Today In History with The Retrospectors The Retrospectors

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 not considered the standout from the album: everyone thought the Valentine’s-themed ballad ‘Be Careful, It's My Heart’ had a better chance of chart success.
The songwriter, Irving Berlin, was perhaps not an obvious person to pen the quintessential American Christmas song, given that he was a Russian-born Jew, who had never celebrated the holiday until his arrival in the United States. But the record’s airplay on US Army overseas radio stations during World War II struck a chord with homesick soldiers, and helped embed the tune deeply into the American psyche.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal why the version you’re almost certainly thinking of is NOT the version with which Bing initally topped the charts; unpick the confusing Russian Doll stack of genres into which the song has been repurposed; and explain why Berlin’s Oscar win became a pivotal moment in the Academy Awards ceremony… 
Further Reading:
• ‘'White Christmas' at 75: A Snapshot of the Most Successful Song In Music History’ (Billboard, 2017): https://www.billboard.com/culture/lifestyle/white-christmas-bing-crosby-history-8071111/#!
• ‘Is White Christmas the Best Popular Song Ever Written?’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/is-white-christmas-the-best-popular-song-ever-written-165989545/
• ‘Holiday Inn | Bing Crosby Sings "White Christmas"’ (Universal Pictures, 1942): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ36gbGlm8Y
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‘Miracle babies’ the Dionne Quintuplets - Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie, the first known quintuplets to survive infancy - born on 28th May, 1934 in rural Canada.
Fearing private exploitation, the Ontario government removed them from their parents and placed them in a specially built hospital under the care of Dr Allan Roy Dafoe, who had delivered them. Oliva Dionne fought a nine-year battle to regain them. In the interval, they became the country’s biggest tourist attraction, as three million visitors flocked to “Quintland” to watch the babies at play behind a one-way screen.
In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal how news of the quints’ birth spread so very quickly; explain the tragic events of their eventual reunion with their parents; and ask whether a ‘child zoo’ could ever happen in our more enlightened age…
Further Reading:
‘Dionne Quintuplets: Inside The $500 Million "Freak Show" Of Mid-1900s Canada’ (All That’s Interesting, 2016): https://allthatsinteresting.com/dionne-quintuplets‘Whatever Happened to the Dionne Quintuplets? - Canada's First Quintuplets’ (Country Living, 2017): https://www.countryliving.com/life/kids-pets/a42542/dionne-quintuplets/‘Miracle Babies - The Story of the Dionne Quintuplets’ (BBC, 1998): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GTAWlfjssY&t=2461s
This episode first premiered in 2023, 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 2024.


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In this week’s Sunday’s episode, exclusively for 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the major political upheaval that befell Italy on 26th May, 1981, when Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his entire cabinet resigned.

This followed the exposure of a secretive Masonic lodge, known as P2 or Propaganda Due, intent on creating a shadowy state-within-a-state. Its 962 elite members included high-ranking military officers, civil servants, bankers, and a certain Silvio Berlusconi.

The mastermind behind the sect, Licio Gelli, was a former fascist functionary who had reinvented himself as a powerful and well-connected businessman. Gelli fled to Switzerland, but despite being eventually arrested and later extradited to Italy, spent no time behind bars.

In this episode, The Retrospectors unpick the involvement of ‘God’s Banker’, Roberto Calvi; consider Gelli’s lengthy involvement with fascism; and discover a surprising use for old flowerpots…

Further Reading:
• ‘Licio Gelli, fascist and masonic chief’ (FT, 2015): https://www.ft.com/content/7d3fdd08-a418-11e5-8218-6b8ff73aae15
• ‘Licio Gelli: Businessman who became the 'puppet master' of the sinister right-wing organisation, P2 (The Independent, 2015):
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/licio-gelli-businessman-who-became-the-puppet-master-of-the-sinister-rightwing-organisation-p2-a6783576.html
• ‘PBS Newshour’ (PBS, 1981): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3yV8L3s7QQ

Rerun: Spectacle, camp and glamour were NOT on the agenda in Lugano, Switzerland on 24th May, 1956: the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast mostly on the radio, and featured a whistling duo as its interval act. Who had to perform twice.
Voting controversy, however, was enshrined in the institution right from the outset - as Judges were permitted to award points to their own nations, and vote in absentia.
In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion reveal which countries have most consistently scored the famous ‘nul points’; consider why the future of the contest seems to lie Eastwards, and revisit Israel’s entry from 1999, ‘Happy Birthday’...
Further Reading:
• Lys Assia wins the first Eurovision for Switzerland: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyqIPvOkiRk
• Facts and Figures from the 1956 contest at the official Eurovision website:
https://eurovision.tv/event/lugano-1956
• Full list of 1956 voting and points from Eurovisionworld:
https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/1956
‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’
Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday… 
… But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️


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Rerun: Throwing people out of windows might seem a peculiar way to protest, but it’s happened so often in history, it’s got a special name: defenestration. And perhaps the most significant of all - because it brought about the Thirty Years War - was the assault on three Habsburg officials by Bohemian malcontents in Prague on 23rd May, 1618.
The dispute had kicked off when Ferdinand II refused permission for some Protestants to build a new place of worship on a piece of land - and then granted it to Catholics instead. Dick move.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether ‘a bloodthirsty mob of Christians’ is a contradiction in terms; explain why 1618 was a bad year to take a secretarial job; and how, despite triggering the bloodiest war yet seen in Europe, Ferdinand II still managed to insert humour into proceedings… 
Further Reading:
• ‘Defenestration: The Bloody History Of Throwing People Out Of A Window’ (All That’s Interesting, 2022): https://allthatsinteresting.com/defenestration
• ‘What Happened At The 1618 Defenestration of Prague?’ (History Extra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/1618-defenestration-prague-facts-history-explained-what-happened-why-castle-protestant-catholic/
• ‘The 30 Years' War (1618-48) and the Second Defenestration of Prague - Professor Peter Wilson’ (Gresham College, 2018):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vxXfy09EA&t=134s
‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’
Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday… 
… But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

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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. Yet just one question brought everything to a halt: "Who are you?". 
A wide-eyed girl in Lewis's entourage answered: Myra Gale Brown, his wife. But she was only 13 years old. As if this wasn’t scandal enough… she was also his cousin, and their marriage was bigamous. The press exploded with these revelations, turning what was meant to be a triumphant tour into a public relations disaster.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pore over the disturbing details of Lewis’s tumultuous private life; consider whether he was on the path to equalling Elvis’s stardom in the UK, had this matter not come to light; and fruitlessly search the singer’s interviews for a later sense of contrition… 
Further Reading:
• ‘Myra Williams talks about marriage at age 13 to Jerry Lee Lewis’ (Los Angeles Times, 2022): https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-10-29/jerry-lee-lewis-myra-brown-williams-marriage-13-cousin
• ‘Inside The Disturbing Marriage Of Jerry Lee Lewis To His 13-Year-Old Cousin’ (All That’s Interesting, 2022): https://allthatsinteresting.com/myra-gale-brown-jerry-lee-lewis
• ’Jerry Lee Lewis Interview with 13 year old wife’ (1958): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwbty1kRCG0
CONTENT WARNING: domestic abuse, violence, child sexual abuse.
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 ❤️


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