Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors
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Today In History with The Retrospectors
CLUB RETROSPECTORS

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Best Daily Podcast (British Podcast Awards 2023 nominee). Ten minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. It's history, but not as you know it! New eps Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs/Fri; Sunday exclusives at Patreon.com/Retrospectors and for Apple Subscribers.

  1. 17 HR AGO

    Meet Sherlock Holmes

    Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published on 14th October, 1892, was the collection of 12 stories that took his much-loved titular detective from the pages of magazine serials and on to the world’s bookshelves. The inspiration for Holmes, who solves crimes through science rather than chance, came from Dr. Joseph Bell, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, who impressed Conan Doyle with his keen powers of deduction. The progressive edge to the stories also set them apart, as Holmes often fought for the powerless, helping stepdaughters, servants, and others who were mistreated. Yet, despite the public’s adoration, Conan Doyle grew tired of writing about Holmes. By 1893, he’d had enough and wrote Holmes off, literally, by pushing him down a waterfall in a confrontation with Moriarty. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the public backlash to Holmes’s death lead to his reluctant resurrection; consider how Holmes came to be pictured with his distinctive pipe; and reveal Conan Doyle’s frustrations that this highly successful side hustle completely overtook his medical career… Further Reading: • ’The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ (Arthur Conan Doyle, 1892): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661-h/1661-h.htm • ‘How Arthur Conan Doyle Plotted Against Sherlock Holmes’ (History Collection, 2020): https://historycollection.com/how-arthur-conan-doyle-plotted-against-sherlock-holmes/ • ‘Stephen Fry on Celebrity Mastermind: Sherlock Holmes’ (BBC, 2003): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdxafxQe-Bc 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 ❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Suffragettes... in the House!

    Margaret Travers Symons was the first woman to make herself heard in the British House of Commons - albeit without permission - on 13th October, 1908. During a tour of Westminster, the suffragette campaigner escaped her escort and interrupted a debate on children’s issues, making a bold demand for votes for women. Meanwhile, outside Parliament, some 60,000 people were protesting for the cause. Symons’ act of defiance occurred during a pivotal time for the women’s suffrage movement. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst, were turning to ever-more extreme and direct forms of action, in pursuit of their motto of ‘Deeds, not Words’. In this week’s Sunday’s episode, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the movement then escalated into acts of vandalism, arson, and even bombings; consider just how ‘equal’ equal voting rights were when they finally arrived; and discover the day suffragettes dispatched the grille on Parliament’s ‘women’s gallery’ in spectacular style… Further Reading: • ‘First woman to speak in UK parliament’ (Bangladesh Post, 2019): https://bangladeshpost.net/posts/first-woman-to-speak-in-uk-parliament-14420 • ’Suffragettes History Facts: A Guide To The Votes for Women Campaigners’ (HistoryExtra, 2024): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-suffragettes/ • ’Suffragettes vs Suffragists: Did violent protest get women the vote?’ (Channel 4 News, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw0IAFIhVfA

    11 min

  3. 3 DAYS AGO

    Branson's Cola Gamble

    Rerun: Virgin Cola, Sir Richard Branson’s ultimately flawed contender in the Cola Wars, was certainly taken seriously by the competition. On 11th October 1994, a pokerfaced Coca-Cola spokesperson told The Independent: “Consumers consistently demonstrate, when given a free choice, that they prefer our product. ”Despite an extensive publicity campaign - including a stunt in Times Square, a bottle shaped like Pamela Anderson, and product placement on ‘Friends’ - the beverage never took off internationally, but did have success in the UK and Bangladesh, before being discontinued in 2009. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider Coke’s ‘gangster’ tactics; sympathise with Branson’s children and their classmates; and question why the maverick billionaire just wasn’t able to disrupt the cola market as he’d hoped… Further Reading: • ‘How Richard Branson Took On Coca-Cola’ (Intrigue Academy, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-PaJkPTQYk • ‘What Richard Branson learned when Coke put Virgin Cola out of business’ (CNBC, 2017): https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/07/what-richard-branson-learned-when-coke-put-virgin-cola-out-of-business.html • ‘Sir Richard Branson’s setbacks: from Virgin Cola to Virgin Brides’ (The Guardian, 2014): https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/06/sir-richard-branson-failures-vigin-cola-brides ‘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 ❤️ 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: Emma Corsham. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Branson's Cola Gamble

    Rerun: Virgin Cola, Sir Richard Branson’s ultimately flawed contender in the Cola Wars, was certainly taken seriously by the competition. On 11th October 1994, a pokerfaced Coca-Cola spokesperson told The Independent: “Consumers consistently demonstrate, when given a free choice, that they prefer our product. ”Despite an extensive publicity campaign - including a stunt in Times Square, a bottle shaped like Pamela Anderson, and product placement on ‘Friends’ - the beverage never took off internationally, but did have success in the UK and Bangladesh, before being discontinued in 2009. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider Coke’s ‘gangster’ tactics; sympathise with Branson’s children and their classmates; and question why the maverick billionaire just wasn’t able to disrupt the cola market as he’d hoped… Further Reading: • ‘How Richard Branson Took On Coca-Cola’ (Intrigue Academy, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-PaJkPTQYk • ‘What Richard Branson learned when Coke put Virgin Cola out of business’ (CNBC, 2017): https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/07/what-richard-branson-learned-when-coke-put-virgin-cola-out-of-business.html • ‘Sir Richard Branson’s setbacks: from Virgin Cola to Virgin Brides’ (The Guardian, 2014): https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/06/sir-richard-branson-failures-vigin-cola-brides 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 2024.

    9 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    The Smell of the Big Screen

    Rerun: Scent-o-Vision, an in-cinema olfactory experience, was unveiled at the New York World’s Fair on 10th October, 1940. Accompanying a short film ‘My Dream’, its Swiss inventor, Hans Laube, pumped in aromas of rose water, peaches and burning incense for his wowed attendees to sniff. But it would be two decades before the technology was finally put into a feature film - Mike Todd, Jr’s ‘Scent of Mystery’, in 1960 - and never used again. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the 50’s battle of the ‘smellaroo pix’, as Todd’s re-named ‘Smell-o-Vision’ took on the rival ‘Smell-O-Rama’; explore why theme parks ultimately provided the best platform for the theory in practice; and consider what happens when an audience experiences ‘olfactory fatigue’...  Image source Carmen Laube Further Reading: • ‘Smell-O-Vision: That Movie Really Did Stink!’ (Neatorama, 2015): https://www.neatorama.com/2015/04/27/Smell-O-Vision-That-Movie-Really-Did-Stink/ • ‘Rare pictures from the 1939 New York World's Fair’ (Rare Historical Photos, 2021): https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/1939-new-york-world-fair/ • ‘Trailer: Scent of Mystery’ (1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7jNGsLEn2U ‘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 ❤️ 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: Emma Corsham. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  6. 6 DAYS AGO

    The World's First Constitution

    The world's oldest oldest continuously surviving constitution, was adopted in the tiny country of San Marino on 8th October, 1600. This was a good 187 years before the United States adopted its own constitution and, during his presidency, Abraham Lincoln frequently held San Marino up as the model of a government founded on republican principles. Such ongoing praise eventually earnt the US president honorary San Marino citizenship! In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain what an "Extraordinarium" is;  discuss why most of the rest of the world had to wait almost two hundred years before they had their own constitutional moment; and reveal that the world's first parliament was created by vikings… Further Reading: • ‘The Constitution of San Marino-Oldest and Active written Constitution of the World’ (FYI, 2021): https://vocal.media/fyi/the-constitution-of-san-marino-oldest-and-active-written-constitution-of-the-world  • ‘San Marino is founded by Saint Marinus’ (The Centre of the Rule of Law, 2021): https://www.thecenterforruleoflaw.org/rule-of-law-blog/september-3-301-san-marino-one-of-the-smallest-nations-in-the-world-and-the-worlds-oldest-republic-still-in-existence-is-founded-by-saint-marinus-or-maybe-its-one-of-the-newest-nations-at-just-48-years-old-wait-what  • ‘Why is San Marino a country? - History of San Marino in 12 Minutes’ (Knowledgia, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXxIV1IRMR4 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  7. 7 OCT

    Invasion of the Identical Twins

    A boatload of Swedish identical twins, aged 11 to 80, descended into Felixstowe on 7th October, 1977 - wearing matching outfits - for a shopping trip.  The eye-catching stunt was part of a scientific project led by ship captain Sune Dahlström, a twin himself, in collaboration with the Swedish Twin Register at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and aimed to study the similarities and differences in their behaviours. Twin studies have a long history, with dark roots in Victorian eugenics and, infamously, Nazi experiments. However, the Swedish Twin Register became a more positive force for scientific discovery, meticulously based on twin birth records from parishes across Sweden, and today holding data on nearly 100,000 pairs of twins, making it the most comprehensive collection of its kind. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly celebrate the accomplishments of the Swedish Twin Register; discover how education impacts longevity; and consider why on Earth Felixstowe, of all places, played host to this unusual event… Further Reading: • ‘“As twins we’re useful”’ (Karolinska Institutet, 2017): https://ki.se/en/research/popular-science-and-dialogue/spotlight-on/spotlight-on-participating-in-research/as-twins-were-useful • ‘Seeing Double: How History Became Obsessed With Twins’ (Google Arts & Culture): https://artsandculture.google.com/story/seeing-double-how-history-became-obsessed-with-twins/XgIiH-H78-86LQ • ‘What identical twins separated at birth teach us about genetics’ (BBC REEL, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMlJcOSRX-8 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 ❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  8. 6 OCT • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    EXTRA: Separated At Birth!

    Twins have long fascinated scientists, offering a unique way to study the interplay between genetics and environment. Identical twins, who share almost 100% of their genes, help researchers explore how different life experiences shape things like intelligence, personality, or susceptibility to diseases. This deep curiosity dates back to ancient thinkers like

    10 min
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Best Daily Podcast (British Podcast Awards 2023 nominee). Ten minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. It's history, but not as you know it! New eps Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs/Fri; Sunday exclusives at Patreon.com/Retrospectors and for Apple Subscribers.

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