Today In History with The Retrospectors
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1.407 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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When Presidents Play Ball ⚾
14 april 2025 · 12 min
President William Howard Taft became the first Commander-in-Chief to throw the ceremonial first pitch on 14th April, 1910. Lees meer
Taft's participation cemented baseball as the quintessential American sport, in a period when it was still shedding its dodgy image.
The game’s enduring popularity ensured that the tradition persisted for over a century, with each president adding their unique flair to the ritual - though it has faced challenges, including presidents being booed by crowds and political statements made during the ceremonial pitch.
In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal which presidents have passed on the opportunity to participate, which have prepared extra-hard for their big sporting moment, and which UK Prime Minister turned down the opportunity to have a go himself…
Further Reading:
‘How the first pitch became baseball's Opening Day tradition’ (National Geographic): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/first-pitch-baseball-opening-day-tradition
‘Taft becomes first U.S. president to throw out first pitch at MLB game’ (HISTORY, 2021): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/historic-baseball-pitches-presidents
‘Presidential First Pitches’ (Richard S. Dargan, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB7ualOQTh0This episode first premiered in 2024, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 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: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.
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Stealing The Stone of Destiny
11 april 2025 · 12 min
The Stone of Scone, an oblong block of red sandstone used for centuries in the coronation of British monarchs, was recovered by Police on April 11th, 1951; three and a half months after its removal from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.
Four Scottish students from the University of Glasgow (Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson and Alan Stuart) stole the stone in the hope it could boost interest in Scottish nationalism. Instead, it seemed to provoke a national discussion about where the stone - which they’d accidentally split in two before bungling it into their Ford Anglia - should now reside.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly decode the religious myths surrounding this ‘stone of destiny’; explain why Charles III *will* want it to ‘groan’ when he sits on it; and reveal the ingenious way the authorities tracked the stone up to Arbroath…
Further Reading:
• ‘Theft of the Stone of Scone’ (The Guardian, 2007): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/dec/29/featuresreviews.guardianreview
• ‘The students who stole the Stone of Destiny’ (BBC News): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-63130942
• ‘Coronation Stone of Scone discovered in Scotland’ (Gaumont, 1951): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ni0XrAmtA Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Birth of Copyright
10 april 2025 · 12 min
The foundations of modern copyright law were laid on 10th April 1710, when the Statute of Anne came into effect. Before the Act, anyone could copy and sell books without giving a penny to the author; now, writers would be protected from being completely exploited by (British) publishers for an initial period of 14 years.
Writers like Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe had earned respect as professionals, pushing for more control over their own work, and leading to a shift away from the Stationers’ Company—a powerful guild that previously held a monopoly over publishing and censorship.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore how later writers like William Wordsworth would campaign for longer copyright duration; revisit the milestones that allowed the law to be applied to other creative endeavours, such as music and film; and reveal why you won’t be hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in many adverts for a few years yet…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Statute of Anne’ (British Parliament, 1710): https://ipmall.law.unh.edu/sites/default/files/hosted_resources/lipa/copyrights/Statute%20of%20Anne%20_1710_.pdf
• ‘Whose line is it anyway?’ (The Sunday Times, 2012): https://www.thetimes.com/article/7c5efe43-97d5-4d9f-b53f-5444bca12a2a
• ‘IP BASICS: What is Intellectual Property?’ (Intellectual Property Office UK, 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYiXTKbdNr4 Lees meer#Publishing #1700s #UK #Legal
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi…
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The Speeding President
9 april 2025 · 12 min
The only sitting U.S. president to ever be arrested was Ulysses S. Grant, who was busted THREE TIMES for the same crime: speeding. The first was 9th April, 1886, when he tore through Washington, D.C. in a horse-drawn buggy. General Grant scoffed at the idea of getting arrested and simply rode off: the 1860s version of flipping the bird. Lees meer
Grant’s love for fast horses wasn’t just a reckless hobby—it was part of his identity. Even at West Point, he was known more for his exceptional riding skills than his military prowess, and his ability to charge fearlessly into battle on horseback had made him an unstoppable force in the Civil War, leading the Union Army to victory. But back in peacetime D.C., his speed-demon tendencies weren’t quite as heroic. The streets were packed with pedestrians, and reckless buggies had already caused serious injuries, so law enforcement was cracking down.
Just three months later, he was caught speeding again. This time, he played it cool, paid the fine, and didn’t cause a scene. But the real kicker came in 1872, when Grant—now a sitting U.S. president—was arrested yet again. This time, the officer in question was William West, a Black Civil War veteran turned policeman. The encounter was almost poetic: a president known for fighting for African American rights being held accountable by a Black officer who had once fought for the Union.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review the veracity of Officer West’s account, given it wasn’t published for many decades; consider why twenty women reportedly turned up to court the next day to testify against the President’s mates; and reveal how the arrests were reported very differently in the South…
Further Reading:
• ‘Has a U.S. President Ever Been Arrested Before? | When Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2023): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-president-ulysses-s-grant-was-arrested-for-speeding-in-a-horse-drawn-carriage-180981916/
• ‘Was Genera… -
Venus, Reborn
8 april 2025 · 12 min
The most famous armless statue of all time, ‘Venus de Milo’ was discovered by a farmer on the Aegean island of Milos on 8th April, 1829, sparking an international bidding war that saw her eventually donated to the Louvre by Louis XVIII.
The French had a particular interest in snapping up a new ancient treasure, having been forced to return many priceless artefacts to their original nations following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the statue’s original blingtastic paintwork; explain why Louis XVIII’s obesity delayed its arrival in Paris; and ask what actually happened to Venus’s arms…
Image: https://flickr.com/photos/sey_alg9/
Further Reading:
• ‘Venus de Milo: The Most Famous Armless Statue in the World’ (HowStuffWorks, 2020): https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/venus-de-milo.htm
• ‘How a peasant farmer found the Venus de Milo’ (The National, 2020): https://www.thenational.scot/news/18365077.peasant-farmer-found-venus-de-milo/
• ‘The conspiracy behind this famous statue’ (VOX, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs1VWuQEd7Y Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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When Wham! Went To China
7 april 2025 · 12 min
George Michael and Andew Ridgely, aka British duo Wham!, became the first Western group to play a gig in Communist China on 7th April, 1985. Lees meer
The event, staged at the People's Gymnasium in Beijing, was primarily a strategic move aimed at breaking the band in the United States; the brainchild of the band’s managers, Gordon Jazz Summer and Simon Napier Bell, who embarked on a series of hotel lunches with Chinese officials, gradually unveiling the proposal for Wham!'s performance.
The logistical challenges were immense - requiring a jumbo jet solely dedicated to transporting equipment for the concert, and securing funding for an accompanying film from CBS.
In this episode, The Retrospectors consider how the atmosphere was tempered by police presence and cultural sensitivities; reveal just why it was that the audience knew all the songs, even though they’d never heard of the band when they’d purchased their tickets; and discover how NOT to get a clap-along going during ‘Club Tropicana’...
Further Reading:
• ‘Wham! Play China’ (MOJO Magazine, 2023): https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/wham-play-china/
• ‘When China met Wham!’ (CBC Radio, 2015): https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.3028194/when-china-met-wham-thirty-years-ago-the-band-staged-first-western-pop-concert-1.3028466
• ’Wham! In China: Foreign Skies’ (Lindsahy Anderson, 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5flQd5ETILove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p…
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Give Peace A Brand
4 april 2025 · 12 min
Gerald Holtom’s CND symbol, known internationally as the ‘peace’ symbol, made its debut at a protest march by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on 4th April, 1958.
The march went from London to Aldermaston, where Britain’s nuclear weapons were and still are manufactured. Five hundred cardboard ‘lollipop sticks’ displaying the logo were produced - and it’s since scarcely been out of circulation as an anti-establishment plea for peace around the world.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly question whether Goya helped influence Holton’s iconic design; reveal how author J.B. Priestley had fermented the protests on this day; and consider the International Shoe Corporation’s dubious claim to the patent …
Further Reading:
• ‘The Peace Symbol: Beginnings and Evolution’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/the-peace-symbol-1779351#
• ‘He gave his unforgettable work for nothing. Shouldn't the designer of the peace symbol be commemorated?’ (The Guardian, 2015): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/28/shouldnt-british-designer-gerard-holtom-of-peace-symbol-be-commemorated-paris-attacks
• ‘Walter Wolfgang: 'why I marched to Aldermaston in 1958' (CND, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLqBUws7R8E
#50s #UK #War #Design Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode first aired in 2023
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Here Comes The Pony Express
3 april 2025 · 12 min
Before the transcontinental telegraph, sending a message coast-to-coast in the United States could take up to a month via stagecoach. Until, that is, the opening of the Pony Express, on April 3, 1860.
Its founders, William H. Russell, William Bradford Waddell and Alexander Majors, set up over 150 relay stations along a pioneer trail, recruiting wiry teenage lone riders (‘orphans preferred’) to make the precarious trek in a record-breaking ten days.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the employment clauses insisted upon by these entrepreneurs; consider how Buffalo Bill Cody enshrined the concept in the American frontier myth for generations; and explain why, if you thought a job as a mailman sounded risky, you *really* wouldn’t want to be posted at the relay stations…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Pony Express Was Short-Lived And Costly’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2015): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pony-express-was-short-lived-and-costly-180954986/
• ‘Pony Express Debuts’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pony-express-debuts
• ‘Trailer: The Pony Express’ (Paramount, 1953): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5va9JXedVo
#1800s #US #Animals
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Fleetwood Mac’s Breakup Masterpiece
2 april 2025 · 11 min
Fleetwood Mac’s iconic breakup album ‘Rumours’ hit No.1 on the U.S. album charts on April 2nd, 1977, and has never really left the public consciousness since.
With banger after banger—Dreams, Go Your Own Way, The Chain—it resonated across generations, but perhaps especially with the band’s boomer contemporaries, many experiencing troubled relationships of their own.
At the time of its recording in California, Mick Fleetwood was reeling from a collapsed marriage, John and Christine McVie were divorcing, and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were locked in an emotional war, with Nicks soon to embark upon a relationship with Fleetwood. Recording Rumours was a year-long endurance test.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the mathematical formula for Fleetwood’s cocaine consumpion; consider how TikTok has revived interest in this seminal LP; and reveal how, despite making positive noises, contemporary critics missed just how important the album would become…
Further Reading:
• ‘Rumours’ (Library of Congress, 2017): https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Rumours.pdf
• ‘Fleetwood Mac: In the Middle of the Road’ (The Washington Post, 1977): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/02/09/fleetwood-mac-in-the-middle-of-the-road/537b612c-e519-4623-a118-144efcac1a1f/
• ‘Fleetwood Mac - Rumours [Full Album]’ (Warner Records, 1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFU79MGj00 Lees meer#Music #70s #US #Celebrity
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
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Unearthing Pompeii
1 april 2025 · 12 min
Under the orders of King Charles III - who wanted marble and classical art for his palace at Portici - Spanish military engineer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre excavated some Campanian ruins on 1st April, 1748 - and discovered the long-lost city of Pompeii.
Buried beneath volcanic ash and debris since Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, much of the city was remarkably preserved; including breathtaking buildings that portrayed the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the city's wealthy elite.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the site has since inspired all archaeological digs; ask why Pompeii in particular has generated such huge human interest; and reveal the truth about ‘Wanking Man’...
Further Reading:
• ‘Excavations of Pompeii in the 18th Century · The Discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum’ (from ‘Piranesi in Rome’, Wellesley College): http://omeka.wellesley.edu/piranesi-rome/exhibits/show/discovery-of-pompeii-and-hercu/pompeii-excavations
• ‘The two embracing 'maidens' of Pompeii are both MEN’ (MailOnline, 2017):
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4391498/The-two-embracing-maidens-Pompeii-MEN.html
• ‘Pompeii: New Studies Reveal Secrets From a Dead City’ (National Geographic, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSg_Sd94Y8k Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Meet The Teletubbies
31 maart 2025 · 12 min
Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po were introduced to British viewers on 31st March, 1997 - launching an international phenomenon and changing kid’s television forever.
‘Teletubbies’ was an enormous hit for the BBC, but not without controversy: from viewers concerned that the characters’ toddlerish language might impede the linguistic development of the nation’s children, to angry Radio Times readers who claimed the BBC were committing ‘cultural vandalism’ by axing the long-running series Playdays.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly get lost in the weeds of Teletubbies Wiki fandom; revisit the ‘toy rage’ that the show had inspired by Christmas 1997; and reveal why the first generation ‘tubbies never did live appearances…
Further Reading:
• ‘Teletubbies turn 20: how four blinking toddlers became a true TV phenomenon’ (The Guardian, 2017): https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/mar/31/teletubbies-turn-20-how-four-blinking-toddlers-became-a-true-tv-phenomenon
• ‘The Great Distractor’ (Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, 2021): https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/work/the-great-distractor
• ‘Teletubbies: Ned’s Bicycle’ (BBC, 1997): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9woh2gKx1rM&list=PL8Zq4IrtuktnIh_XkWqMRfNkebVPgUIwy Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode first aired in 2022
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Ed Sullivan Bows Out
28 maart 2025 · 12 min
After a 23 year run that included introducing American audiences to The Beatles, Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, the last original episode of ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ aired on CBS on March 28, 1971.
The variety programme, which cost $8 million per year, fell victim to ‘the rural purge’, via which several iconic shows that appealed mainly to poorer and older demographics were axed in favour of screening old movies.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Sullivan was able to become a TV superstar, despite having no discernible talent for presentation; explain how the host’s advancing senility gave an early advantage to comedian Joan Rivers; and reveal whom this famously polite father figure deigned to call ‘bitch’…
Further Reading:
• ‘Right Here on Our Stage Tonight! - Ed Sullivan's America, By Gerald Nachman’ (University of California Press, 2009):
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Right_Here_on_Our_Stage_Tonight/v7owDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ed+sullivan+show+28th+march+1971&pg=PA384&printsec=frontcover
• ‘Ed Sullivan, Variety Show Host Influenced American Culture’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/ed-sullivan-4589827
• ‘Elvis Presley performs "Hound Dog" on The Ed Sullivan Show’ (CBS, 1956): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNYWl13IWhY&list=PLQWND5qZhbj0nqnmye5U2g3Z-ai8wos4p Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Sacheen Littlefeather's Oscars Controversy
27 maart 2025 · 12 min
When Marlon Brando won Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role in The Godfather on March 27, 1973, he sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. Dressed in traditional Apache garb, she declined the award on Brando’s behalf, “And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry."
Littlefeather’s appearance was met with a mix of boos and applause from the audience. But, before her death in 2022, the Academy honoured Littlefeather for her protest, calling it "a powerful statement on behalf of human dignity and against the marginalization of Indigenous people."
In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca consider the lasting impact of this stark political moment; revisit Littlefeather’s earlier work for Playboy; and explain why, as a rumoured ‘Pretendian’, her ethnic identity continues to make headlines…
Further Reading:
• ‘A shocking moment in Oscars history, 50 years on’ (BBC Culture, 2023): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230302-the-most-shocking-moment-in-oscars-history-50-years-on
• ‘Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native icon. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud’ (San Francisco Chronicle, 2022): https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php
• ’Marlon Brando's Best Actor Oscar win for "The Godfather"’ (Academy Awards, 1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU
#Hollywood #70s #Native #Racism Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode or…
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Italy's Deadly Roadrace
26 maart 2025 · 13 min
The Mille Miglia - a daring, 1,000-mile race across Italy - was first held on March 26th, 1927. Using ordinary dirt roads as the racetrack, competitors tore through cities, mountains, and countryside at unprecedented, breakneck speeds. Lees meer
Townspeople lined the streets, waving flags and throwing flowers, as glamorous Bugattis and Alfa Romeos roared past. The first winners, Nando Minoja and Giuseppe Morandi, completed the course in just over 21 hours, averaging an eye-watering 48 mph. They had to dodge wandering farm animals, slow-moving carts, and clueless pedestrians.
But for all its romance, the Mille Miglia had a dark side. The combination of high speeds, unpredictable roads, and massive crowds made it incredibly dangerous. The 1938 race saw a devastating crash near Bologna; and in 1957, two separate fatal crashes, including one involving dashing aristocrat Alfonso de Portago, that finally brought an end to the competition in its original form. The event had experienced 56 deaths over its 24-race history.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how having a skilled navigator/mechanic was just as important as having a fast car; discover the methods ultimate champion Sir Stirling Moss used to win the race in just over 10 hours in 1955; and explain how spectators can still taste the golden age of this iconic race, even in the 21st century…
Further Reading:
• ‘The first 1000 Miglia in 1927 – The history of the 1000 Miglia’ (1000 Miglia Official Website): https://1000miglia.it/en/history-of-1000-miglia/1927-the-first-1000-miglia/
• ‘No seatbelts, 170mph: days of death and dynamism’ (The Times, 2015): https://www.thetimes.com/article/f0b41044-bb1c-4694-afc9-947ace151afc
• ‘Bracco vince la Mille Miglia’ (Archivio Luce Cinecittà, 1952): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V59ZbkF5J40#Italy #Motoring #20s #Sport
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The Tunnel Under The Thames
25 maart 2025 · 12 min
Marc Brunel’s visionary under-water tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping finally opened to the public on 25th March, 1843. It had taken 18 years to build, and was massively over-budget, but was the first tunnel successfully created under a navigable river anywhere in the world.
Its construction had cost lives, caused controversy and changed the way tunnels would be built forever. But it soon became notorious as a gangway frequented by pickpockets and prostitutes.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Brunel had to build a vertical tunnel before embarking upon his horizontal one; tot up its takings as an enormously popular tourist attraction; and explain how the injuries sustained by Isambard Kingdom Brunel during its construction lead directly to his even more famous architectural masterpieces…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Opening Of The Thames Tunnel’ (SS Great Britain Blog Brunel, 2021): https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/the-opening-of-the-thames-tunnel/
• ‘Open again after 145 years, the eighth wonder of the world’ (The Independent, 2010): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/open-again-after-145-years-the-eighth-wonder-of-the-world-1920723.html
• ‘The Thames Tunnel Archive - Part 5/5’ (Brunel Museum London, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HADkw-laAM Lees meerThis episode originally aired in 2022
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Kidnapping Ronnie Biggs
24 maart 2025 · 12 min
Fugitive Ronnie Biggs - infamous for participating in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, then escaping from Wandsworth Prison - was rescued by Bajan police after being kidnapped in Brazil today in history on 24th March 1981. Lees meer
A media frenzy ensued as reporters awaited his arrival, thanks to a tip-off by the operation's leader, John Miller. But Biggs found himself released by Barbados authorities, sparking a diplomatic clash between Brazil and the UK over extradition proceedings.
In this episode, The Retrospectors explain why Biggs, back in Brazil, had little choice but to make a living through public appearances; consider his surprisingly insignificant involvement in the heist he is so strongly associated with; and reveal what happened when Biggs came back to England, after more than thirty years on the run…
Further Reading:
• ‘Kidnapping of Ronnie Biggs ends in farce’ (The Guardian, 1981): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/mar/25/ronnie-biggs-train-robbery-kidnap
• ‘Former mercenary who tried to make it Biggs’ (The Herald, 1997): https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12290059.former-mercenary-who-tried-to-make-it-biggs/
• ‘No One Is Innocent’ (Sex Pistols, 1979): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWiAMeAS7bM&t=5s
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The Most Expensive Divorce Ever
21 maart 2025 · 12 min
Medieval power couple King Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, seemingly unable to produce a male heir, had a messy breakup. Their annulment on 21st March 1152 was granted by the Pope on the grounds of consanguinity - meaning they were too closely related by blood. And yet both parties went on to marry people to whom they were even more closely related.
Henry of Anjou was Eleanor’s next husband - a move which made her the only woman in history to have been both Queen of France AND Queen of England. Meanwhile, Louis lost half his Kingdom - and had to sit and watch as Eleanor popped out male heir after male heir with her new hubby.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Arion explain why going on a Holy War is not great marriage therapy; get between the sheets with the Royal couple; and consider how an attempted kidnapping might have made for an awkward family atmosphere at Eleanor and Henry’s wedding reception…
Further Reading:
• ‘Eleanor of Aquitaine - Queen of France, Queen of England, By Ralph V. Turner’ (Yale University Press, 2009): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine/dVcslrfl1V4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Eleanor+of+Aquitaine+annulment&printsec=frontcover
• ‘Eleanor Of Aquitaine: The Medieval Queen Who Took On Europe's Men’ (HistoryExtra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/eleanor-of-aquitaine-the-medieval-queen-who-took-on-europes-most-powerful-men/
• ‘The Court of Love - Eleanor of Aquitaine #2’ (Extra History, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_KgUiDUPs0 Lees meerLove 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… -
Stealing the World Cup
20 maart 2025 · 12 min
The Jules Rimet, trophy of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from a stamp exhibition in Westminster Central Hall on March 20th, 1966 - the year England was hosting (and went on to win) the tournament. The theft sparked a massive Police investigation and multiple offers of rewards for its recovery.
Astonishingly, the trophy had not been heavily guarded or alarmed, so the thieves stole it with bolt cutters. In a twist straight out of Enid Blyton, the cup was eventually discovered not by the boys in blue - but by a pet dog called Pickles, who was then lauded as a national hero.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the identities of the London gangsters who poached the Cup; explain what music hall star Tommy Trinder had to do with it; and discover how, in Brazil, the Cup was to go AWOL again…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy - The Hidden History of the 1966 World Cup, By Martin Atherton (Meyer & Meyer, 2008): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Theft_of_the_Jules_Rimet_Trophy/m7SbwNM4Y0sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theft+of+the+world+cup+1966&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover
• ‘The World Cup is stolen’ (The Guardian, 1966): https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/mar/21/world-cup-stolen-football-archive-1966
• ‘Pickles - The dog who saved the 1966 World Cup’ (The Sun, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQjZagahHKU Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Welcome To Las Vegas
19 maart 2025 · 11 min
Las Vegas was a struggling mining outpost until March 19th, 1931, when Nevada Governor Fred B. Balzar signed Assembly Bill 98, also known as the Wide Open Gambling Bill: legalising casino gambling, and setting the stage for town’s transformation into Sin City. Lees meer
When the Boulder Dam project began, drawing thousands of workers nearby, Fremont Street exploded into a Saturday night hotspot. And when mobster Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo in 1946, glitzy Hollywood-style resorts followed in his wake, with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack drawing in high-rollers and cementing the city’s glamour.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Vegas boom was enabled by the election of tough-on-crime L.A. mayor Fletcher Bowron; discover why the City was known as the "Mississippi of the West”; and reveal how a 50-room hotel was once considered a cutting edge attraction in the Strip…
Further Reading:
• ’How Las Vegas Became a Gambling Mecca’ (HISTORY, 2022):
https://www.history.com/news/las-vegas-history-mobsters-gambling
• ’Nevada marks 90th anniversary of legal gambling’ (The Mob Museum, 2021): https://themobmuseum.org/blog/nevada-marks-90th-anniversary-of-legal-gambling/
• The City of Las Vegas: The Early Years (City of Las Vegas TV, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czyMm5DdqAY#30s #US #Crime #Games #Racism
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.
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The Birth of Fast Fashion
18 maart 2025 · 11 min
The craze for paper dresses was the huge and unexpected impact of a viral marketing campaign for the Scott Paper Company that debuted in TIME magazine on 18th March, 1966.
For $1.25, readers could send off for a red bandana print or a black and white pop art dress made of cellulose. It was intended as a press stunt to promote durable napkins, but, to everybody’s surprise, half a million units were sold in just eight months.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask whether these teenage kicks of the ‘60s presaged the 21st century trend for ‘fast fashion’; reveal how Richard Nixon got in on the act; and explain how, even if you think it sounds ridiculous, you’ve probably worn an outfit inspired by paper dresses at some point in your life, without even realising it…
Further Reading:
• ‘Fashion: Real Live Paper Dolls’ (TIME, 1967): http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836820,00.html
• ‘Paper Fashion in the 1960s: The Genesis of Fast Fashion’ (Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, 2018): https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcostume/2018/03/17/paper-fashion-in-the-1960s-the-genesis-of-fast-fashion/
• ‘Paper Clothing of the 1960s and the Rise of Fast Fashion’ (ElleYeah, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zZBjNuenMc Lees meerThis episode originally aired in 2022
Thanks so much for supporting the show! We massively appreciate it.
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer:
Ollie Peart
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Marie Stopes' "Mother's Clinic"
17 maart 2025 · 12 min
Marie Stopes’ “Mother’s Clinic” opened its doors in Holloway, on March 17th, 1826. Lees meer
Stopes was a trailblazer, her birth control clinic providing working-class women with access to contraception and advice for the first time. However, her organisation's full name - "The Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress" - reveals her disturbing underlying belief in selective breeding for racial progress; a commitment that only strengthened as time went on, and she corresponded with Hitler.
In this episode, The Retrospectors consider Stopes’s pioneering work on female desire and sexual health in her bestselling book, "Married Love,"; explain how she pivoted from paleobotany to reproductive health and racism; and ask why Marie Stopes International waited until the 21st century to rebrand itself…
Further Reading:
• ‘Family planning in the 1920s: Marie Stopes and the ‘wise precaution of delay’’ (The National Archives blog, 2022): https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20speople-family-planning-in-the-1920s-marie-stopes-and-the-wise-precaution-of-delay/
• ‘Marie Stopes: a turbo-Darwinist ranter, but right about birth control’ (The Guardian, 2011): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/sep/02/marie-stopes-right-birth-control
• ‘Marie Stopes’ Eugenics, Feminism and Birth Control’ (Wellcome Collection, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPqog-EV9jIThis episode originally aired in 2024
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com…
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Making The Mikado
14 maart 2025 · 11 min
The Mikado opened on March 14, 1885 to immediate acclaim, and went on to become W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most famous and best-loved operetta, despite its tortured genesis.
Due to growing creative tensions and their previous show flopping, Gilbert and Sullivan’s partnership was on the rocks, so The Mikado’s success took both completely by surprise.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at why the setting of The Mikado is really Japan in name only; discuss how Gilbert found inspiration in a sword hanging on his wall; and explain why Gilbert and Sullivan almost parted ways because of a magical love lozenge…
Further Reading:
• ‘A big day in history: Gilbert and Sullivan unveil 'The Mikado'’ (History Extra, 2012): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/a-big-day-in-history-gilbert-and-sullivan-unveil-the-mikado/
• ‘Arthur Sullivan - A Victorian Musician’ (Taylor & Francis, 2018): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Arthur_Sullivan_A_Victorian_Musician/VXt_DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
• ‘The Mikado’ (BBC, 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkOWxcbzn0&t=561s Lees meerThis episode originally aired in 2023
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Mata Hari: Showgirl, Seductress, Spy
13 maart 2025 · 12 min
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known to the world as Mata Hari, set the Paris stage ablaze on March 13, 1905, with a scandalous dance routine that turned her into an overnight success.
Sporting a gold jeweled breastplate and bracelets, Mata Hari’s performance was a striptease that left little to the imagination. But even the wildest imagination couldn’t envisage what lay ahead for the exotic dancer, courtesan, traitor and spy whose name became synonymous with the femme fatale.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca, and Olly discuss how she played both sides of the First World War for fools; uncover how she met her husband through a newspaper ad; and explain why she always wore a breastplate during sex…
Further Reading:
• ‘Mata Hari: exotic dancer, femme fatale, traitor and spy’ (History Extra, 2019): https://www.historyextra.com/period/first-world-war/mata-hari-exotic-dancer-femme-fatale-traitor-wwi-spy/
• ‘“I am ready”: Mata Hari faced a firing squad for spying — and refused a blindfold.’ (The Washington Post, 2017): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/15/i-am-ready-mata-hari-faced-a-firing-squad-for-spying-and-refused-a-blindfold/
• ‘Buckwild Facts About Mata Hari, The Exotic Dancer Who Became A WWI Spy’ (Weird History, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sh-fB_qMUg Lees meerThis episode originally aired in 2023
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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When The Dixie Chicks Got Cancelled
12 maart 2025 · 12 min
As the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer, Natalie Maines, made an off-the-cuff remark at a London concert on 12th March, 2003, she could not have known the comments would haunt her band (now known as ‘The Chicks’) for decades.
Just days before the US invasion of Iraq, and to cheers from the British crowd, she said from the stage: “We’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” A Guardian journalist jotted it down, and when those words reached the other side of the Atlantic, all hell broke loose. Dixie Chicks CDs were steamrolled in protest, country radio stations blacklisted their songs, and the band never recovered.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly talk through the Chicks’ damage control strategy; ask whether the backlash was an organic response from Conservative Country fans, or an orchestrated, sexist campaign; and reveal how Taylor Swift has taken note of their downfall…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Dixie Chicks | Music’ (The Guardian, 2003): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/mar/12/artsfeatures.popandrock
• ’The Chicks' 2003 George W. Bush Controversy: An Oral History’ (Billboard, 2022): https://www.billboard.com/music/country/chicks-radio-banned-george-bush-oral-history-1235087442/
• ‘Inside The Chicks’ SCANDAL in 2003 and Their GRAMMYs Comeback’ (Entertainment Tonight, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0C3TrCBAOA Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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COPS Hits TV
11 maart 2025 · 12 min
Producer John Langley had been pitching a no-frills, fly-on-the-wall documentary series following US Police Officers for six years when, in the midst of a writer’s strike, Fox finally bit. COPS made its debut on 11th March, 1989, becoming one of the longest-running shows in TV history.
Langley called it ‘video vérité’; the New York Times called it ‘tabloid TV’. From the beginning, concerns about its depiction of race relations in America led to criticism that eventually brought about its cancellation - before it was reinstated on a different TV network.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how various Police departments across the States went from being resistant to being featured in COPS to actually nominating themselves for filming; consider why participants were so keen to sign release forms when they were being depicted in such a vulnerable position; and ask if the first series still seems as ‘tabloid’ as it was considered at the time…
Further Reading:
• ‘Episode One: Broward County Florida - Part 2’ (Fox, 1989): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5k36VTrZcY
• ‘Review/Television; 'Cops' Camera Shows the Real Thing’ (The New York Times, 1989): https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/07/arts/review-television-cops-camera-shows-the-real-thing.html
• ‘John Langley: Producer who turned police work into prime reality TV’ (The Independent, 2021): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-langley-cops-reality-tv-obituary-b1875648.html Lees meerThis episode originally aired in 2022
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink… -
Birth of the Book Club
10 maart 2025 · 11 min
The ‘Book of the Month Club’ was first launched, on March 10th, 1926. Lees meer
Its inaugural selection, ‘Lolly Willowes’ by feminist Bloomsbury author Sylvia Townsend Warner, underscores the transformative power that such clubs would go on to have (via celebrity endorsements such as Oprah and Richard & Judy): Warner leveraged her selection as a springboard for wider literary recognition in the United States.
The visionary behind the Book of the Month Club, Harry Sherman, recognised the untapped potential of marketing literature to broader audiences. Leveraging his marketing acumen and passion for reading, Sherman had pioneered innovative strategies to democratise access to books, first partnering with Whitman Candy to distribute the ‘Little Leather Library’; miniature classics posted to readers alongside a box of chocolates, which became a popular gift to give soldiers during World War I.
In this episode, The Retrospectors explain the importance of the Book Club’s discerning editorial panel; reveal the literary sensations first given the limelight via Sherman’s company; and consider how shifting market dynamics and the advent of digital platforms diminished the club's relevance - but then bought it back again…
Further Reading:
• ‘A New Reading Experience: Book of the Month Club’ (Pennsylvania Center for the Book, 2010):
https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/new-reading-experience-book-month-club
• ‘Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes is 'a great shout of life'’ (The Guardian, 2016): https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/dec/28/sylvia-townsend-warners-lolly-willowes-is-a-great-shout-of-life
• ‘Comparing the Most Popular Book Box Subscriptions📦’ (Kailia Barbour, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFyOFVzaJogTen minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. New episodes Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs-Fri.
The Retro…
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Abducting Ellen Turner
7 maart 2025 · 11 min
Kidnapped from her prestigious Liverpool boarding school on March 7, 1827, 15-year-old Ellen Turner was led to believe her family would be financially ruined if she didn’t marry her 30 year-old abductor, Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
Before she was able to deduce that his story was a sham, Turner was whisked off to Gretna Green and inadvertently passed over the keys to her father’s estate, Shrigley, to her assailant - until an intervention from the House of Lords, and a trial that captured Britain’s imagination.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly divulge the loopholes to England’s marital age limits; explain how ‘impure’ marriages were a get-rich-quick habit for Wakefield; and reveal the extraordinary next chapter for this conniving scamster …
Further Reading:
• ‘10 of History’s Worst Marriages’ (History Collection, 2018): https://historycollection.com/10-of-historys-worst-marriages/5/
• ‘Gretna Green: The bit of Scotland where English people go to get married’ (BBC, 2014): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28679430
• ‘Wakefield & the NZ Company’ (CBHS History, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We-VfjxHbRA Lees meerTen minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. New episodes Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs-Fri.
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer:
Ollie Peart
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode originally aired in 2023
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The Real Captain Birdseye
6 maart 2025 · 12 min
Birdseye Frosted Foods launched its first range of flash-frozen foods at a ‘test kitchen’ in Springfield, Massachusetts on 6th March, 1930 - and at the helm was Clarence ‘Bob’ Birdseye, an American entrepreneur of great ambition and insight.
Like Captain Birdseye, the bearded, fictional mascot of the brand dreamt up for the British market, Bob had scoured the seven seas looking for innovative approaches to food preservation - a search that led him to the Inuit people of Labrador, Canada and their methods of fast-freezing fresh fish. This discovery led to a patent which eventually netted Birdseye a cool $22million.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace Birdseye’s entrepreneurial endeavours back through his childhood; discover the extraordinary list of animal species he attempted to eat; and consider the surprising role of the humble spinach in the incredible success of frozen processed food…
Further Reading:
• ‘Meet Clarence Birdseye: American who cooked up frozen foods’ (New York Post, 2022): https://nypost.com/2022/09/30/meet-clarence-birdseye-american-who-cooked-up-frozen-foods/
• ‘Clarence Birdseye, The Man Behind Modern Frozen Food’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/clarence-birdseye-the-man-behind-modern-frozen-food-95808503/
• ‘Birds Eye Fish Fingers - Fresh From The Captains Table’ (Birds Eye, 1980s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haCuu1AhZYQ Lees meerTen minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. New episodes Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs-Fri.
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer:
Ollie Peart
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode originally aired in 2023
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Vietnam's Singing Soldier
5 maart 2025 · 12 min
Barry Sadler’s "Ballad of the Green Berets" reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100 on 5th March, 1966 - the only pro-Vietnam War hit to ever top the charts.
Before it even hit radio stations, Sadler had been performing the song at military bases and patriotic events, setting the stage for its massive success. RCA pushed it hard, knowing that in early ‘66, America’s support for the war was still strong. It wasn’t just a pop song—it was an anthem, played on news programmes and variety shows alike, capturing the hearts of those who wanted to stand with the troops.
The song sold millions, making Sadler a household name. But unlike charity-driven tributes, the money didn’t go to war relief—it went straight into Sadler’s pocket.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why this single is no longer associated with the Vietnam War, despite being the biggest hit of the year; discover how Sadler was injured in the field by a booby trap; and tour through the bar fights, failed country music dreams, and, in one particularly dramatic moment, deadly love triangle that made up Sadler’s final act...
Further Reading:
• ’War's Song’ (History Net, 2017): https://www.historynet.com/wars-song/
• ‘I Served in Vietnam. Here’s My Soundtrack’ (The New York Times, 2018): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/opinion/vietnam-war-rock-music.html?searchResultPosition=3
• ‘The Ed Sullivan Show: The Ballad of the Green Berets’ (CBS, 1966): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5WJJVSE_BE
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer -
Trashing The White House
4 maart 2025 · 12 min
When Andrew Jackson was inaugurated on 4th March, 1829, large crowds of recently emancipated, enthusiastic voters turned up to the Capitol to watch the former Army commander become President. But the event soon spiraled out of control, descending into, at best, chaos; and, at worst, a brawl.
Eyewitness Margaret Bayard Smith wrote: “No arrangements had been made no police officers placed on duty and the whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob… At one time, the President who had retreated and retreated until he was pressed against the wall, could only be secured by a number of gentleman forming around him and making a kind of barrier of their own bodies.”
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider Jackson’s legacy, and the routine comparisons with President Trump; ask how reliable the eyewitnesses are, given that many were part of the political elite that Jackson despised; and reveal the novel technique deployed by White House staffers to disperse the crowds…
Further Reading:
• ‘Andrew Jackson, The 7th President of the United States’’ (White House Historical Association, 2006): https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/andrew-jackson/
• ‘Was the White House Really Trashed at Andrew Jackson's First Inauguration?’ (HowStuffWorks, 2021):
https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/andrew-jacksons-inauguration.htm
• ‘Donald Trump's Hero is Andrew Jackson’ (Brut America, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD3-uFReZ3s Lees meerTen minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. New episodes Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs-Fri.
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer:
Ollie Peart
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode originally aired in 2022
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Serfdom's Up!
3 maart 2025 · 12 min
The Emancipation Statute was unveiled by Emperor Alexander II: March 3rd, 1861, liberating the serfs of Russia. Lees meer
The culmination of years of bureaucratic efforts and peasant uprisings, the legislation marked a decisive break from the past and aimed to align Russia with European norms - whilst The United States still relied anachronistically on slave labour.
Until this day, the institution of serfdom, though distinct from slavery, was nonetheless marked by profound inequalities and limitations on personal freedom; and, while serfs enjoyed certain legal protections and familial ties to the land, they were subject to the arbitrary whims of their landlords and bore the burden of taxation without commensurate representation.
In this episode, The Retrospectors pick over Alexander's reformist agenda; explain why despite the radical nature of the reforms, millions of his people were still deeply unhappy; and consider the surprising limitations of a bombproof carriage…
Further Reading:
• ‘Biography of Alexander II, Russia's Reformist Tsar (ThoughtCo, 2018): https://www.thoughtco.com/alexander-ii-biography-4174256
• ‘The Other Emancipation Proclamation’ (The New York Times, 2011): https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/the-other-emancipation-proclamation/
• ‘Understand Russia: Emancipation of Russia's Serfs’ (Modern Wall Street, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLfoJTWjgJ4
This episode first premiered in 2024, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 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: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink A… -
The Double Helix Quartet
28 februari 2025 · 12 min
Deciphering the structure of DNA was as complex as the double helix itself. On 28th February, 1953, Dr. James Watson and Dr. Francis Crick rushed to the pub and announced to their fellow drinkers in The Eagle, Cambridge that they had just found “the secret of life”.
But their work would not have been possible without the uncredited contribution of Dr. Rosalind Franklin - whose photographs of the X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA were the first to reveal its three-dimensional structure. And it was her colleague, Dr Maurice Wilkins, who first brought Franklin’s work to the attention of Watson and Crick.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how it came to be that Crick’s wife, Odile; drew the iconic depiction of the structure published in Nature; explain why *technically* Dr Franklin didn’t even have a degree; and recall how James Watson’s legacy was tainted by his bitter and snide memoir, ‘The Double Helix’...
Further Reading:
• ‘Double-Helix Structure of DNA’ (ThoughtCo, 2020): https://www.thoughtco.com/double-helix-373302
• ‘The Geek Atlas - 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive, By John Graham-Cumming’ (O'Reilly Media, 2009):
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Geek_Atlas/rXH0AQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=crick+watson+eagle+1953&pg=PA267&printsec=frontcover
• ‘Rosalind Franklin: DNA's unsung hero - Cláudio L. Guerra’ (Ted-Ed, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIP0lYrdirI Lees meerThis episode first aired in 2023
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about yo…
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Pokémon Hegemon
27 februari 2025 · 12 min
The first Pokémon videogames, ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ were launched in Japan on 27th February, 1996. The franchise went on to be the most successful ever video game to TV adaptation, and the highest selling trading card game in history of cards.
Created by Satoshi Tajiri, the gameplay recalled his childhood obsession for bug-hunting, and made use of Nintendo’s new GameBoy connection cable to enable players to swap and collect monsters. But it wasn’t until the card-trading game went viral in playgrounds that his company, Game Freak, was accused of encouraging gambling.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the series was re-named for the American market; reveal just how many epileptic seizures were caused by the anime adaptation in one ill-fated broadcast; and explain what the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia had in common with a group of Long Island moms…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Year in Ideas; Pokémon Hegemon’ (The New York Times, 2002): https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/magazine/the-year-in-ideas-pokemon-hegemon.html?searchResultPosition=21
• ‘Pokémon: The Japanese game that went viral’ (BBC Culture, 2020): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200811-pokemon-the-japanese-game-that-went-viral
• ‘Gameplay: Pokemon Red’ (GameFreak, 1996):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C034iux-EJ8 Lees meerThis episode first aired in 2023
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Shoe That Made Nike
26 februari 2025 · 12 min
Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, was on a quest for the perfect running shoe grip when he found inspiration in his wife’s waffle iron. Pouring polyurethane directly onto their wedding gift, he began to develop the prototype that would eventually become Nike’s legendary waffle sole trainer, and which received its patent on 26th February, 1974. Lees meer
But Nike wasn’t always the fashion powerhouse we know today. Back then, it was still Blue Ribbon Sports, importing Japanese running shoes. Bowerman, a top U.S. college track coach, and Phil Knight, a former runner and business enthusiast, had teamed up to take on the dominant German brands like Adidas and Puma.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why, despite this astonishing origin story, the sneaker was first called the "Moon Shoe"; take a whistlestop tour through some other Nike highlights, including the iconic ‘swoosh’ and "Just Do It" slogan; and reveal what happened to the humble waffle iron at the centre of the story…
Further Reading:
• ‘Nike receives patent for waffle‑soled trainers—invented in a waffle iron | February 26, 1974’ (HISTORY, 2024): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nike-patent-waffle-sole-trainers-invented-in-waffle-iron
• ‘How Nike Won the Cultural Marathon’ (The New York Times, 2022): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/style/nike-culture.html?searchResultPosition=6
• ’Iconic Nike waffle shoes worn by legendary distance runner Steve Prefontaine up for auction’ (KGW News, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKnh5VVPQbULove 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.
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Britain's Backyard Bunkers
25 februari 2025 · 13 min
The Anderson Shelter, the pop-up sheds distributed to millions of Londoners during the Blitz was first erected on February 25th, 1939 - in the garden of Mrs. Spong, in Carlsbad Street, Islington. Lees meer
Devised to protect civilians from Nazi air raids, and handed out free to those who earned under £5 per week, the shelters were dug four metres into the ground and covered with earth, provided cramped but potentially life-saving cover for families during bombings.
In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal why, nonetheless, millions of Londoners sought refuge in Underground stations; discover the creative external decorations proud homeowners adorned to their shelters; and consider how such terrifying experiences transmuted into fond memories for so many survivors…
Further Reading:
‘How to construct an Anderson Shelter’ (The National Archives): https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/home-front-1939-1945-part-one/how-to-construct-an-anderson-shelter/
‘How Britain’s abandoned Anderson shelters are being brought back to life’ (The Guardian, 2018): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/21/how-britains-abandoned-anderson-shelters-are-being-brought-back-to-life
‘Your Anderson Shelter This Winter’ (British Pathé, 1940): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHyxP3epU-wThis episode first aired in 2024
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How Not To Invade Britain
23 februari 2025 · 12 min
The ‘Last Invasion’ of Britain was not, as most people assume, The Battle of Hastings - but actually a farcical French attempt to conquer the Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard on 24th February, 1797.
Windy weather had already scuppered the first two prongs of this failed three-pronged attack, which was ultimately overthrown by a rag-bag militia of volunteers, a shipload of discarded booze, and a Welshwoman with a pitchfork.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask if the French had any realistic chance of success; explain why their soldiers seemed quite so unmotivated by the task at hand; and pay tribute to the pub at the heart of the surrender…
Further Reading:
• ‘Battle of Fishguard: The Last Invasion Of Mainland Britain’ (HistoryExtra, 2022): https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/last-invasion-britain-french-battle-fishguard-what-happened-jemima-nicholas/
• ‘Jemima Nicholas, a Fishguard Heroine - People of Pembrokeshire’ (coastalcottages.co.uk): https://www.coastalcottages.co.uk/inspiration/heritage/jemima-nicholas-a-fishguard-heroine/
• ‘The One Show: The French Invasion of Fishguard’ (BBC Wales, 2011): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QGBV-rizTw
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The First Hijack
21 februari 2025 · 12 min
Pan-Am pilot Byron Rickards was surrounded by soldiers and told he had become the prisoner of a revolutionary organisation shortly after landing in Arequipa, Peru on 21 February 1931 - the first recorded aircraft hijack in history.
Rickards refused to drop pro-rebel propaganda, leading to a stand-off - although, astonishingly, it wasn’t the only time in his career that his plane would be hijacked…
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the 1960s created the perfect circumstances for a hijacking boom; reveal the most hijacked pilot of all time; and attempt to investigate the origins of the word ‘hijack’ - with mixed results…
Further Reading:
• ‘From the Bizarre to the Deadly: History’s Most Notorious Hijackings’ (History Hit): https://www.historyhit.com/from-the-bizarre-to-the-deadly-historys-most-notorious-hijackings/
• What is the origin of the word 'hijack'? (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-1420,00.html
• ‘The First Ever Flight Hijacking in History’ (Histographics, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psoHDSMjGvU Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How Orkney Became Scottish
20 februari 2025 · 12 min
On 20 February, 1472, Orkney and Shetland officially became part of Scotland having been offered up as security for the dowry of the daughter of King Christian of Norway and Denmark.
The marriage was aimed at quelling a long-standing tax-related feud between the two powers. But as time wore on, it began to feel as though the Scandinavians just didn’t really want Orkney and Shetland all that much.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at how Vikings had come to control the islands in the first place; reveal why the citizens of Shetland have never stopped loving their Scandi past; and explain why if you want to properly describe the pattern variations of certain breeds of sheep you might need to learn a dead language…
Further Reading:
• ‘On this day 1472: Orkney and Shetland join Scotland’ (The Scotsman, 2015): https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/day-1472-orkney-and-shetland-join-scotland-1512113
• ‘The islands of Orkney and Shetland passed into Scottish ownership’ (History Scotland, 2022): https://www.historyscotland.com/history/the-islands-of-orkney-and-shetland-passed-into-scottish-ownership-on/
• ‘20th February 1472: Orkney and Shetland Isles given to Scotland by Norway as a wedding dowry’ (HistoryPod, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COI05mwNda4 Lees meerThis episode first aired in 2023
Love the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Mexico's 45 Minute President
19 februari 2025 · 12 min
Pedro Lascuráin set an unbeatable record in presidential speedrunning—serving as Mexico’s president for a paltry 45 minutes on 19th February, 1913. His one achievement? To hold the title just long enough to hand it over to the real mastermind behind the coup, General Victoriano Huerta. Lees meer
Huerta didn’t last too long either - and eventually even the U.S., which had helped engineer the coup, withdrew their support for him. Meanwhile, Lascuráin retired from politics completely. Unlike most of his contemporaries, who ended up dead, he went back to being a lawyer and lived a long, peaceful life into his 90s.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why all the paperwork was truly necessary amidst a bloody power grab; discover what happened to Lascuráin’s predecessors; and explain why short Presidencies ran in the Lascuráin family…
Further Reading:
• ’Pedro Lascuráin: The Man Who Was Mexico's President for Only 45 Minutes’ (Mental Floss, 2020): https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/635600/pedro-lascurain-45-minute-mexico-president
• ‘The world’s shortest political careers’ (POLITICO, 2020): https://www.politico.eu/article/from-zero-to-hero-to-zero-again-thomas-kemmerich-thuringia-german-politics-declassified/
• ‘Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican President for 45 Minutes’ (Mexico Unexplained, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ7OZztRxWELove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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I Discovered Pluto
18 februari 2025 · 12 min
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto - 84 years after star-spotters first began their hunt for a ninth planet in our solar system, the elusive ‘Planet X’ on 18th February 1930. Lees meer
The 24-year-old made the groundbreaking discovery at the Lowell Observatory, Arizona, just one week into a task that had mired other researchers for decades. That said, it was later realised that Pluto had been spotted on previous occasions, yet astronomers had mistakenly overlooked its significance.
In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal how the ‘planet’ came to be named by an 11-year-old British girl; explain why it is no longer a planet at all, but has been downgraded to ‘dwarf planet’; and consider Walt Disney’s influence on its place in the public affections…
Further Reading:
‘Clyde Tombaugh: the astronomer who discovered Pluto’ (BBC Sky at Night Magazine, 2020): https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/clyde-tombaugh-astronomer-discovered-pluto
‘Obituary: Clyde W. Tombaugh, 90, Discoverer of Pluto’ (The New York Times, 1997): https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/20/us/clyde-w-tombaugh-90-discoverer-of-pluto.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
‘How Clyde Tombaugh Discovered Pluto’ (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_UPCOOuNg8This episode first premiered in 2024, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 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: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Britain Goes To School
17 februari 2025 · 12 min
The 1870 Education Act was the first to deal specifically with the provision of British schools. Speaking in the House of Commons, William Edward Forster MP proposed: "I believe that the country demands from us that we should… cover the country with good schools, and get parents to send their children to those schools.”
But there was opposition: from Christians concerned about the religious nonconformity of these new institutions; ideologues who thought the state simply couldn’t afford to fund them; and families who relied on their children bringing home a wage from work.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Prime Minister William Gladstone was disappointed by the reforms; examine whether the intention was really as philanthropic as it seemed; and reveal why it was only in living memory that Britain’s education policy truly provided the nation’s kids with full-time schooling…
Thanks to James Plunkett’s book, End State (2021) for inspiring this topic. Check out the audiobook (read by Olly!) here: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/End-State-Audiobook/1398702218
Further Reading:
• ‘LEAVE. FIRST READING: Elementary Education Bill’ (Hansard, 1870): http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1870/feb/17/leave-first-reading
• ‘The 1870 Education Act’ (UK Parliament): https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/1870educationact/
• ‘What was life like at a Victorian Reformatory School?’ (BBC Teach): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erYwMz5rdW0
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer -
The Night of 206 Stars
14 februari 2025 · 12 min
The Rockettes kicked off a celebrity line-up including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli, Jimmy Stewart, Al Pacino and Miss Piggy at ‘The Night of 100 Stars’, a benefit for the Actors Fund of America recorded on 14th February, 1982 at Radio City Music Hall, New York.
A night of sheer glitz and excess, the true tally of stars on-stage totalled 206 - but perhaps that’s what you’d expect for $1000 per ticket and a bum-numbing running time of five-and-a-half hours.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly question the star-counting mechanic for the New York Yankees; explain how the assasination of Abraham Lincoln inspired the foundation of the Actor’s Fund in 1882; and marvel at the long-windedness of this televised tribute to the charity’s centenary…
Further Reading:
• ‘Bask in the Bewildering '80s Glamour of 'Night of 100 Stars'’ (Jezebel, 2016): https://jezebel.com/bask-in-the-bewildering-80s-glamour-of-night-of-100-sta-1759236215/amp
• ‘Glamor Glut’ (The Washington Post, 1982): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/02/16/glamor-glut/7ff21880-5540-4c20-acb4-fa5832781184/
• ‘VIDEO: The Night of 100 Stars’ (ABC, 1982): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkgaJobbIPg Lees meerLove 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 ❤️Go to proton.me/todayinhistory to receive a 38% discount on Proton Mail
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The 500,000 Year-Old Spark Plug
13 februari 2025 · 12 min
The Coso Artifact - a man-made, cylindrical object apparently encased in a geode - was discovered by Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell while prospecting for gems in Olancha, California on February 13th, 1961.
The OOPArt (or ‘out-of-place artifact’) caused a sensation amongst Creationists, Forteans and conspiracists, who believed it might be up to half a million years old - but has since been identified as a 1920s-era Champion spark plug.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether the ‘Rock Hounds’ were deliberately defrauding people, or were just open-minded enthusiasts; ask why their find had such resonance with Creationists, when its existence cannot be consistent with the world being merely thousands of years old; and reveal how the ‘mystery’ was conclusively debunked…
Further Reading:
• ‘When Some 1920s Garbage Was Mistaken for an Ancient Artifact’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2017): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1920s-garbage-or-ancient-artifact-probably-1920s-garbage-180962081/
• ‘Hidden History - Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries, By Brian Haughton’ (Red Wheel/Weiser, 2007):
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hidden_History/295EDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=coso+artifact&pg=PT173&printsec=frontcover
• ‘Coso Artifact: Science Triumphs Over Theorists’ (Science For Everyone, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GawHMQpIGrU Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Forbidden City's Final Emperor
12 februari 2025 · 13 min
Henry Puyi, the six-year old Emperor of China, abdicated the throne on 12th February, 1912 —but of course it was his adoptive mother, Empress Dowager Longyu, who did the paperwork. With tears in her eyes, she dramatically whispered, “I am the sinner of a thousand years.” Meanwhile, young Puyi had only pressing question: “Does that mean I don’t have to study anymore?”
Plucked from his home at age two, Puyi grew up as ruler in The Forbidden City, the centre of ancient traditions, even as the empire was crumbling. By the time he was 12, it was time for another surreal experience—marriage. Meanwhile, his Scottish tutor, Reginald Johnston, introduced him to movies and Western culture. But the imperial bubble popped for good in 1924 when soldiers finally kicked him out of the Forbidden City, and for the first time in centuries, China had no emperor.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain what Puyi did into exile; reveal how he coped when the Chinese Communist Party decided to rebrand him as a model citizen; and discover what Bertolucci’s acclaimed movie of his life got wrong...
Further Reading:
• ‘The Last Emperor's Humble Occupation’ (TIME, 1999): https://time.com/archive/6955501/the-last-emperors-humble-occupation/
• ’Pu Yi, last Emperor of China, is pardoned’ (History Today, 2009): https://www.historytoday.com/archive/pu-yi-last-emperor-china-pardoned
• ‘CHINA: Emperor Puyi crowned in Manchukuo’ (BRITISH PARAMOUNT NEWSREEL, 1934):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwApqUm1KkI Lees meerLove 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… -
The Monstrous Gerrymander
11 februari 2025 · 12 min
Elbridge Gerry, a founding father and governor of Massachusetts, rearranged the electoral districts of a map in order to give his Democratic Republican party an electoral advantage on 11th February 1812 Lees meer
Despite Gerry's other, more noble, contributions to American politics, this act of “gerrymandering” has brought him unintended infamy - though the history of this dubious practice predates him, with political operatives in 18th-century England creating "rotten boroughs" to secure seats in parliament.
In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal how the outrageous ‘tradition’ continues today, involving techniques like "cracking" and "packing" to split or concentrate voter bases; uncover the dirty joke Gerry once made about the U.S. military; and explain how a dinner party full of newspapermen created a confusing origin story for the first ‘gerrymander’ cartoon…
Further Reading:
• ‘Elbridge Gerry and the Monstrous Gerrymander’ (Library of Congress, 2017): https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/02/elbridge-gerry-and-the-monstrous-gerrymander/
• ‘Elbridge Gerry, namesake of gerrymandering, was a Founding Father’ (The Washington Post, 2021): https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/09/elbridge-gerry-gerrymandering-founding-father/
• ‘Gerrymandering: Elbridge Gerry gets the blame for election fixing’ (BBC News, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g84qurCBgKM
This episode first premiered in 2024, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 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: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad c…
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Trouble at the Tavern
10 februari 2025 · 12 min
Violent ‘town versus gown’ confrontations have been part of Oxford life ever since the University was founded - but reached an ignominious peak on 10th February, 1355, when almost 100 people were massacred in what became known as the ‘St Scholastica’s Day Riot’.
The killing spree began as a brawl in a bar. When a pair of students at the Swindlestock Tavern complained about the quality of the wine, the Landlord responded with “saucie language” - and the students by bottling him. Then, it escalated. A lot.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate how the blood-letting was preceded by decades of tension in the city; explain why such events explain the foundation of Cambridge University; and reveal why the fight was still being discussed in Parliament, some six hundred years later…
Further Reading:
• ‘Rioting over wine led to 90 deaths’ (Oxford Mail, 2011): https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9200746.rioting-wine-led-90-deaths/
• ‘St. Scholastica Day Riot: When English People Killed Dozens Over The Taste Of Wine’ (History Daily): https://historydaily.org/st-scholastica-day-riot-facts-stories-trivia
• ‘The St. Scholastica's Day Riot’ (The History Guy, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3qPzNcJKQM Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Preventing Technological Surprise
7 februari 2025 · 12 min
Inventing the internet and pioneering satellite navigation, U.S. government agency DARPA has had an illustrious history since being founded by President Eisenhower (as the Advanced Research Projects Agency) on February 7th, 1958.
Created in response to the Soviets launching Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, its mission, which continues to this day, is ‘to prevent technological surprise.’
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover how DARPA helped create the humble computer mouse; explain how former Nazi Wernher von Braun found his way to the head of this supposedly All-American organisation; and look forward to a world of self-sustaining surveillance robots eating us out of house and home…
Further Reading:
• ‘Fifty years of DARPA: A surprising history’ (New Scientist, 2008): https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13908-fifty-years-of-darpa-a-surprising-history/
• ‘The Nazi Science That Fed the Apollo 11 Moon Landing’ (Time, 2019): https://time.com/5627637/nasa-nazi-von-braun/
• ‘3 of the strangest projects DARPA has worked on’ (Tech Insider, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSs0S5FVx8 Lees meerLove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Here Come The Minstrels
6 februari 2025 · 12 min
Blackface performers The Virginia Minstrels - replete with white clown mouths, oversized tailcoats, and bookended by tambourine and bones players - first appeared on 6th February, 1843, at the New York Bowery Amphitheatre. They were an instant hit, but it wasn’t the first time a blackface act had been making (white) crowds laugh.
American minstrelsy originated some 12 years earlier, when white performer Thomas ‘Daddy’ Rice first appeared as ‘Jim Crow’ - a comic parody of an elderly, disabled, enslaved African-American. His act proved so wildly popular the Boston Post reported that only Queen Victoria was a more crowd-pleasing character.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal why it wasn’t only white performers who performed in blackface; examine how Hollywood kept this racist tradition alive long after it had fallen from favour in theatres; and discover that, over the decades, blackface became such an established and celebrated entertainment that it was performed at The White House…
CONTENT WARNING: historical racist language, discussion of racially offensive tropes
Further Reading:
• ‘Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype’ (National Museum of African American History and Culture): https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/blackface-birth-american-stereotype
• ‘Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy - Ed. Stephen Burge Johnson’ (University of Massachusetts Press, 2012): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Burnt_Cork/yxupgt6nNFMC?hl=en&gbpv=0
• ‘Blackface: A cultural history of a racist art form’ (CBS Sunday Morning, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqlD-eZm1ck Lees meerLove 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.
Them… -
Too Mad To Rule: King George III
5 februari 2025 · 13 min
George III’s mental incapacitation was formally recognised by Parliament on February 5th, 1811, when The Regency Act handed power to his son, the future George IV.
Though George III had struggled with bouts of illness for decades, his periods of lucidity made it difficult to decide when, or even if, he should be replaced. He resisted the idea of ceding power, particularly to his son, with whom he had a notoriously difficult relationship. Parliament wasn’t thrilled about George IV either, seeing him as indulgent, irresponsible, and politically aligned with the opposition.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly examine George III’s "mad spells"; discover the shockingly cruel treatments contemporary medicine offered up - including blistering his skin with arsenic, dunking him in freezing water, and using leeches to "suck out the madness" - and explain how he kept the love of his people even as his health declined…
CONTENT WARNING: mental health trauma, infant mortality. Lees meerFurther Reading:
• ’The King's 'Malady': George III's Mental Illness Explored’ (Historic Royal Palaces):
https://www.hrp.org.uk/blog/the-kings-malady-george-iiis-mental-illness-explored/#gs.jra39q
• ‘George IV’ (Historic UK):
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/George-IV/
• ‘Mad King of Britain: King George III 👑 Private Lives of Monarchs’ (Smithsonian Channel, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh0RV27qxSALove the show? Support us!
Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad…
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Meet The Sims
4 februari 2025 · 12 min
The debut of ‘The Sims’ happened on this day, February 4th, 2000. Lees meer
Will Wright (‘Sim City’) developed an initial concept which revolved around architecture - but soon the Sims themselves proved to be the most captivating aspect of the gameplay. Unlike other avatars, The Sims lived full lives with jobs, hobbies, relationships, and even their own language, Simlish.
Despite initial scepticism from publisher EA (due to the game’s perceived mundanity and lack of interest to boys) The Sims sold 8 million copies, and millions more in Extension Packs; and, beyond its success, was praised for its humour, soundtrack, and commitment to self-expression.
In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal how same-sex relationships have always been part of the Sims appeal; explain how the game’s sequels pulled off the ultimate in-game meta twist; and uncover how its predecessor Sim City evolved from conventional game design…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Way We Live Now: Questions for Will Wright; How to Win at Life’ (The New York Times, 1999): https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/31/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-10-31-99-questions-for-will-wright-how-to-win-at-life.html?searchResultPosition=5
• ‘Sex and the Sim city: welcome to a whole new world’ (The Times, 2004); https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-and-the-sim-city-welcome-to-a-whole-new-world-nt27s3t6tf8
• ‘The History Of The Sims’ (GameSpot, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7HwKKyUecsJoin 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…
… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.
Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic…