Today In History with The Retrospectors

Gottlieb Daimler's patent for his high-speed petrol engine (dubbed the "Grandfather Clock") on 3rd April, 1885, wasn't just a technological breakthrough—it inadvertently birthed the motorbike. Teaming up with Wilhelm Maybach, the duo had crafted a compact engine featuring float-metered carburetors and mushroom intake valves, all powered by hot tube ignition. This engine found its way into their first vehicle prototype, the Petroleum Riding Car, which bore little resemblance to today's motorcycles but represented a pioneering step towards motorised transportation. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how it was not Daimler, but his son, Paul, who became the first-ever motorbiker; consider the steam-powered predecessors that could potentially lay claim to inventing the motorbike; and explain how Daimler took what he’d learned from these experiences to establish Mercedes… Further Reading: • ‘An Overview of the Motorcycle's History’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-motorcycle-1992151 • ‘History Channel’ (Motoring World, 2017): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Motoring_World/Pt0xDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Daimler+Reitwagen&pg=PA26&printsec=frontcover • ‘The riding car – a Daimler patent’ (Mercedes-Benz TV, 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Tvuya6otc 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a single, deliberate shot, Roger Sharpe played pinball for the council of the New York City Council chamber on 2 April 1976, theatrically overturning a 34-year ban on the game by proving it could be a game of skill. The city’s censorship of the game had its roots in the economic strain of the Great Depression and the moral recalibrations following Prohibition, when pinball machines, often found in arcades and bars, became associated with petty gambling and organised crime. New York’s mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, made them a particular focus of his anti-corruption campaigns, arguing that they exploited the young and the poor. His administration confiscated and publicly destroyed machines, even melting them down during the Second World War as part of the wartime metal drive. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track the shifting cultural attitudes of the 1970s, thanks in part to the Who’s ‘Tommy’; explain how the introduction of flippers in 1947 (notably in the game Humpty Dumpty) fundamentally pivoted pinball into a game of skill; and reveal the world record for the longest ever pinball marathon… Further Reading: • ‘49 Years Later: ‘Pinball’ and the Legendary Shot’ (MPI, 2025): https://thempi.org/latest-stories/49-years-later-pinball-and-the-legendary-shot/ • ‘Pinball Prohibition Explained and Why Pinball Was Once Illegal’ (Kineticist, 2024): https://www.kineticist.com/news/pinball-prohibition • ‘Today Show: Pinball History’ (NBC, 1990): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJb2-f9jZE0 #Games #70s #Crime #NewYork #Strange 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 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the most famous hoaxes in broadcasting history aired on the BBC’s revered Panorama programme on April Fools Day, 1957: a segment purporting to show a “spaghetti harvest” taking place near Lake Lugano. According to the report, mild weather and the disappearance of a “spaghetti weevil” had resulted in trees unseasonably laden with strands of pasta. The prank originated with Charles de Jaeger, who drew on a childhood memory of being teased that spaghetti grew on trees. With the backing of Panorama’s young Editor, Michael Peacock, his team travelled to Switzerland to film convincing footage. Local participants were dressed in traditional costume and shown harvesting spaghetti from branches, laying it out to dry in the sun. The script, written by David Wheeler, leaned into agricultural imagery, subtly echoing wine harvesting, to lend the absurd premise a veneer of plausibility. Crucial to the hoax’s success was the authoritative narration of Richard Dimbleby, one of the most trusted voices in post-war Britain. At a time when television itself was still relatively new and widely trusted, and when many Britons had limited familiarity with Italian cuisine, the idea of spaghetti growing on trees was not immediately dismissed as nonsense; even BBC Director-General Ian Jacob had to consult three reference books to confirm it was indeed a joke. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the blowback from viewers who were in equal parts credulous and insulted; consider if a public service broadcaster could mount such a successful prank these days; and ask why this segment remains so well remembered, nearly seventy years on… Further Reading: • ‘Inside The Bizarre 'Spaghetti Tree' Hoax Of 1957’ (All That’s Interesting, 2021): https://allthatsinteresting.com/spaghetti-tree-hoax • ‘When A Spaghetti Tree Hoax Caused A Nationwide Uproar’ (HistoryNet, 2023): https://historynet.com/bbc-spaghetti-tree-hoax/ • ‘Panorama: The Spaghetti Harvest’ (BBC, 1957): https://www.youtubInside The Bizarre 'Spaghetti Tree' Hoax Of 1957e.com/watch?v=8scpGwbvxvI #50s #Switzerland #TV #Funny 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It became known as the ‘Skandalkonzert’: an evening of expressionist, experimental pieces at Vienna’s Great Hall of the Musikverein on March 31, 1913, which so disturbed the audience that rioting and slapping ensued, followed by a lawsuit. In time, it established the reputations of The Second Viennese School - a group of composers like Shoenberg and Weber, who sought to break away from the traditional tonal system and create a new form of classical music. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether it was simply the running order, not the artistic demands of the pieces, that truly upset the apple cart; reveal the extraordinary precautions Shoenberg put in place to prevent such an event recurring; and turn to Strauss for a zinger of a put-down… Further Reading: • ‘The Second Viennese School: Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern | The British Library’ (British Library): https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-music/articles/the-second-viennese-school • ‘Skandalkonzert’ (ASAP History, 2020): https://asaphistory.com/2020/03/31/03-31-skandalkonzert/ • ‘Schoenberg explained in 10 Minutes’ (Samuel Andreyev, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjV3PBIWO2I 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #Music #1900s #Austria #Jewish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Starbucks opened in Pike Place, Seattle, on March 30th, 1971, it was a simple shop selling whole coffee beans, tea, and spices - with no creamy macchiatos or pumpkin spice lattes in sight. Founders Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker, mentored by Dutch coffee trader Alfred Peet, never intended the store to become a cafe. But then Howard Schultz joined as Marketing Manager. After a visit to Milan, he had an epiphany—coffee wasn’t just a drink, it was an experience. Schultz’s vision of Starbucks as a "third place"—not home, not work, but somewhere in between—helped fuel its massive international expansion. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Schultz was frozen out of the company before buying it back; reveal why, to some extent, Starbucks now functions as a bank; and consider whether the original mermaid logo is just too racy for the 21st century… Further Reading: • ‘The first Starbucks coffee shop, Seattle - a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 36’ (The Guardian, 2015): https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/14/the-first-starbucks-coffee-shop-seattle-a-history-of-cities-in-50-buildings-day-36 • ‘Starbucks opens its first store in Seattle's Pike Place Market | March 30, 1971’ (HISTORY, 2024): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-starbucks-opens-seattle-pike-place-market • ‘How Starbucks Became An $80B Business’ (CNBC, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUBeH7VQaFY 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2025. #Business #70s #Food #US Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Julius Caesar intervened to put his lover and ally Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne on 27th March, 47 BC - cementing their position as the world’s premier Power Couple. But Cleo's ascent to power was not just a power play. Rather, it was a desperate bid for survival - as she had been ousted from the throne by her brother's advisors, and feared assassination. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether Cleopatra really did woo Caesar by emerging from a ‘carpet’; explain why Ptolemy's attempt to win Caesar's favour was desperately misguided; and probe into the family issues that perhaps inevitably arise when women are made to marry their younger brothers… Further Reading: • ‘Egypt's last pharaoh was the 'love child' of Caesar and Cleopatra’ (National Geographic, 2020): https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2020/10/egypts-last-pharaoh-was-the-love-child-of-caesar-and-cleopatra • ‘Cleopatra, Julius Caesar And Mark Antony: Her Love Affairs Explored’ (HistoryExtra, 2023): https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-egypt/cleopatra-love-affairs-julius-caesar-mark-antony/ • ’Ancient Empires: Cleopatra Evolves Into an Ruthless Monarch’ (HISTORY, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpFKwn7YAg0 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mass suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult in San Diego County was discovered on 26th March, 1997. The tragedy came to light after a former member alerted authorities, having received a farewell videotape recorded by the group. Leader Marshall Applewhite had preached that a spacecraft travelling in the wake of the Comet Hale–Bopp would carry their souls to a higher level of existence. In preparation, they dressed uniformly and consumed a lethal mixture of phenobarbital and alcohol in a carefully planned sequence over several days. That belief system had developed over decades. Applewhite, who had a religious upbringing, met Bonnie Lou Nettles in the early 1970s. Together they formed a spiritual partnership, combining elements of Christianity with ideas drawn from science fiction and New Age thought. They came to believe that they were divinely appointed messengers, tasked with guiding followers to what they described as the “Next Level”. Over time, they attracted a small but committed group, many of whom severed ties with their families and gave up personal possessions in order to join the movement. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how the group’s gospel evolved, particularly after Nettles died of cancer in 1985; explore how the cult always used technology to recruit a larger following; and explain why Nike withdrew their Decades shoes from sale in response… CONTENT WARNING: mass suicide, mental illness. Further Reading: • ‘THE CULT THAT LEFT AS IT LIVED’ (The Washington Post, 1997): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/03/30/the-cult-that-left-as-it-lived/1e9baadb-f465-4a7a-8026-0ab7e4822139/ • Heaven’s Gate: https://heavensgate.com • ‘Do's Final Exit’ (Heaven’s Gate, 1997): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGXDQ_8bSA #90s #Religion #Scandal #Space 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Each Lady Day, the Hampshire village of Tichborne hands out bags of flour to the locals - a tradition that began on 25th March, 1150 after Lady Marbella Tichborne, on her death-bed, suggested distributing a ‘Tichborne Dole’ to the needy. It’s far from the only quaint charity event still going strong in England. In the Kentish village of Biddenden each Easter Monday, locals indulge in ‘Biddenden cakes’, bearing the effigy of the Biddenden Maids - conjoined twins who also left behind an annual dole for the deserving poor. And in Hallaton, Leicestershire, villagers still participate in a chaotic rugby-like game, but with more ale and definitely more hare pies. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider what such kooky festivities tell us about mediaeval attitudes to women and the poor; recall what happened when ‘vagabonds’ dared to take advantage of these handouts; and stumble upon a new book proposal for Danny Wallace… Further Reading: • ‘The Tichborne Dole’ (Historic UK, 2015): https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Tichborne-Dole/ • ‘The Strange Story of the Biddenden Maids’ (A London Inheritance, 2021): https://alondoninheritance.com/cycling-around-britain/the-strange-story-of-the-biddenden-maids/ • ‘Custom of charity of Tichbourne dole - bags of flour given to local people’ (British Pathé, 1928): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jV30X294hA 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first international women’s sports event, The Women’s Olympiad, kicked off in Monte Carlo on 24th March, 1921. A hundred athletes from five nations competed in track and field events, defying the male-dominated Olympic movement that excluded women from all sports except tennis, golf, sailing and croquet. Created by campaigner Alice Milliat, the event showcased the skills of pioneering athletes Mary Lines, Violette Morris and Lucie Bréard - but was primarily intended to put pressure on the ‘proper’ Olympics to finally admit women into all sports - something not fully achieved for another forty years. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how rumours of ‘fainting’ women put the feminists’ cause back by decades; consider whether the IOC’s concerns regarding ‘ladylike’ pursuits were straightforward sexism; and reveal how a Paris2024 tribute to Milliat’s victory was usurped by corporate sponsorship… Further Reading: ‘Throwback Thursday: How a French Feminist Staged Her Own Games and Forced the Olympics to Include Women’ (Vice, 2016): https://www.vice.com/en/article/xybw9k/throwback-thursday-how-a-french-feminist-staged-her-own-games-and-forced-the-olympics-to-include-women ‘Women and the Olympic Dream - The Continuing Struggle for Equality, 1896-2021 - By Maria Kaj’ (McFarland, 2022): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Women_and_the_Olympic_Dream/MBx9EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=alice+milliat&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover ‘Women's Olympic Games at Monte Carlo’ (Topical Budget, 1923): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq1BV2pcXd0 #Sport #Sexism #France 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ was released on 23rd March, 1999 - launching the singer to worldwide superstardom, and kickstarting a Latino pop boom that propelled J-Lo, Shakira, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Santana into the charts. But he wasn’t an overnight success. He had already conquered the Latin music world, starred on General Hospital, and even nabbed the official 1998 FIFA World Cup song, giving him global exposure and setting the stage for his crossover moment. And his big break wasn’t just luck—it was part of a carefully crafted plan to bring Latin music to the mainstream. With Livin’ La Vida Loca, Martin and his team applied the high-energy, stadium-filling formula of rock anthems like Livin’ on a Prayer to Latin sounds. When Martin first heard the demo, he immediately insisted on reworking his album to include it. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track Martin’s showbiz career back to pre-puberty; consider the song’s dubious lyrics, in which the subject of his affections drugs and robs him; and ask why the ‘rain’ in the song’s iconic music video is actually dirty fire hydrant water… Further Reading: • ‘Livin' La Vida Loca’ (Library of Congress, 2022): https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Livin-La-Vida-Loca_Torres.pdf • ‘Culture Re-View: How Ricky Martin's 'Livin' La Vida Loca' changed pop music’ (Euronews, 2023): https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/03/23/culture-re-view-how-livin-la-vida-loca-changed-pop-music • ‘Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca (Official Video)’ (Columbia Records, 1999): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47fEXGabaY 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 2026. #Music #Latino #90s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The bubonic plague was blamed on witches, Jews, God’s wrath, and, on 20th March 1345, in a new theory propagated by the King of France, the rare planetary alignment between Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in Aquarius. Of course, the real cause of the Black Death lay in the microscopic world of bacteria, carried by fleas on rats. But mediaeval society, ill-equipped to comprehend the science behind the pandemic, relied on conjecture and superstition to explain the waves of death that swept through Europe. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the plague reshaped populations through persecution and migration; consider the Pope’s intervention to prevent a pogrom; and unearth a surprising origin theory for the plague - in Mongolia… Further Reading: • ‘Black Death is created, allegedly’ (HISTORY, 2020): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/black-death-is-created-allegedly • ‘9 Places Connected to the Black Death’ (HistoryExtra, 2011): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/black-death-is-created-allegedly • ‘Plague 101’ (National Geographic, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYnMXEcHI7U 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Blaise Pascal created the first organised public transport system: the carrosses à cinq sols (“five-sou carriages”), which had its first full day of service in Paris on 19th March, 1662. Like a modern bus, the horse-drawn carriages followed fixed routes and scheduled departures, running whether or not they were full; a scheme authorised by royal patent under the reign of Louis XIV, granting Pascal’s partners exclusive rights to operate the service. Each vehicle carried around eight passengers, linking areas such as the vicinity of the Porte Saint-Antoine with the Luxembourg district. Fares were standardised and the system introduced ideas familiar in modern public transport, including regular intervals between vehicles, defined routes, and points where passengers could transfer between lines. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover just whom the municipal authorities barred from riding the fledgling buses; examine why the operation initially fizzled out after making a huge splash at launch; and ask if, as with his novel early calculator, Pascal’s invention was simply two centuries too early… Further Reading: • ‘The French Father of Public Transport’ (France Today, 2026): https://francetoday.com/learn/the-french-father-of-public-transport/ • ‘The Horse Bus 1662-1932’ (Local Transport History): https://localtransporthistory.co.uk/generalhistory/horsebus/ • ‘What Was The First Ever Bus Route?’ (The Tim Traveller, 2025): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsNEVRosKzM #France #1600s #Inventions #Design 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tenji blocks (点字ブロック) - small raised shapes in the pavement to assist visually impaired people in crossing the road - were first installed near the Okayama School for the Blind in Japan on March 18th, 1967. Designed by Seiichi Miyake (三宅精一), the innovation gained traction in urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka, gradually spreading nationwide, particularly in bustling cities where safety for visually impaired individuals was paramount. But Miyake died before witnessing the global implementation of his invention. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why frosted-up number plates play their part in the Tenji design story; consider future enhancements, such as embedding QR codes into pavements; and reveal why retrofitting wasn’t always a straightforward solution… Further Reading: • ‘How Japanese Inventor of Tenji Blocks Changed the Lives of Millions Around the World’ (JAPAN Forward, 2019): https://japan-forward.com/how-japanese-inventor-of-tenji-blocks-changed-the-lives-of-millions-around-the-world/ • ‘Seiichi Miyake: His tactile blocks impacted railway platforms and streets’ (CNN, 2019): https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/18/world/seiichi-miyake-tactile-blocks-impact-trnd/index.html • ‘Tactile paving slab | Object in Focus’ (V&A, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKMm-hccQqc 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. #Design #Japan #Disability #60s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first ever St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Ireland, as many people might expect, but in Spanish Florida, on March 17, 1601. It wasn’t until about 100 years later that the world famous parades got going in Boston and New York City. Historian J. Michael Francis made the discovery of this unexpectedly early celebration of Ireland’s patron saint while investigating the Spanish imperial history of the Floridian city of St. Augustine. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why for around 50 years up until the 1970s all pubs in Ireland were closed on St. Patrick’s Day; discuss what gunpowder had to do with the first St. Patrick’s Day parade; and reveal where corned beef and cabbage really come from… Further Reading: • ‘Where the first St. Patrick's Day parade REALLY took place’ (Daily Mail, 2018): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5511205/First-St-Paddys-parade-took-place-FLORIDA-century-NYs.html • ‘First St. Patrick’s Day parade’ (History.com, 2010): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-st-patricks-day-parade • ‘A Brief History of St. Patrick's Day’ (ABC News, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40BlVzjxu-I 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #1600s #US #Strange Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 200 people were burned at the stake on 16th March, 1244, throwing themselves on to the pyre in their refusal to accept the Catholic church. These ‘Cathars’ reportedly followed a radical dualist belief system, seeing the material world as the creation of an evil force, with salvation lying in renouncing earthly pleasures. After years of persecution, on this day they found themselves trapped in Montségur Castle, perched atop a dramatic limestone peak. But many historians now believe the Cathars, as a distinct heretical movement, never actually existed. The term “Cathar” wasn’t even used at the time. Instead, the Church may have lumped various groups together under the label of heresy, as an excuse for persecution and territorial control. Much like the "War on Terror" centuries later, branding a broad, nebulous enemy gave the authorities free rein to wage war against anyone they considered a threat… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly visit “Cathar Country,”; consider if putting women in positions of power put the Cathars under threat; and discover the chilling words of commander Arnold Amalric, who told his soldiers to kill everyone, because “God will know His own”... Further Reading: • ‘Your Guide To The Cathars And The Albigensian Crusade’ (BBC History Magazine, 2017): https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/who-were-cathars-what-was-catharism-what-religion-albesignian-crusade/ • ‘Consolation for the Cathars’ (The Irish Times, 2002): https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consolation-for-the-cathars-1.1127552 • ‘Cathar Massacre Unveiled - Medieval Dead - S02 EP06’ (Banijay History, 2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbKZwjIDGIA 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 2026. #Medieval #France #Catholic #War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Guatemalan island of Flores, once known as Nojpetén, witnessed the final clash between Spanish conquistadors and the last independent Maya kingdom on March 13th, 1697. The Itza warriors, equipped with ornate spears and swords, fought valiantly to defend their homeland; but Spanish firepower ultimately overwhelmed them, leading to heavy casualties and the retreat of many defenders. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the fall of Nojpetén marked the end of an era for the Maya people, but not their actual end; consider how foreign diseases like smallpox and typhoid were imported by the Spanish; and reveal how many languages still spoken today stem from this ancient civilisation… Further Reading: • ‘Who were the Maya? Decoding the ancient civilization's secrets’ (National Geographic, 2022): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-were-the-maya • ‘Ancient History in depth: The Fall of the Mayan Civilisation’ (BBC History, 2011): https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/maya_01.shtml ‘The Maya People’ (SmithsonianNMAI, 2012): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86F10IrvVus 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is Australia’s capital city? Not Sydney. Nor Melbourne. It’s Canberra: so named at an official ceremony on 12th March, 1913 - when the site was little more than grazing land for sheep. But for this newly-federated nation, Canberra’s remote, inland location was a deliberate compromise to offset the rivalry between the country’s two largest cities. Sydney had long been the principal colonial centre, but Melbourne’s rapid expansion during the nineteenth-century gold rush made it an equally powerful contender. To avoid favouring either, Parliament decided their new capital was to be located in New South Wales, but at least one hundred miles from Sydney, and not on the coast. Designing was entrusted to the winner of an international planning competition, the American architect Walter Burley Griffin. His plan emphasised grand geometry, sweeping avenues, and harmony with the surrounding landscape, producing a city organised around lakes, vistas, and circular roadways. But development proceeded slowly, especially after the disruptions of two world wars. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why the town has never quite won the heart of most Australians; compare its construction to that other purpose-built capital, Washington DC; and reveal how the sex industry revived one of its suburbs… Further Reading: • ‘Founding of Canberra’ (National Museum of Australia): https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/founding-of-canberra • ‘Marion Mahony Griffin: architect, environmentalist, visionary’ (MHNSW, 2022): https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/marion-mahony-griffin-architect-environmentalist-visionary/ • ‘Tony Robinson's Time Walks | S2E4 | Canberra’ (Time Walks, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kww18KmF4fc #Architecture #Design #Australia #1910s 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Disgruntled textile workers stormed a factory near Nottingham on March 11th, 1811, kickstarting the political movement famously known as Luddism. Their protest was not anti-technology per se; instead it stemmed from a desire for better work opportunities and wages, amidst economic hardships exacerbated by the Napoleonic Wars. As tensions escalated, the British government deployed troops to safeguard factories and enacted laws making machine destruction a capital offence. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the fictional ‘King Lud’ became the group’s figurehead; consider how the meaning of the word ‘Luddite’ has morphed over centuries; and explain why, despite their proclivity for machine-smashing, luddites were keen WFH-ers… Further Reading: • ‘What the Luddites Really Fought Against’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2011): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/ • ‘The Luddites: Your Guide To The Violent Industrial Revolution Movement’ (HistoryExtra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/industrial-revolution/who-were-luddites-facts-what-happened/ • ‘Almanac: The Luddites’ (CBS Sunday Morning, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqUezvo6oRA 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The infamous French Foreign Legion was formed by King Louis Philippe on March 10, 1831, to help the French control Algeria using mercenaries who were more expendable than native young Frenchmen. To this day a magnet for men who want a clean break from their past, the Legion famously did not ask many questions about where their recruits came from - or if they had a criminal record. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover if they could meet the tests to join this notorious fighting force; expose the bloody history of the legion’s ill-fated battles in Mexico; and reveal the deadly games Russian Legionnaires played in their downtime… Further Reading: • ‘Why young men queue up to die in the French Foreign Legion’ (Aeon): https://aeon.co/essays/why-young-men-queue-up-to-die-in-the-french-foreign-legion • ‘The Expendables’ (Vanity Fair, 2012): https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/french-foreign-legion-expendables • ‘French Foreign Legion: A Soldier’s Story’ (POVCAST, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC2EYK2qbnk 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hip-swivelling Hula Hoop craze swept through America within months of its 1958 debut - yet Wham-O didn’t receive a patent for it until 5th March, 1963. The toy had first come to the attention of Arthur K. 'Spud' Melin, the company’s co-founder, when Australian swimsuit model Joan Anderson demonstrated it in California. Appending the ‘hula’ name to it tapped into the zeitgeist for Hawaiian imagery, but manufacturing it out of inexpensive plastic tubing was a masterstroke. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain the innovative business model of Melin and his partner, Richard Knerr, which also begat Frisbee, Hackey-Sack and Slip n’Slide; discover how demonstrations in school playgrounds accelerated the trend’s virality; and learn about the novelty songs inspired by the craze… Further Reading: • ‘History of the Hula Hoop - Trivia and More’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/hula-hoop-history-1991893 • ‘Unsung hero behind hula hoop invention dies aged 101’ (BBC News, 2025): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70x4w4z138o • ‘Wham-O Frisbee & Hula Hoop Commercial’ (Wham-O, 1960s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsJ9fwhFzE8 #Toys #Business #50s #US 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Svetlana Aleluyeva walked into the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi on 9th March, 1967, and asked for political asylum. As the only daughter of Joseph Stalin, she was an unknown figure outside the USSR; panicking American diplomats: how could they grant her asylum, without warming up the Cold War? The U.S. tried to keep her defection under wraps, but upon arriving in New York in April 1967, she held a press conference where she denounced her father as a "moral and spiritual monster" and renounced her Soviet citizenship. Her life in the West soon took a turn for the surreal: she briefly lived with the widow of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who believed Svetlana was the reincarnation of her dead daughter and arranged for her to marry her late daughter's widower. In a shocking move, she decided to return to the Soviet Union in 1984, denouncing the U.S. as materialistic and empty. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall Svetlana’s childhood as Soviet Royalty; take a whistlestop tour through her various truncated marriages; and question just how efficient KGB minders were at their jobs… Further Reading: • ’The Day Stalin’s Daughter Asked for Asylum in the U.S.’ (Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training, 2013): https://adst.org/2013/02/the-day-stalins-daughter-asked-for-asylum-in-the-u-s/ • ’Lana Peters: Stalin's daughter whose defection to the West did not bring peace of mind’ (The Independent, 2011): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lana-peters-stalin-s-daughter-whose-defection-to-the-west-did-not-bring-peace-of-mind-6269631.html • ‘USSR | Joseph Stalin | Svetlana Alliluyeva interview | 1980's’ (Thames TV): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZw3sN4XeNo 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pioneering music-sharing platform Napster faced a pivotal legal showdown on March 6th, 2001, when - despite the company’s defence that it was merely a tool for innocent purposes - US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered the removal of all copyrighted material from the service. Napster's legal troubles had begun with lawsuits from prominent artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre, but it was the Recording Industry Association of America's $20 billion lawsuit that spelled the endgame for the platform. Yet the swift rise and fall of the peer-to-peer software marked a paradigm shift in how music was consumed, challenging traditional notions of ownership and distribution. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how its youthful inventors Shawn Fanning and Shaun Parker first met; explore how its legacy lives on in the likes of Spotify; and consider how the legal precedent set by Betamax, of all things, became the technology’s downfall… Further Reading: • ‘Oversharing: how Napster nearly killed the music industry’ (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/31/napster-twenty-years-music-revolution • ‘The death spiral of Napster begins’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-spiral-of-napster-begins ‘Napster Documentary: Culture of Free’ (The New York Times, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKrdsGdLVQ8 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Lennon's controversial statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus was first published in the London Evening Standard on 4th March, 1966. The reporter, Maureen Cleave, documented the eccentricities of Lennon's life and his dissatisfaction with fame and wealth; his musings on religion went almost completely unnoticed. That all changed months later, when American shock jocks unearthed Lennon's comments, sparking widespread outrage, leading to a media frenzy that inspired boycotts, record burnings, and KKK death threats. In Memphis, fear reached its peak when a cherry bomb sparked panic during a Beatles concert - one of the last live gigs they would ever perform. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly expose the cynicism of the DJs who jumped on the Beatles-burning bandwagon; explain how the fallout from Lennon's statement lingered long after the tour, even inspiring Mark David Chapman’s fanaticism; and discover which board-game the Beatles used to unwind with in the evenings… Further Reading: • When John Lennon's 'Jesus' Controversy Turned Ugly (Rolling Stone, 2016): https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/when-john-lennons-more-popular-than-jesus-controversy-turned-ugly-106430/ • ‘Beatle bonfires’ (The Pop History Dig, 2017): https://pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/beatle-bonfires/ • ‘The Beatles Press Conference’ (Aug 12, 1966): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZaI7m1xpAg 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sending rude mail was dealt a devastating blow on 3rd March, 1873, when the campaign against pornography, reproductive health, birth control, and abortion led by self-appointed ‘Special Agent’ of the US Postal Service Anthony Comstock went all the way to Washington. After the ‘Comstock Act’ became law, books were banned, ‘obscene’ pamphlets were destroyed, and, in Comstock’s home state of Connecticut, birth control was banned - even within a marriage. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover what Comstock thought of the women he met at the White House; reveal his earliest crackdowns on licentiousness; and uncover George Bernard Shaw’s trolling of ‘Comstockery’ in the New York press… Further Reading: • ‘How an Anti-Obscenity Crusader Policed America's Mail for Decades’ (HISTORY, 2022): https://www.history.com/news/comstock-act-1873-obscenity-contraception-mail • ‘Anthony Comstock's "Chastity" Laws’ (PBS American Experience): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-anthony-comstocks-chastity-laws/#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201860s%2C%20Comstock%20began%20supplying%20the,the%20contraceptive%20industry%20as%20one%20of%20his%20targets. • ‘The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age’ (National Archives, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9IS0S-B5HU 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #1800s #Politics #Publishing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

King Kong roared onto the silver screen on March 2nd, 1933, in an extraordinary simultaneous screening at Radio City and the Roxy, New York - attracting 10,000 viewers in one hit. The buzz around the film was no accident — RKO Pictures had blitzed the public with an aggressive marketing campaign, including publishing a novelization before the film’s release and producing a radio serial that aired twice a week. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how animation genius Willis O’Brien brought Kong to life through a mixture of stop-motion and scale-models; reveal how Fay Wray was pitched her iconic role; and discover that contemporary critics weren’t as awed by the film’s lauded SFX as you might imagine… Further Reading: • ’King Kong - The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. By Ray Morton’ (Applause, 2005): https://books.google.co.uk/books/content?id=UPXbsJLVgCcC&pg=PA78&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&bul=1&sig=ACfU3U1G3kZHHv8P03ttnCr8p18YdlLsJw&w=1280 • ’The first (and original) King Kong’ (The Independent, 2005): https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-first-and-original-king-kong-518889.html • ‘King Kong: The Practical Effects Wonder’ (Katie Keenan, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4sFn3Qiw9g 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New Orleans witnessed its first modern Mardi Gras procession - kick-started by a group of students eager to revive the traditional masquerade, banned for six decades - on 27th February, 1827. The city’s parades and revelry can trace their origins back to ancient pagan festivals and European traditions, cemented by the arrival of French-Canadian explorer (and MASSIVE ‘Fat Tuesday’ fan) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville into Louisiana in 1699. In this episode, The Retrospectors Krewe dig into the celebration’s impact on revenue and refuse; consider the discriminatory practices that accompanied the festivities until the late 20th century; and get angry about the British equivalent: Pancake Day… Further Reading: • ‘Here's a Brief History of Mardi Gras and How It All Started’ (The Manual, 2024): https://www.themanual.com/culture/history-of-madi-gras/ • ‘Unmasking the History of Mardi Gras in New Orleans’ (The Crescent Magazine, 2022): https://tulanemagazine.com/unmasking-the-history-of-mardi-gras-in-new-orleans/ • ‘Mardi Gras New Orleans Louisiana 4K’ (Dan Usher Films, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bv1mFl9SI4 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 89th Academy Awards reached its grand finale on 26th February 2017, with a balls-up that instantly entered Hollywood lore. Presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway stepped onstage to announce Best Picture and declared La La Land the winner. Cast and crew flooded the stage, speeches began, and the orchestra swelled - but the true winner, of course, was Moonlight. Beatty’s visible hesitation, replayed endlessly since, stemmed from a simple but catastrophic mistake: he had been handed the duplicate Best Actress envelope, reading “Emma Stone - La La Land”. Unsure how to proceed, he showed the card to Dunaway; believing he was prolonging the suspense, she read out the film’s title. Only as producer Jordan Horowitz was thanking his family did the truth ripple across the stage: “This is not a joke. Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture.” The error was traced to PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Brian Cullinan, who had mistakenly handed over the duplicate envelope while distracted backstage, reportedly after tweeting a photograph of Emma Stone with her Oscar. The irony was sharp: PricewaterhouseCoopers had supervised the Academy’s voting process since 1935, originally engaged after controversy surrounding Bette Davis’s 1934 snub, and prided itself on meticulous safeguards, including identical sets of envelopes held on either side of the stage. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly force themselves to re-watch the excruciating moment repeatedly; consider how, following two years of #OscarsSoWhite criticism, the blunder landed at a particularly sensitive moment for the Academy; and admire the way the La La Land team somehow met this emotional rollercoaster with savviness and tact… Further Reading: • ‘The Full Story Behind The 'La La Land' And 'Moonlight' Oscars Mix-Up’ (Forbes, 2017): https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2017/02/27/the-full-story-behind-the-la-la-land-and-moonlight-oscars-mix-up/ • ‘How Scandal Started PwC's Oscars Vote Count, Envelope System’ (TIME, 2018): https://time.com/5182902/pwc-academy-awards-oscars-snub/ • ‘Oscars Mistake: Moonlight Wins Best Picture after La La Land Mistakenly Announced’ (ABC, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvK-g1rehpU&t=1s #Mistakes #Film #2010s #Hollywood 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 - including TODAY, where we reveal when the Oscars go wrong. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Henri Landru, known as ‘Bluebeard’ to the French public, was executed by guillotine on 25th February, 1922, having murdered at least ten women he dated during the First World War. He continued to protest his innocence throughout his sensational trial - despite having drawn a detailed doodle of the oven he had used to burn his victims’ bodies. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly unpick Landru’s disturbing methodology; uncover why France’s top defense attorney was attracted to the case; and explain what it all had to do with Rudyard Kipling… Further Reading: • ‘The Story Of Henri Landru, France's Charming Bluebeard Serial Killer’ (All That’s Interesting, 2017): https://allthatsinteresting.com/henri-landru • ‘Hidden for 100 years, the untold story of serial killer who preyed on lonely war widows’ (Mail Online, 2019): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6511793/Hidden-100-years-untold-story-serial-killer-preyed-lonely-war-widows.html • ‘Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons’ (Anglo Allied Pictures, 1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrfmrucyKGo 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2022. #20s #Person #Crime #War #Macabre #France Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone - now better known as St Francis of Assisi - attended Mass on 24th February, 1208, and heard the Gospel According to Matthew. From that day on, the former soldier and playboy removed his shoes, put on a rough tunic, and embarked fully into a monastic lifestyle. The process would lead him to meet the Pope and become officially recognised by the Church - but alienate him from his wealthy father, who had shelled out ransom money to return him from a battlefield prison. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall how Francis’s father attempted to wangle him out of his inheritance; explore the really rather literal fashion in which Francesco interpreted his various visions; and explain why, at one point, Francis prayed for his miracles to STOP… Further Reading: • ‘Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi - By Donald Spoto’ (Penguin, 2003): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Reluctant_Saint/K6qy9JMXuGUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=assisi&printsec=frontcover • ‘Francis of Assisi, nature’s mystic’ (The Washington Post, 2013): https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/francis-of-assisi-natures-mystic/2013/03/20/82619910-9166-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html • ‘Francis: The Saint and the Pope’ (Catholic News Service, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcOU3bYmMOA 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #Medieval #Catholic #Italy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Optometry historians observe 23rd February, 1305 as the day eyeglasses were perhaps first discussed in public, when friar Giordano de Rivalto stood at the pulpit and declared that he had personally met the man who invented spectacles... Except, frustratingly, he forgot to mention the bloke’s name. One popular contender for the title is Salvino D'Armati, a Florentine said to have created the first glasses in 1284. The only problem? His story turned out to be a hoax—his supposed 1317 epitaph even used the word "inventor," which didn’t exist yet. But the connection to the church is legit, as the earliest wearers of glasses were usually monks, because they were the nation’s biggest bookworms. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly romp through a brief history of optometry, learning how ear hooks first came to the fore; explaining how Seneca used early lenses to assist his reading; and revealing Benjamin Franklin’s surprising role in the world of bifocals… Further Reading: • ‘Through the looking glass’ (British Library, 2019): https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2019/02/medieval-spectacles.html • ‘The history of spectacles’ (College of Optometrists): https://www.college-optometrists.org/the-british-optical-association-museum/the-history-of-spectacles • ‘Why so many people need glasses now’ (Vox, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAkFtka3UFw 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

Departing from Puerto Rico with grand plans to establish a new colony, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León set out on his ill-fated second expedition to Florida on February 20th, 1521. Ponce de León's reputation as a conquistador preceded him, with tales of his brutal conquests in Hispaniola preceding his quest for new lands. Despite being ousted from power by his rival Diego Columbus, Ponce de León received a charter from King Ferdinand to explore and govern distant territories. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal why de León named his ‘discovery’ "Florida"; explain why the ‘tree of death’ played a pivotal part in his downfall; and discover where those ‘Fountain of Youth’ rumours came from… Further Reading: • ‘Ponce de Leon: Florida & Fountain of Youth’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/juan-ponce-de-leon • ‘Ponce De Leon Never Searched for the Fountain of Youth’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2013): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ponce-de-leon-never-searched-for-the-fountain-of-youth-72629888/ ‘Juan Ponce de León: Meet the Spanish explorer who discovered Florida’ (10 Tampa Bay, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-BjLdHerRk 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the Second Continental Congress calmly reshuffled the revolutionary army’s high command on 19th February 1777, they couldn’t have known they were detonating a grievance in one of their most daring and battle-tested commanders: Benedict Arnold. Arnold was certain that he had the merit and seniority to be promoted, but instead saw junior officers leapfrogging him in a decision printed for all to see. It was the first of many humiliations, arguably leading ultimately to his scandalous defection to the British. George Washington, aware of the dangers, wrote tactfully to Arnold, urging patience and suggesting the omission might yet be corrected. But Arnold’s sensitivity to honour had deep roots: born into a once-prominent Rhode Island family whose fortunes declined through his father’s alcoholism, his whole military career can be seen as an attempt to rehabilitate his reputation. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how history would remember this turncoat and traitor had he died instead at the Battles of Seratoga; explain how the seeds of his treachery were sewn in his marriage to Peggy Shippen; and ask whether the chip on his shoulder was truly justified… Further Reading: • ‘BENEDICT ARNOLD: HERO, TRAITOR... WHINER’ (The Washington Post, 1995): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/1995/03/08/benedict-arnold-hero-traitor-whiner/52cd2720-8a16-4ba9-ac30-0d1cb56ca5b7/ • ‘10 Surprising Facts About Benedict Arnold’ (Mental Floss, 2021): https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/war/10-facts-about-benedict-arnold • ‘James Kirby Martin discusses the truths and legends of Benedict Arnold’ (American Revolution Institute, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl0v__W6B94 #Scandal #1700s #Philadelphia #Revolution 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sentenced to death for treason against his brother King Edward IV, George, Duke of Clarence was executed on 18th February, 1478 - and, according to legend, chose to be drowned in a butt of his favorite tipple: malmsey wine. It was apt punishment for years of plotting against his brother alongside his father-in-law, the Earl of Warwick - most notably by claiming that the King’s two children were illegitimate. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how close George came to actually seizing the throne; consider how Shakespeare sexed things up for ‘Richard III’; and investigate the financial outlay required if you wanted to drown yourself in a butt of malmsey wine in 2022… Further Reading: • ‘Duke of Clarence: A title through time’ (The History Press): https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/duke-of-clarence-a-title-through-time/ • ‘Malmsey - Madeira Wine and Dine’: https://www.madeirawineanddine.com/malmsey/ • ‘On This Day: the execution of George, Duke of Clarence’ (Matt Lewis, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3teyJXLduCM 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between 1908 and 1927, the Ford Motor Company sold 15,007,033 Model Ts, making the car the best-selling automobile the world had ever seen. That record came to an end on the 17th February, 1972 when the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the production line. The car was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler who commissioned it almost immediately after her became chancellor of Germany in 1933. His plan was that the German public, irrespective of whether they were a doctor or a factory worker could buy a car for just 1,000 Reichsmarks which would have been around 31 weeks’ pay for the average worker. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether the Beetle is more a triumph of engineering or advertising; discuss why Ford turned down the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg, which they could have had for free; and look at how the Führer’s car came to be loved by 1960s American hippies and flower children… Further Reading: • ‘The VW Beetle: How Hitler’s idea became a design icon’ (BBC, 2014): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130830-the-nazi-car-we-came-to-love • ‘The world’s best-selling cars’ (Auto Express, 2022): https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars-vans/33872/worlds-best-selling-cars • ‘The History of Volkswagen, 'The People's Car’ (Wall Street Journal, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhH-oWHzzvQ 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #70s #Inventions #US Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

High-rolling merchant Nicholas Vanacker wrote out a cheque for a hefty £400 on 16th February, 1659 - one of the earliest modern cheques still preserved today. For goldsmiths-to-the-aristocracy Morris and Clayton, the innovation wasn’t just about ease; it was a strategic move to reduce risk and maximize profit, even though the process involved clerks physically visiting other banks to balance accounts. Eventually, in the 1770s, bankers got smart and started meeting at the Five Bells pub in Lombard Street to settle transactions over a pint—probably the most British way to handle financial exchanges… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track the history of the cheque through ancient civilizations; argue over the etymology of the word (French vs. Persian); and reminisce about the glory days of the cheque - the 1990s… Further Reading: • ‘16 February 1659: the first British cheque’ (MoneyWeek, 2021): https://moneyweek.com/426390/16-february-1659-the-first-british-cheque-is-issued • ’From the archives: the evolution of the cheque’ (Barclays, 2016): https://home.barclays/news/2016/08/evolution-of-the-cheque/ • ’How to Write a Check’ (Howcast, 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIZWqIv_flA 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Winter Olympics kicked off in Calgary on 13th February, 1988 - but the stand-out stars of the event did not qualify for a medal. Rather, the four-man Jamaican Bobsled team - who would later become (unreliably) immortalised in the Disney comedy ‘Cool Runnings’ - became a testament to the intersection of determination, investment, and sporting excellence. The brainchild of Americans George Fitch and William Maloney, the concept was influenced by Jamaica's annual Pushcart Derby, and supported in part by the Tourist Board. Participants, including helicopter pilot Dudley Stokes, were recruited via the pair’s connections to the Jamaican military. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pick out fact from fiction in the Hollywood retelling of the saga; consider the legacy of Jamaica’s first-time involvement with this cold-weather sport; and reveal how reggae music really did help the team make it to the competition… Further Reading: • 'I Was in The Jamaican Bobsled Team That Inspired 'Cool Runnings'' (Newsweek, 2022): https://www.newsweek.com/i-was-jamaican-bobsled-team-that-inspired-cool-runnings-1675732 • ‘Jamaican bobsleigh team: Everything you need to know about Cool Runnings, the 1988 Olympic Games, and more’ (Olympics, 2021): https://olympics.com/en/news/jamaican-bobsleigh-team-1988-winter-olympics • ‘Jamaican Bobsleigh Team Debut At Calgary Winter Olympics’ (Olympics, 1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm4DjRcmoPY 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just nine days before he was assassinated, Malcolm X visited an unlikely place on 12th February, 1965: Smethwick, the industrial suburb of Birmingham that had recently gained a grim reputation as ‘the most racist town in Britain’. Having been refused entry to France, Malcolm X had been speaking at the London School of Economics when he was invited by Avtar Singh Jouhl of the Indian Workers’ Association to come to Smethwick’s Marshall Street, an ordinary residential road which had become a flashpoint for informal housing segregation. White residents shouted racist abuse at him. He saw signs advertising jobs declaring “coloured people need not apply”. He went to the Blue Gates pub, where a ‘colour bar’ restricted service to non-white customers. After being denied service, he remarked that Smethwick felt “worse than America”. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the toxic politics of the 1964 general election, in which the notorious “If you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour” slogan had surfaced in Smethwick; explain how the Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths entered Parliament under a cloud, with Prime Minister Harold Wilson labelling him a “parliamentary leper”; and consider how, just weeks before the Race Relations Act 1965 would ban discrimination in public places, Malcolm X’s visit to Smethwick took place at pivotal moment in British race relations… CONTENT WARNING: racism, historical racist terminology Further Reading: • ‘The day Malcolm X came to Smethwick 60 years ago’ (BBC News, 2025): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8yy312xkxo • ‘Malcolm X in “the most racist town in Britain” (Black Country Living Museum): https://bclm.com/our-museum/blog/malcolm-x-in-the-most-racist-town-in-britain/ • ‘Malcolm X: 60 years on from special Smethwick visit’ (ITV, 2025): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eLVik05Wrs #UK #60s #Black #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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first women’s public toilets in London opened on Bedford St on 11th February, 1852 - attempting to capitalize on the success of George Jennings’ ‘monkey closets’, used by over 800,000 visitors to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Unfortunately, even though the facility had been fought for by campaigning women’s sanitary organizations, middle and upper class Victorian ladies were not yet prepared to pee in public - and the toilets closed a year later. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain where the phrase ‘spending a penny’ (probably) comes from; reveal why ‘the urinary leash’ came to describe the predicament of women’s lives; and investigate why the number of 21st century public toilets continues to fall… Further Reading: • ‘Pamphlets of the Ladies Sanitary Association’ (Wellcome Collection): https://wellcomecollection.org/works?query=%22Ladies+Sanitary+Association.%22 • ‘London's long-term lav affair: A history of public toilets in the capital’ (BBC News, 2022): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-59785477 • ‘Victorian realities - how did they use the toilet??!’ (Prior Attire, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHeSTDv_24 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2022. #1800s #Victorian #Sexism #Inventions #Funny #UK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hanna-Barbera’s classic cat-and-mouse cartoon series Tom and Jerry kicked off when their debut short, ‘Puss Gets The Boot’, was released by MGM on 10th February, 1940. But, at that time, the stars of the film were known as ‘Jasper and Jinx’. And studio bosses very nearly canned the whole concept - until the audience feedback, and awards nominations, started rolling in… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the chase-based slapstick of this hilariously violent double act empowered MGM to rival the might of Disney and Warner Bros; reveal how Tom and Jerry got their names; and explain how the racist depiction of ‘Mammy Two Shoes’ evolved from an African-American caricature into an Irish one… Further Reading: • ‘The 50 MGM Films that Transformed Hollywood - Triumphs, Blockbusters, and Fiascos, By Steven Bingen’ (Lyons Press, 2022): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_50_MGM_Films_that_Transformed_Hollyw/bYh0EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Puss+Gets+the+Boot&pg=PA87&printsec=frontcover • ‘The Untold Truth Of Tom And Jerry’ (Looper, 2020): https://www.looper.com/196800/the-untold-truth-of-tom-and-jerry/ • ‘Puss Gets the Boot’ (MGM, 1940): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHulAQmdqI 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just three months after Magic Johnson retired from basketball due to his HIV diagnosis, he made a triumphant return on 9th February, 1992 - at the NBA All-Star Game in Orlando, Florida. The sports world was divided—some players, like Michael Jordan, welcomed him back, while others, like Karl Malone, were hesitant, voicing concerns about physical contact on the court. But when Johnson stepped out, fans and fellow players alike cheered him on, and Johnson racked up 25 points, dished out nine assists, and lead the West to a dominant 153-113 victory over the East, becoming named Most Valuable Player. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how Johnson became the face of basketball’s golden era; explain why misunderstandings and ignorance about HIV was so widespread; and uncover the career Johnson built beyond basketball... Further Reading: • ‘Magic Johnson returns for All‑Star Game | February 9, 1992’ (HISTORY, 2024): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/magic-johnson-returns-for-all-star-game • ‘Magic Johnson Talks About How He 'Needed' His Historic 1992 All-Star Game’ (UpRoxx, 2016): https://uproxx.com/dimemag/magic-johnson-1992-all-star-game-hiv/ • The Announcement: Magic Johnson (NBA, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMMWLS8D4OU 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1917 - yet, on 6th February, 1928, a mentally troubled Polish factory worker claiming to be her was welcomed to New York by Romanov associates. Anna Anderson’s claim to be the Tsar’s daughter climaxed in a 32-year legal saga, the longest in German history. But posthumous DNA testing debunked her claim, revealing no connection to the Royal family. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover how decades of Soviet misinformation contributed to the conspiracy; reveal how Prince Philip himself became involved in debunking it; and consider a reboot of the animated version of her life… Further Reading: • ‘Did Anastasia Survive The Romanovs Massacre? The Real History Explained’ (HistoryExtra, 2023): https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/did-anastasia-survive-massacre-romanovs-real-history-facts-conspiracy/ • ‘How Anna Anderson Became The Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia’ (All That’s Interesting, 2018): https://allthatsinteresting.com/anna-anderson • ‘Royal Runaway? Ultimate Fate of Duchess Anastasia REVEALED’ (History, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYRMHKC9xMA 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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

United Artists, a new company formed by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith - four of the most powerful figures in early cinema - was announced on 5th February 1919. The movie trade press quickly labelled it a ‘rebellion’ against the mainstream studios. Declaring their new enterprise would exist to “protect the industry from itself”, the Hollywood quartet took aim at an industry that depended on long contracts, vertical integration and strict talent control. They hoped to see a greater degree of creative autonomy and financial reward, but perhaps underestimated the difficulty of running a distribution company and the risks the studio system itself had absorbed. Existing contracts delayed releases, investors were wary, and the promise of artistic freedom collided with the realities of inconsistent output, experimental failure and changing technology, including the arrival of sound. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider UA’s eerily prescient ambition to counter ‘machine-made entertainment’; discover how an experience selling war bonds helped inspire the idea for the studio; and explain why, despite their success, the studio still missed out on ‘Gone With The Wind’... Further Reading: • ‘United Artists: The studio that challenged and revolutionised Hollywood’ (Far Out, 2021): https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/united-artists-studio-revolutionised-hollywood/ • ‘Artists Unite Against the Studios’ (Celebrate California): https://celebratecalifornia.library.ca.gov/february-5-1919-artists-unite-against-the-studios-2/ • ‘Chaplin, Fairbanks, Pickford & Griffith Signing United Artists Contract’ (1919): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBZU_KHSM0 #Hollywood #1910s #Business #Film 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Disguised variously as a baseball umpire, NFL referee, pro golfer, and even Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Barry Bremen earned his reputation as America’s greatest pitch invader - a career that kicked off on 4th February, 1979. Dressed as a player for the Kansas City Kings, the 32 year-old insurance salesman crashed the court of an NBA All-Star basketball game - much to the delight of fellow players and spectators. Hey, it was the Seventies! In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why top sportsmen of the day were so keen to support him; reveal how the media encouraged his efforts to become a sporting celebrity; and explain why his behaviour pushed the broadcasters of the 1985 Emmys to cut quickly to a puzzled David Hasselhoff… Further Reading: • ‘From Ali Dia to Karl Power: the greatest impostors in sporting history’ (The Guardian, 2016): https://www.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2016/oct/18/from-ali-dia-barry-bremen-greatest-fakers-in-sporting-history • ’When Barry Bremen Tried to Infiltrate the Dallas Cowgirls, the Team Found It a Drag’ (People, 1980): https://people.com/archive/when-barry-bremen-tried-to-infiltrate-the-dallas-cowgirls-the-team-found-it-a-drag-vol-13-no-2/ • ‘The Great Imposter Barry Bremen’ (NBC, 1979): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNjZni1yQ90 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a cast of over 800, and a budget equivalent to £3 million, James Shirley’s extravagant masque ‘The Triumph of Peace’ was performed on 3rd February, 1634. Unusually, it was such a popular show that, despite the enormous cost of staging it, King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria requested that it be repeated. Though replete with all the arse-kissing allegorical tableaux that typified these celebrations of the monarchy - and requisite set designs by Inigo Jones - this spectacular was also markedly different from its predecessors in that it was especially designed to appease Henrietta, who had been slurred by polemicist William Prynne. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly come to terms with the ‘17th century immersive theatre’ experience; explain why legendary playwright Ben Jonson WASN’T involved in this one; and reveal how a masque was once responsible for the destruction of Shakespeare’s Globe… Further Reading: • ‘Masque and music at the Stuart court’ (Royal Museums Greenwich): https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/masque-music-stuart-court • ‘Inigo Jones designs for masque costumes’ (The British Library): https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/inigo-jones-designs-for-masque-costumes • ‘The History of the British Masque’ (Heidi Kobara, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G22UED2yJ_Q 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #1600s #Theatre #Royals Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices