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Today In History with The Retrospectors — History
Today In History with The Retrospectors

BEST DAILY SHOW (British Podcast Awards Nominee, 2026). Curious, funny, surprising daily history – with Olly Mann (Answer Me This!), Rebecca Messina (The Week Unwrapped) and Arion McNicoll (The Chaser).

From the invention of the Game Boy to the Mancunian beer-poisoning of 1900, from Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain to America’s Nazi summer schools… each day we uncover an unexpected story for the ages. In just ten minutes!

Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

Copyright: © Olly Mann / Rethink Audio Ltd

Latest Episodes:

The Nellie Bly Express Jan 25, 2023

Show notes

Pioneering journalist Nellie Bly returned from her 72-day trip around the world on 25th January, 1890. The final leg of the journey was upon a chartered train to New Jersey, nicknamed ‘the Nellie Bly Express’, and Bly was greeted by adoring fans as she traversed the country.

Inspired by Jules Verne’s novel, Bly had a year earlier pitched to her editors at The World that she should be given the opportunity to try and travel the globe in under 80 days - but they’d felt it was a journey only a man could undertake.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how - unbeknownst to Bly - the challenge had actually become a RACE against Cosmopolitan writer Elizabeth Bisland; trace the origins of Bly’s inspirational ‘stunt girl’ reporting; and pry into the contents of Bly’s well-traveled suitcase…

Further Reading:

• ‘Nellie Bly's Record-Breaking Trip Around the World Was, to Her Surprise, A Race’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2016): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nellie-blys-record-breaking-trip-around-world-was-to-her-surprise-race-180957910/

• ‘Around the World in Seventy-Two Days, by Nellie Bly’ (THE PICTORIAL WEEKLIES COMPANY, 1890): http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/world/world.html

• ‘Journalist Nellie Bly begins her trip around the world in 80 days’ (WUSA9news, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndm38_0ZCSc

#Person #Explorer #1800s

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.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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27 Years in the Jungle Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

Japanese ‘holdout’ Shoichi Yokoi had been hiding out in the jungles of Guam since the Second World War when he was discovered by hunters on 24th January, 1972, dressed in clothes woven from tree fibre.

The 57 year-old soldier had endured 27 years living in an underground shelter he dug himself, eating toads, river eels and rats. Although he had heard the War was over, he believed it would be a disgrace to surrender to the Americans.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Yokoi survived so much longer than his comrades; consider what life was like for him when returned home and saw his own gravestone; and reveal that, despite him becoming a household name in Japan, he wasn’t in fact the last holdout to be discovered…

Further Reading:

• ‘Shoichi Yokoi, the Japanese soldier who held out in Guam’ (BBC News Magazine, 2012): https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16681636

• ‘Shoichi Yokoi Was the Last Japanese World War II Soldier to Surrender’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2022): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-japanese-wwii-soldier-who-refused-to-surrender-for-27-years-180979431/

• ’SOLDIER RETURNS HOME TO JAPAN AFTER 28 YEARS IN HIDING’ (Associated Press, 1972): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcUcBbf6PRg

#WW2 #Japan #Mystery

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.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

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

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Rock N Roll’s Big Night Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame welcomed its first inductees in a star-studded event at the Waldorf Astoria, New York on 23rd January, 1986. But the ceremony was not the glamorous HBO spectacular we have come to expect today: the audience was mostly music executives, and it was not filmed for television.

Conceived by Atlantic Records chairman Ahmet Ertegun, the nonprofit foundation initially had lofty ambitions of recognising unsung heroes of the genre, and redressing racial injustice.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Rock Hall came to be located in Cleveland, of all places; investigate the claims of sexism that have plagued the institution; and recall the phenomenal rejection issued by Axl Rose following an invitation to perform…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame: From An Idea, To A Labor Of Love, To A Spectacular Event’ (Billboard, 2004): https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0A8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17&dq=ertegun+rock+and+roll+hall+of+fame&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3os-Fr7r8AhWQaMAKHZc8AzoQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=ertegun%20rock%20and%20roll%20hall%20of%20fame&f=false

• ‘Why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should be put out of its misery’ (The Guardian, 2016): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/04/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-should-be-destroyed

• ‘Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis, Neil Young – "Roll Over Beethoven"’ (Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, 1986):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM_1eDzWYzI&list=PLuYH1Vrzl1TMtAjBPm80j0EGOT0FL8Uc4&index=2

#80s #Music #NewYork

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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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Lalli and the Axe Jan 20, 2023

Show notes

According to Finnish legend, a peasant farmer named Lalli murdered the Christian missionary Bishop Henry on the ice of lake Köyliönjärvi on January 20, 1156, dispatching him with an axe blow to the head.

It is fair to say things didn’t go terribly well for Lalli after that. He met a gruesome fate that takes various forms depending on the tale you read, but in general Lalli takes the bishop's mitre to wear and when he tries to remove it, it tears his scalp off. The bishop, meanwhile, fared rather better posthumously, going on to become Saint Henry.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss which bits of the tale are true; explain why the real villain of the story is Lalli’s wife; and discover that the 11th greatest Finn was a four-time Olympic gold medalist, who is also known for his later ill-advised careers as a singer and stripper.

Further Reading:

• ‘The axe of Lalli and the cap of St. Henry – a view from Finland’ (Routledge, 2020): https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429053726-3_26/axe-lalli-cap-st-henry-view-finland-miikka-tamminen

• ‘The Murder of Saint Henry, Crusader Bishop of Finland’ (Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2016): https://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/33154?lang=en#:~:text=The%20so%2Dcalled%20'First%20Finnish,and%20its%20motive%20was%20revenge

• ‘Murdering Bishop Henry – Finland's First Martyr’ (Finnish Mythology with Antti Palosaari, 2022):

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

#Medieval #Strange #Finland

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 2022.

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

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Introducing the BlackBerry Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Rerun. Research In Motion were once the world’s most popular maker of smartphones, but when they launched the BlackBerry 850 on 19th January, 1999, the device had no phone functionality: it was marketed as a two-way pager.

However, the gadget’s ability to bounce emails from a desktop server to its users on the move, and its bespoke instant messaging service, BBM, ensured it soon became an essential tool in the executive businessperson’s arsenal. Until the iPhone came along, anyway…

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the ‘CrackBerry’ phenomenon; unpick the role of Al Gore and Barack Obama as ultimate celebrity influencers for the brand; and wonder whether anyone will still be using one, after the company’s recent announcement that their handsets will no longer be supported…

Further Reading:

• ‘The one reason why I’ll always miss the BlackBerry’ (Slate, 2013): https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/the-one-reason-why-ill-always-miss-the-blackberry.html

• ‘The rise and fall of the BlackBerry in popular culture’ (BBC Newsbeat, 2016): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-37500230

• ‘Classic BlackBerry Devices To Officially Stop Working After Decades Of Popularity’ (NBC Today, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhuVEfDPv8

‘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

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!

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 2022.

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

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

The 17th Century UFO Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

One of earliest recorded UFO sightings in America happened on 18th January, 1644 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony when lights rose out of the water near Boston, zoomed across the sky and vanished over the horizon.

The events, as documented by the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony John Winthrop in his journal, took place a good 300 years before Roswell, contradicting the idea that UFO sightings in the US are an exclusively 20th Century phenomenon.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain that the most common explanation for what was witnessed was an “ignis fatuus” (a type of gas combustion); investigate what other UFO sightings took place between 1644 and today; and speculate why aliens didn’t seem to have any interest in abducting humans until the 1960s.

Further Reading:

• ‘America’s First UFO Sighting’ (History.com, 2016): https://www.history.com/news/americas-first-ufo-sighting

• ‘A pilgrim UFO sighting came long before Roswell’ (Ripleys, 2018): https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/pilgrim-ufo/

• ‘Top 5 shocking UFO sightings in the USA’ (History, 2022):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4mDKwagAA

#Strange #1600s #US

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.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.

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

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The Last Queen of Hawaii Jan 17, 2023

Show notes

On January 17, 1893, Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate, the first step towards the islands’ annexation as a US territory and eventual admission as the 50th state in the union.

Interest in Hawaii began in America as early as the 1820s, when New England missionaries tried in earnest to spread their faith there, but only really became serious in 1880s when Queen Liliuokalani began trying to return power to the indigenous Hawaiian people.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss the contemporary US efforts to make amends for the past; look at Queen Liliuokalani’s many talents, including composition; and speculate that Parents’ Day at the Hawaiian Chief’s Children’s School must have been an awkward affair…

Further Reading:

• ‘Five Things To Know About Liliʻuokalani, the Last Queen of Hawaiʻi’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2017): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-liliuokalani-last-queen-hawaii-180967155/

• ‘Queen Lili‘uokalani - The First and Last Queen of Hawai‘i’ (PBS, 2020): https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/queen-liliuokalani-the-first-and-last-queen-of-hawaii-kx2oc7/15032/

• ‘Aloha Dying - A Hawaii Documentary’ (Cody Brooks, 2019):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhMa-NHZRCA&t=2115s

#US #Black #Person

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.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.

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

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Meet Don Quixote Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

Prior to the release of his book Don Quixote on 16th January, 1605, Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes had previously been a soldier, a royal messenger, a tax collector and – for a spell – a slave.

But perseverance paid off for the aspiring author who, at the age of 57, produced a book that has been called “the greatest piece of literature ever written”.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss why Cervantes’ poetry and plays weren’t as successful as his first novel; reveal how his characters became embedded in the English language; and explain why Don Quixote is really just Shrek but 400 years earlier.

Further Reading:

• ‘Disney’s many failed attempts to bring Don Quixote to the screen’ (Polygon, 2020): https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/2020/9/15/21436961/disneys-failed-attempts-to-bring-don-quixote-to-the-screen

• ‘No Ordinary Man - The Life and Times of Miguel de Cervantes’ (Dover Publishing, 2006): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/No_Ordinary_Man/CBHLqNlLuEMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Miguel+de+Cervantes&printsec=frontcover

• ‘Why should you read "Don Quixote"?’ (TED-Ed, 2019):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDUPu6tMWHY

#1600s #Books #Spain

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.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.

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

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

Henry IV and the Philosopher's Stone Jan 13, 2023

Show notes

It was today in history in 1404 that Henry IV issued the Act Against Multipliers, a ban on the mysterious art of creating or duplicating gold, more commonly known as alchemy.

It came at an odd time for European science because the widespread efforts to transform so-called base metals, such as lead or copper, into noble metals, such as silver or gold, while futile, actually aided the discovery of things like combustion and gunpowder.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss the connection between the science of multiplying metals and religion; explain why the Ancient Greek notion of the four elements – fire, earth, air, and water – was so resilient; and reveal why plenty of people before Harry Potter were interested in the Philosopher’s Stone…

Further Reading:

• ‘When Chemistry Was Outlawed’ (Vice, 2015): https://www.vice.com/en/article/3dk7mj/when-chemistry-was-outlawed

• ‘The Day England Outlawed Alchemy’ (Forbes, 2018): https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2018/01/13/the-day-england-outlawed-alchemy/?sh=11c1170539bd

• ‘How Alchemy Led to Modern-Day Chemistry & Medicine’ (SciShow, 2022):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maQ_Gd7TapI

#1400s #UK #Science

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 2022.

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

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

The Cryogenic Rush Job Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

Rerun. 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…

CONTENT WARNING: description of decomposition

Further Reading:

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

Photo credit: Alcor

‘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

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!

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 2022.

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

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

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