’t recoup their investment.

In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca survey some original alternative titles for the film; revisit Akroyd’s unworkable first draft (set in the future, with intergalactic travel); and reveal why the production necessitated building a whole effects studio from scratch…

Further Reading:

• 'Ghostbusters' director Ivan Reitman on the making of the 1984 comedy: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/ghostbusters-director-ivan-reitman-making-911408/

• Ghostbusters at 30: EW looks back at the making of a comedy classic | Longform - EW.com: https://microsites.ew.com/microsite/longform/ghostbusters/

• ‘Ghostbusters Trailer’ (Columbia Pictures, 1984): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDkhw5Wkas

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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.

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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: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

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When Lovelace Met Babbage Jun 05, 2026

Show notes

When Lord Byron’s 17 year-old daughter, Ada Lovelace, attended a soirée at the home of academic Charles Babbage on 5th June, 1833, the pair hit it off immediately. He invited her to see his ‘Difference Engine’ - an early mechanical calculator - kicking off a correspondence that lasted throughout her life.

Their lively, intellectual correspondence, and Ada's deep understanding of mathematics and science, lead to her championing of Babbage’s ‘Analytical Engine’, a groundbreaking proto personal computer for which Ada even wrote an algorithm.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly debate whether Ada deserves her 21st century acclaim as the godmother of computer programming; expose her extramarital affairs and gambling habit; and consider whether Babbage himself even fully understood the applications for what he had invented…

Further Reading:

• ‘Charles Babbage’s Difference Engines and the Science Museum’ (Science Museum, 2023): https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-difference-engines-and-science-museum

• ‘How Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage Invented the World’s First Computer: An Illustrated Adventure in Footnotes and Friendship’ (The Marginalian, 2015): https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/06/15/the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace-and-babbage-sydney-padua/

• ‘Ada Lovelace in “Victoria” (ITV, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOoCOUDdoeA

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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: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2024.

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Crazy Frog v Coldplay Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

‘The Annoying Thing’ is how the begenitaled amphibian animated by Erik Wernquist was first described; but by the time he released his first single ‘Axel F’ he was universally known as The Crazy Frog, and beat Coldplay’s ‘Speed of Sound’ to UK #1 on 4th June, 2005.

The tale of how this possibly could have happened is unique to the early days of the internet - a teenager messing about imitating motorbike noises emailed the sound to some friends, Wernquist stumbled across it and put it in his portfolio, and then it was adopted for sale by mobile ringtone company Jamster.

In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca consider the value of Crazy Frog’s musical legacy, reveal that he’s not even a frog, and applaud the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority for standing up to protest, and permitting us to witness his visible scrotum…

Further Reading:

• Crazy Frog - Axel F (2005): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k85mRPqvMbE

• ‘Find out how the world’s most annoying noise came about’ - The Sun commemorates Crazy Frog’s 20th birthday (2017): https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2974489/crazy-frog-just-turned-20-relive-his-hellish-magic-here/

• Not So Crazy Frog (Documentary, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8vVz1KoU2s

There is SEVEN MINUTES of bonus material from our discussion about Crazy Frog. We had a lot to discuss. To hear it, visit Patreon.com/Retrospectors and support the show.

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

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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 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2021.

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The Zoot Suit Riots Jun 03, 2026

Show notes

Los Angeles erupted in racist violence on 3rd June, 1943 in a week of riots that exposed deep tensions in wartime America.

California’s Mexican-American “Pachuco” youth had adopted the zoot suit style from African-American jazz culture. But to many white Americans the fashion appeared rebellious, unpatriotic and even threatening at a time when wartime rationing had placed strict controls on fabric use.

Groups of sailors started targeting zoot suit-wearing youths in downtown Los Angeles, and mob violence - egged on by the LAPD and the state’s newspapers - ensued.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the photographs of bruised and half-dressed Mexican American youths, published under approving headlines; discover how the disorder quickly became an international embarrassment for Roosevelt’s administration; and reveal how the event became a turning point for many young Latinos who went on to reclaim the zoot suit as a symbol of cultural pride…

CONTENT WARNING: racist violence.

Further Reading:

• ‘History of The Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots’ (Latinitas Magazine, 2023): https://latinitasmagazine.org/history-of-the-los-angeles-zoot-suit-riots/

• ‘A Brief History of the Zoot Suit’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2016): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/brief-history-zoot-suit-180958507/

• ‘How did the Zoot Suit Riots begin? | American Experience’ (PBS, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SisGQx5loKk&list=PLmh4YIWteoGiaCpzImPBkosURu6yBN03f

#Latino #Fashion #WW2 #Racism #US

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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: Ollie Peart.

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Who Invented The Telephone? Jun 02, 2026

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

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.

This episode originally aired in 2023.

#Victorian #Inventions #Technology

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Nepal's Royal Bloodbath Jun 01, 2026

Show notes

Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire on his whole family at a family dinner at Kathmandu’s Narayanhiti Palace on 1st June, 2001. He killed nine royals, including his father, King Birendra, his mother, Queen Aishwarya, and his siblings; then reportedly turned the gun on himself.

In a bizarre twist of constitutional formality, Dipendra — though in a coma — was then declared King of Nepal for three days. When he died on June 4th, his uncle Gyanendra, who hadn’t been at the dinner, was crowned king. This convenient absence — and his immediate ascension — instantly fuelled public suspicion and conspiracy theories.

In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca explore the commonly-accepted motive for the massacre: Dipendra’s forbidden romance with Devyani Rana, from a rival aristocratic family; ask how Dipendra was able to sneak in multiple weapons into a palace laden with security; and consider how Nepal moved on — politically fractured and spiritually shaken…

Content warning: mass murder, suicide

Further Reading:

• ‘Mystery of a love divided’ (The Irish Times, 2002): https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/mystery-of-a-love-divided-1.1057937

• ‘A royal massacre: 20 years ago, a lovesick Nepalese prince murdered his family’ (ABC News, 2021): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/how-a-lovesick-prince-wiped-out-nepals-royal-family/100056562

• ‘Crown Prince Dipendra’ (BBC, 2002):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E93ijn7h2s0

Love the show? Support us!

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

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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: Ollie Peart.

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Recording 'White Christmas' May 29, 2026

Show notes

Bing Crosby recorded the biggest-selling single of all time, ‘White Christmas’, on 29th May, 1942. The session took just 18 minutes, and the song was not considered the standout from the album: everyone thought the Valentine’s-themed ballad ‘Be Careful, It's My Heart’ had a better chance of chart success.

The songwriter, Irving Berlin, was perhaps not an obvious person to pen the quintessential American Christmas song, given that he was a Russian-born Jew, who had never celebrated the holiday until his arrival in the United States. But the record’s airplay on US Army overseas radio stations during World War II struck a chord with homesick soldiers, and helped embed the tune deeply into the American psyche.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal why the version you’re almost certainly thinking of is NOT the version with which Bing initally topped the charts; unpick the confusing Russian Doll stack of genres into which the song has been repurposed; and explain why Berlin’s Oscar win became a pivotal moment in the Academy Awards ceremony…

Further Reading:

• ‘'White Christmas' at 75: A Snapshot of the Most Successful Song In Music History’ (Billboard, 2017): https://www.billboard.com/culture/lifestyle/white-christmas-bing-crosby-history-8071111/#!

• ‘Is White Christmas the Best Popular Song Ever Written?’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/is-white-christmas-the-best-popular-song-ever-written-165989545/

• ‘Holiday Inn | Bing Crosby Sings "White Christmas"’ (Universal Pictures, 1942): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ36gbGlm8Y

This episode originally aired in 2024.

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