Today In History with The Retrospectors
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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...
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The First Tour De France 🚲
Around sixty cyclists set off from a café in Montgeron, just outside Paris, on 1st July, 1903: the start of the first ever Tour de France.
Debating Darwin's Theory
Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, were among the prominent figures discussing Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution at the Oxford...
When Kubrick Met Spielberg
After nearly three decades of development, A.I. Artificial Intelligence finally had a theatrical release on 29th June, 2001. Written and directed by S...
The Real Pied Piper
What happened to the 130 children that went missing from the town of Hamlein, Lower Saxony on 26th June, 1284? According to legend, a vindictive ‘Pied...
Introducing... The Fork
The fork had only recently received Royal approval in Britain when it was gifted to the Governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, on 25th June, 1633.<...
Henry VIII's 'Ugly Wife'
Anne of Cleves was dumped by her profligate husband Henry VIII on 24th June, 1540, when she was summoned to Richmond Palace and asked to accept an ann...
Bobbitt
Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis with a kitchen knife while he was asleep in their apartment in Manassas, Virginia on 23r...
I Invented The Donut 🍩
Sea Captain Hanson Gregory claimed to have first cut a hole in a donut on 22nd June, 1847, sparking an American tradition: the nation now consumes ten...
Making The Metropolitan Police
Sir Robert Peel received royal assent for the Metropolis Police Improvement Bill on 19th June, 1829 - leading to the creation of London's first profes...
The Town Disney Built
Designed by Imagineers, and located on the outskirts of Walt Disney World, the town of Celebration, Florida welcomed its first residents on 18th June,...
O.J. Simpson's Car Chase
O.J. Simpson, wanted for questioning over the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, was followed by both the LAPD an...
Humanity Dick and the RSPCA
The world’s first animal charity, the RSPCA, was set up on June 16th, 1824, by a small group of men who met in Old Slaughter’s Coffee House in St. Mar...
Dante Gets Political
Future poetic powerhouse Dante Alighieri was enshrined as one of Florence’s six priors on 15th June, 1300: a top political gig in the city’s complex g...
Meet Me At The Automat
Before McDonalds, there was the Horn & Hardart Automat - a chain restaurant featuring coin-operated glass windows, which opened its first branch in P...
Chuck Berry v the IRS
It was the THIRD time behind bars for legendary rock n’ roller Chuck Berry when he was found to have dodged $110,000 in income tax on 11th June, 1979....
Benjamin Franklin's Kite 🪁⚡
Benjamin Franklin’s legendary ‘kite experiment’ supposedly took place on 10th June, 1752, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the traditional...
The Day Nero Died
Nero, the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, killed himself on 9th June AD 68. Having fled Rome to a suburban villa after being declared a ‘...
Who You Gonna Call?
‘Ghostbusters’ opened in US cinemas on 8th June, 1984, quickly becoming the highest-grossing comedy of all time.
The brainchild of SNL’s...
When Lovelace Met Babbage
When Lord Byron’s 17 year-old daughter, Ada Lovelace, attended a soirée at the home of academic Charles Babbage on 5th June, 1833, the pair hit it off...
Crazy Frog v Coldplay
‘The Annoying Thing’ is how the begenitaled amphibian animated by Erik Wernquist was first described; but by the time he released his first single ‘Ax...
The Zoot Suit Riots
Los Angeles erupted in racist violence on 3rd June, 1943 in a week of riots that exposed deep tensions in wartime America.
California’s M...
Who Invented The Telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson made an important discovery, by accident, on June 2, 1875. While working on their ‘harmonic telegraph’. Watson...
Nepal's Royal Bloodbath
Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire on his whole family at a family dinner at Kathmandu’s Narayanhiti Palace on 1st June, 2001. He killed nine royals, i...
Recording 'White Christmas'
Bing Crosby recorded the biggest-selling single of all time, ‘White Christmas’, on 29th May, 1942. The session took just 18 minutes, and the song was...
Super Mario Bros - The First Videogame Movie
Before ‘Tomb Raider’, before ‘Mortal Kombat’, before ‘Street Fighter’, there was something even WORSE. ‘Super Mario Bros’ - which opened in the United...
The Prime Minister's Duel
William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister when he and opposition MP George Tierney fought a duel on Sunday, 27th May 1798 on London’s Putney Heath. ...
When Australia Said Sorry
A coalition of Australian community groups came together on May 26th, 1998 for the country’s first “National Sorry Day”, an annual day of atonement fo...
America's Longest Line
Hands Across America, a human chain from New York to California was formed on 25th May, 1986, in an attempt to raise awareness and funds for domestic...
Jerry Lee Lewis's Child Bride
When Jerry Lee Lewis landed at Heathrow Airport for his first UK tour on 22nd May, 1958, he was met with a flurry of journalists eager for a scoop. Ye...
Greyhound Hits The Road
When Carl Wickman started America’s first bus company on 21st May, 1914, they weren’t a bus company, and they weren’t called Greyhound - they were a c...
Make Me Some Levi's
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a US patent for reinforcing work trousers with copper rivets on 20th May 1873; an innovation that would eventual...
Fox's 'Glee' Gambit
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s musical comedy-drama ‘Glee’ was first screened on Fox on May 19th, 2009. In a strategy to whip up excitement before the...
How Shrek Changed Hollywood
Dreamworks’ irreverent animated comedy Shrek opened in 3,500 U.S. theaters on 18th May, 2001 - dethroning The Mummy Returns with a $42 million opening...
The Unkillable King George
George III narrowly dodged a bullet for the SECOND time in one day on 15th May, 1800, as he attended a performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. ...
America's Last Witchtrial
Can ‘mesmeric’ mental powers harm you from afar? Well, no. But that didn’t stop Lucretia L. S. Brown accusing fellow Christian Scientist Daniel H. Spo...
The Man Who Shot The Pope
Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square on 13th May 1981, in front of thousands of pilgrims attending his weekly general audience. Struck mul...
Richard I's Awkward Wedding Night
Richard the Lionheart was a bachelor into his thirties, but finally got hitched on May 12th, 1191, at the Chapel of St. George at Limassol, Cyprus. Hi...
Dynasty's Flamboyant Finale
With big hair, big drama, and even bigger shoulder pads, Aaron Spelling’s primetime soap-opera ‘Dynasty’ defined the 1980s. But, by May 11th, 1989, th...
Cocaine + Caffeine = Coca-Cola
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 addi...
The Return Of 'The Scream'
The theft of Edvard Munch’s iconic painting ‘The Scream’ sullied the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer - but, on 7th May, 1994, the ic...