Today In History with The Retrospectors

Rerun: Fugitive Thomas Blood sneaked his way into the Tower of London’s jewel room on 9th May, 1671 - bludgeoning the 77 year-old Keeper of the Jewels, Talbot Edwards, in the process. 

Disguised as a parson, the Irish adventurer had cat-fished Edwards in an audacious and complex heist that involved multiple pairs of white gloves, a fake nephew and stuffing an orb down his trousers.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explai...

John Pemberton launched Coca-Cola from a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on 8th May, 1886. Legend has it that a serendipitous mishap had led to the addition of carbonated water, transforming the medicinal tonic into a fizzy beverage that would capture the public's imagination.

But in fact, Pemberton's original formula - Pemberton's French Wine Coca - had already been attracting a following; but it had to be relaunched to the marke...

Rerun: During the Siege of Malaga, on 7th May 1487, Queen Isabella of Spain commissioned bespoke bed-wagons to transport injured soldiers from the battlefield to specially-erected tent hospitals, the world's earliest ambulance.

Despite this innovation, it was hundreds of years before the concept - and the word ‘ambulance’ - gained common currency worldwide, notably thanks to the American Civil War.

In this episode, The Retros...

The first ‘spam’ email, sent to ARPANET users on behalf of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), landed in Inboxes on 3rd May, 1978.

Marketer Gary Thuerk was responsible for the idea - but his execution was flawed, as he inadvertently filled the body of his message with email addresses, overflowing from the To and CC fields. Recipients weren't amused. Some grumbled, others chuckled, but all felt the intrusion... 

In t...

Accessible and rigorous, the King James Bible was published on 2nd May, 1611, at the behest of the Monarch after which it was named - and perhaps even he would be surprised at the book’s extraordinary success.

Advancements in printing technology made copies affordable, the expansion of English colonialism propagated it across the word, and its poetic imagery captured the imagination of churchgoers, who felt as though they were l...

Eleven year-old Johnny Clem formally became part of the Union Army on 1st May, 1863 - though he had already been participating as a Drummer Boy for the 22nd Michigan Infantry in the American Civil War for two years.

Clem's youthful determination and bravery propelled him into the spotlight of national fame - but he was far from the only child soldier in this tumultuous American era.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pe...

The advertising industry underwent a minor revolution on 30th April 1952 when Mr Potato Head starred in the first ever nationally televised ad campaign for a toy, unleashing the demon force of kiddie pester power on an unsuspecting world.

Unlike regular toy dolls, a Mr Potato Head wasn’t self-explanatory, so toy company Hasbro decided it was worth investing in TV ads for the product. The marketing decision is credited with helpi...

Peter Mark Roget waited until retirement to compile his personal collection of synonyms into a book for publication: the first edition of Roget’s Theasurus, released on 29th April, 1852. 

Despite initial scepticism from critics, who couldn't grasp its practical brilliance, the public embraced the new format - despite its unconventional organisation, in which synonyms were categorised by conceptual threads, rather than in al...

The Italian poet Petrarch hiked up Mont Ventoux in Provence on 26th April, 1332 - an event claimed for centuries to be the first time mountaineering for pleasure had been attempted. 

His celebrated letter to Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro was the source, revealing Petrarch's contemplations on spirituality and the human condition amidst the breathtaking views. However, debate persists over the letter's authenticity and whethe...

Rerun: Freda Payne’s banger ‘Band Of Gold’ sounds like a Motown record, but actually isn’t. Although written by Berry Gordy’s hit-making trio Holland-Dozier-Holland, it was released on their breakaway label, Invictus, on 25th April, 1970.

Ever since, fans have speculated as to the meaning of its lyrics and the nature of the crumbled relationship within. “That night on our honeymoon / We stayed in separate rooms,” Payne sings. Was he...

Two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda expanded her repertoire beyond acting and activism into exercise videos on 24th April, 1982, with the release of her bestselling aerobics VHS, "Workout." 

What seemed like a small venture at the time swiftly captivated the nation, revolutionising fitness trends and catapulting household VCR ownership. Extraordinarily, all profits from the enterprise went to her and her husband’s leftist pressure...

On 23 April 2005, software engineer Jawed Karim posted an 18-second clip of himself standing in front of some elephants at the San Diego Zoo – a video which is largely unremarkable, except for the fact it was the first ever clip uploaded to the site Karim cofounded: YouTube.

The video has since received 260 million views, 13 million likes, and 11 million comments. Not bad for a clip whose only interesting feature is the innuendo...

Extracts from Adolf Hitler's long-lost diaries were brought to the world’s attention on 22nd April, 1983, provoking an international sensation - until they were quickly exposed for being a hoax. 

Respected World War Two historian Hugh Trevor Roper had authenticated the diaries, leading Rupert Murdoch to personally negotiate a $1.2 million serialisation in The Sunday Times, which went to press as Roper changed his mind.

In this e...

Katherine Switzer became the first woman to officially participate in the Boston Marathon on 19th April, 1967, when, disguised in a hooded sweatshirt and joggers, she ran under a race number she’d registered for without disclosing her first name. 

Her gender was revealed mid-race, prompting a bizarre fracas as co-director Jock Semple, known for his stringent adherence to tradition, attempted to forcibly remove her from the even...

Milanese Princess Bona Sforza married the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund the Old, in Krakow Cathedral on 18th April, 1518 - making her the first Italian Queen of Poland, and one of the world’s most powerful women.

There followed a 29-course wedding feast, a bawdy consummation ritual …and decades of resentment, as the Polish aristocracy came to terms with the influence she would have upon her husband’s decision-making.

In this epi...

A 335-year-long ‘war’ (in which not a single shot was fired) officially ended on 17th April, 1986, when the UK’s Dutch ambassador landed on the Isles of Scilly and declared an end to hostilities between the Netherlands and this tiny archipelago off the coast of Cornwall. 

The origins of this eccentric conflict date back to 1651, during the English Civil War, where the Dutch found themselves indirectly involved due to their supp...

When ‘Roots: The Saga of an American Family’ made novelist Alex Haley an international sensation, he revisited Juffure, Gambia - the village where he claimed his 18th-century ancestor Kunta Kinte had been captured into slavery. On 16th April, 1977, he was welcomed ‘home’ as a hero by the villagers.

But his hit novel had begun to attract criticism for blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction - a genre Haley came to refer...

Tommy Cooper's unexpected death on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre on 15th April, 1984 remains one of the saddest and most surreal moments in UK comedy history. 

Known for his slapstick humour and botched magic tricks, family favourite Cooper collapsed mid-act due to a massive heart attack. 

The audience, initially assuming it was part of his act, roared with laughter as he lay on the stage emitting what sounded like snoring...

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin left Kazakhstan for space on 12th April, 1961 - the first human to venture beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. As the rocket roared into the sky, Gagarin's now-famous exclamation of "Poyekhali!" ("Let's go!") echoed through the cockpit.

Despite the anticipation surrounding Gagarin's historic flight, the actual experience was relatively brief, lasting a mere 108 minutes. Within that fleeting wind...