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Today In History with The Retrospectors

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.

  1. 10 HR AGO

    Houdini's Last Escape

    Harry Houdini survived 91 minutes in an underwater coffin at the Shelton Hotel, New York on 5th August, 1926.  The stunt had been arranged to counter the claims of Hindu mystic Rahman Bey, who said spiritualism was the only way to survive being buried alive. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review the spat between Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle; reveal the ‘code’ Houdini had promised his wife Beth he’d use if contacting her from beyond the grave; and consider whether vengeful psychic fraudsters were responsible for his death… Further Reading: • ‘How Houdini Stayed in an Underwater Coffin for 90 Minutes’ (Mental Floss, 2016): https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/83075/how-houdini-stayed-underwater-coffin-90-minutes • ‘The Hotel Shelton pool in color’ (Wild About Houdini, 2015): https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2015/07/the-hotel-shelton-pool-in-color.html • ‘5 Things You May Not Have Known About Houdini’ (Top5s, 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiZj4xZTL-Y this episode first aired in 2021 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

    11 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    Bekonscot: Britain In Miniature

    The world’s first model village, Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire, had its initial public open day on 4th August, 1929. Begun as a personal project of accountant Roland Callingham, the attraction continues to capture the hearts of visitors with its intricate details and nostalgic charm. Callingham, a model railway enthusiast, created Bekonscot in his back garden; constructing an entire town to serve his model trains, featuring multiple stations, a butcher, baker, and circus big top. Initially created for private enjoyment, it was officially opened to the public by Princess Elizabeth in 1934, and was modified during World War II to feature tiny air raid wardens and wartime street scenes. Since the 90s, it has been architecturally preserved in its 1930s heyday. This 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

    13 min

  3. 1 DAY AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Bekonscot: Britain In Miniature

    The world’s first model village, Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire, had its initial public open day on 4th August, 1929. Begun as a personal project of accountant Roland Callingham, the attraction continues to capture the hearts of visitors with its intricate details and nostalgic charm. Callingham, a model railway enthusiast, created Bekonscot in his back garden; constructing an entire town to serve his model trains, featuring multiple stations, a butcher, baker, and circus big top. Initially created for private enjoyment, it was officially opened to the public by Princess Elizabeth in 1934, and was modified during World War II to feature tiny air raid wardens and wartime street scenes. Since the 90s, it has been architecturally preserved in its 1930s heyday. This episode first aired in 2024 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.

    11 min

  4. 2 DAYS AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Sunday Special: Virginia Woolf's Diary

    Virginia Woolf returned to her journal after a two-year hiatus on 3rd August, 1917. In the gap, she had suffered a major mental breakdown, attempted suicide, and been under intense medical supervision. Her rural retreat at Asheham in Sussex became both her sanctuary and a kind of nature-fueled therapy zone where she convalesced under a strict routine of “bed, walk, bed.” Woolf's diary captures everything—creative breakthroughs, emotional collapses, what she had for lunch, and who annoyed her that week - from mundane observations to reflections on depression and mortality. She compared her journaling to practicing musical scales, a creative warm-up: one day she’s raving about Eliot and fretting about Joyce, and the next she’s lamenting a lack of eggs. Through it all, we see a mind battling itself: sharp, self-aware, and constantly asking, what’s the point of all this? In this Sunday episode, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, Arion, Rebecca and Olly dig out some warts-and-all passages for scrutiny; explain how archivists literally had to stick certain bits back together again; and ask how Woolf would fare as a twenty-first century micro-blogger… Content Warning: suicide, clinical depression, eugenics. Further Reading: • ‘Virginia Woolf’s living book’ (New Statesman, 2023): https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/07/virginia-woolfs-diaries-review • ‘Discover the Bloomsbury Group's connection to Sussex’ (Great British Life, 2021): https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/sussex/22568606.discover-bloomsbury-groups-connection-sussex/ • ‘The Recorded Voice Of Virginia Woolf’ (BBC, 1937): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8czs8v6PuI 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.

    11 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    The First Michelin Guide

    Andre and Edouard Michelin published their first Guide on 1st August, 1900. Now recognised as  the gold standard in luxury restaurant reviews, the original guide was primarily created to encourage demand for automobiles - and, therefore, Michelin tyres. At the time, there were fewer than 3,000 cars on French roads. Nearly 35,000 copies of this first, free edition of the guide were distributed, providing information to motorists including maps, tyre repair and replacement instructions, car mechanics listings, hotels, and petrol stations throughout France. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the Michelin mascot, Bibendum, is white; reveal the levels of secrecy expected of Michelin’s restaurant inspectors; and consider why Japan ranks second to France in its star ratings…  Further Reading: • ‘The ingenious story behind Michelin stars’ (BBC Travel, 2018): https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181024-the-ingenious-story-behind-michelin-stars • ‘What’s wrong with the Michelin guide?’ (Financial Times, 2021): https://www.ft.com/content/e622ec53-ea9f-487a-a434-747f13f5ffa0 •’How the Michelin Guide rates restaurants’ (CBS Sunday Morning, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tceSuaTbcU8 This 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

    12 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    The Great Rum Debate

    The Royal Navy were issued with their final daily ration of rum - ending a tradition of more than 300 years - on July 31, 1970. The day became known as ‘Black Tot Day’. The demise of the long-standing tradition was mainly due to safety concerns, following fears surrounding the more complex technology now in operation across the Navy. To show their disappointment, some sailors wore black armbands. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace back the origins of this quaint custom; explain why spirits had taken the place of beer on boats; and marvel at footage of sailors who were clearly ‘pissed, in both senses of the word’...  Further Reading: • ‘Black Tot Day: rum rations for sailors abolished 45 years ago today’ (Daily Telegraph, 2015): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10210966/What-became-of-the-drunken-sailor.html • ‘Black Tot Day: The end of the rum ration’ (Forces Net, 2022): https://www.forces.net/services/navy/black-tot-day-end-rum-ration • ‘Black Tot Day (End of the Royal Navy Rum Ration)’ (ITN, 1970): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gh5PCghfbs This 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

    13 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    Where's Jimmy Hoffa?

    Union boss Jimmy Hoffa left his Michigan home for what was supposed to be a peace summit with mobsters Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone on 30th July, 1975. He never returned home. But Hoffa was much more than just a Mafia stooge. He’d been involved in labour unions from the age of fourteen, rapidly rising through the ranks to become president of the powerful Teamsters Union by 1957. Under his leadership, the union ballooned to over 2 million members. And with great power came great corruption; Hoffa’s close ties to organised crime eventually landing him in federal prison for bribery and fraud. In this episode, Rebecca, Arion and Olly explain why Hoffa’s intended memoir may have spurred the Mob on to silence him; discover how his father’s death led him into activism; and ponder whether it is *ever* a good idea to meet up in a parking lot…  Further Reading: • ‘Seven Years Later, Jimmy Hoffa Case Is Still a Mystery’ (The Washington Post, 1982): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/07/31/seven-years-later-jimmy-hoffa-case-is-still-a-mystery/3ed452a7-78e4-4785-8eef-dd9a0a5782cb/ • ‘Jimmy Hoffa's Disappearance: What Really Happened To Him?’ (All Thats Interesting, 2024): https://allthatsinteresting.com/jimmy-hoffa-death • ‘The Irishman’ (Netflix, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouLiC3oMHmE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  8. 6 DAYS AGO · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    EXTRA: The Get Hoffa Squad

    Where is Jimmy Hoffa’s body? Theories about his final resting place range from New Jersey landfills to beneath Giants Stadium, as Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal in this bonus bit, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon. Thanks for supporting the show!

    4 min
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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.

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