Today In History with The Retrospectors
Curious, funny, surprising daily history - with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll. From the invention of the Game Boy to the Mancunian beer-poisoning of 1900, from Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain to America's Nazi summer schools... each day we uncover an unexpected story for the ages. In just ten minutes! Best Daily Podcast (British Podcast Awards 2023 nominee). Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
Episodes
October 9, 2025 • 13 mins
On 10th October, 1967 a treaty went into force that has gone on to become the backbone for all international space law – a United Nations-approved agreement known as the The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, but better known today as the Outer Space Treaty.
It’s a relatively succinct document of just 17 articles, some as...
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October 8, 2025 • 12 mins
The Royal Albert Hall was the unlikely venue for the biggest Sumo wrestling tournament ever staged outside of Japan on 9th October, 1991. Around forty wrestlers, described in the press as “bouncing like fat Buddhas,” thundered across a ring on clay sourced from a field near Heathrow.
Part of the grand Japan Festival - a four-month cultural takeover marking 100 years of the Japan Society, including kabuki at the National Theatre a...
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October 7, 2025 • 11 mins
Hairdressers descended upon Oxford Street on October 8th, 1906 to witness Karl Nessler’s first public demonstration of his pioneering new ‘perm’ - a style which didn’t have its heyday until some eighty years later.
Creating a long-lasting curl had been a goal for many stylists over the decades, but Nessler had hit upon a winning combination of technique and chemicals. He achieved this by subjecting his wife, Catherine, to a seemin...
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October 6, 2025 • 11 mins
Ron Popeil, inventor of The Pocket Fisherman, the Amazing Smokeless Ashtray, and the Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler, was (satirically) awarded an Ignoble Award for Consumer Engineering on 7th November, 1993.
But the ‘Infomercial King’ had spun an enviable career from his talent for selling; from humble beginnings shilling vegetable choppers on the shop floor of Woolworth’s to establishing Ronco, a $55 million ‘As Seen On TV’ compa...
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October 5, 2025 • 10 mins
The Reno Brothers pulled off the first moving train robbery in U.S. history in Jackson County, Indiana, on 6th October, 1866.
Overpowering the guard, the gang made off with a significant haul of gold, cash, and canvas bags (though, while they tried to steal a hefty safe, they couldn’t open it and simply pushed it off the train). Their daring heist revolutionised the way criminals targeted trains forever.
Arion, Rebecca and Olly d...
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October 2, 2025 • 11 mins
Irish popstar Sinéad O’Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during her performance of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ on NBC’s TV show ‘Saturday Night Live’ on 3rd October, 1992. The unexpected act was meticulously planned by O'Connor; a protest against child abuse within the Catholic Church.
The performance left the audience almost silent, and, although she faced significant backlash, O'Connor remained unapologetic, writing in her mem...
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October 1, 2025 • 12 mins
Happy 75th birthday, ‘Peanuts’! Charles Shulz’ iconic comic strip made its debut (although Snoopy had yet to appear) on 2nd October, 1950.
Peanuts would grow into a global phenomenon, running in 2,600 papers across 75 countries. At its peak, it was translated into 21 languages - but never lost its bittersweet mix of humour, disappointment, and charm, making Charlie Brown and the gang cultural touchstones for decades.
The first w...
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September 30, 2025 • 11 mins
A 12 x 8.5cm ‘Correspondenzkarte’, the earliest progenitor of the modern-day postcard, was created by the Austrian Post on 1st October, 1869.
Cheaper and more practical than sending long-form letters, the new medium was an instant sensation with the public - with three million postcards being sent in the first three months. But cultural conservatives felt it would lead to poor grammar, a capitulation of individuality, and a brash ...
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September 29, 2025 • 11 mins
Literature’s most famous castaway, Robinson Crusoe, was washed up on a desert island - where he would remain for 28 years - on 30th September, 1659.
By selecting this date, author Daniel Defoe ensured that his fictional protagonist’s fate pre-dated the real-life estrangement of Royal Navy man Alexander Selkirk, who was stranded some 46 years later: 14 years prior to Defoe writing his novel.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and...
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September 28, 2025 • 11 mins
A tiny microstate nestled between Spain and Portugal, Couto Misto existed for centuries until its dissolution on 29th September, 1864. The final act of the Portuguese Restoration War, a treaty in Lisbon saw Spain claim the lion’s share of the land, while Portugal reclaimed its independence after 60 years of Spanish rule.
The Misto people were something special. They didn’t fully identify as either Spanish or Portuguese, but rather...
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September 25, 2025 • 11 mins
Pushing the boundaries of human flight to hitherto unknown extremes, Swiss aviator Yves Rossy entered the record books on 26th September, 2008, becoming the first person ever to cross the English channel using a jet-propelled wing strapped to his back, equipped with four kerosene-fueled turbine engines.
To embark on his flight, Rossy first ascended to 2,500 feet over Calais in a support plane. From there, he tumbled out, and, aft...
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September 24, 2025 • 12 mins
Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland met in York to settle the whole "where does England end, and where does Scotland begin?" question on 25th September, 1237. The consequent ‘Treaty of York’ (mostly) settled the map of the borders right up to the present day.
Alexander agreed to give up claims on northern English counties like Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland in return for a small chunk of land and the ...
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September 23, 2025 • 11 mins
Christine Jorgensen began gender reassignment surgery in Copenhagen on 24th September 1951. The New York Daily News later heralded the event with a headline splash - “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty!” - thereby creating America's first transgender celebrity.
Writing to friends, she said: “As you can see by the enclosed photos, taken just before the operation, I have changed a great deal. But it is the other changes that are so much mo...
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September 22, 2025 • 11 mins
The BBC’s teletext information service, Ceefax, launched on 23rd September, 1974 - providing the British public with a way to look up headlines, football results and TV listings, some twenty years before the launch of Internet Explorer.
Countless National Lottery winners discovered their victories via the analogue service, which was discontinued in 2012. To this day, devotees still share ancient samples of it by uploading old VHS ...
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September 21, 2025 • 12 mins
Operation Little Vittles" - an initiative during the Berlin Airlift to drop Allied sweets and chocolates from planes as a gift to the German children below - began on September 22, 1948.
Lt. Gail Halvorsen, a 27-year-old U.S. pilot, had been moved to the gesture by a group of children he encountered one day near Tempelhof airport. After seeing their eagerness to share even the most meagre of resources, he decided to drop sweets...
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September 18, 2025 • 12 mins
When German hikers Erika and Helmut Simon stumbled upon a dead body in the Oertzel Alps on 19th September, 1991, they believed it to be a recently fallen mountaineer, whose cadaver had been preserved in the ice. In fact, the specimen turned out to be 5,300 years old - older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
The man, nicknamed ‘Ötzi’ by the press, had been struck down in mid-stride, and was discovered surrounded by his possessions,...
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September 17, 2025 • 11 mins
Tiffany, now a $16 billion jewelry empire, opened their first store at 259 Broadway, New York, on 18th September, 1837. Their first day’s sales total was $4.98.
Co-founded by 25 year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany (thanks to a $1,000 loan from his father), the ‘fancy goods emporium’ initially sold disparate luxury items including perfumes, dinner sets, and, er, dog whips - but eventually settled upon gems as their core offering, expand...
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September 16, 2025 • 12 mins
The first Black Miss America, Vanessa Williams, was crowned in Atlantic City on 17th September, 1983, with the usual fanfare. But within ten months, she had returned her crown, following a nude photo scandal.
She had already received hate mail and even death threats - some from racist whites who hated seeing a Black Miss America, others from Black critics who felt her light skin and blue eyes played into white beauty standards. Bu...
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September 15, 2025 • 11 mins
The Cornell Daily Sun - the oldest continuously independent college daily newspaper in the United States - published its first issue on 16th September, 1880. It featured some campus sports reports, some horrible amateur poetry, and even some jokes.
It wasn’t until seven years later that a British University caught up with its own equivalent: The Student, at Edinburgh University; although it did have celebrity founder Robert Louis ...
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September 14, 2025 • 12 mins
The start of World War I featured officers in white gloves, leading troops in neat lines, and cavalry charges complete with sabres and lances. But this changed on 15th September, 1914 - when soldiers began digging into the earth, laying the groundwork for the trench warfare that would come to define the conflict.
By that November, trenches covered 400 miles along the Western Front, in two opposing lines that were often as close as...
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