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Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors
  • 4.5 (106)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED DAILY

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. From Hitler To Herbie: The VW Beetle

    21H AGO

    From Hitler To Herbie: The VW Beetle

    Between 1908 and 1927, the Ford Motor Company sold 15,007,033 Model Ts, making the car the best-selling automobile the world had ever seen. That record came to an end on the 17th February, 1972 when the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the production line. The car was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler who commissioned it almost immediately after her became chancellor of Germany in 1933. His plan was that the German public, irrespective of whether they were a doctor or a factory worker could buy a car for just 1,000 Reichsmarks which would have been around 31 weeks’ pay for the average worker. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether the Beetle is more a triumph of engineering or advertising; discuss why Ford turned down the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg, which they could have had for free; and look at how the Führer’s car came to be loved by 1960s American hippies and flower children…   Further Reading: • ‘The VW Beetle: How Hitler’s idea became a design icon’ (BBC, 2014): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130830-the-nazi-car-we-came-to-love  • ‘The world’s best-selling cars’ (Auto Express, 2022):  https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars-vans/33872/worlds-best-selling-cars  • ‘The History of Volkswagen, 'The People's Car’ (Wall Street Journal, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhH-oWHzzvQ  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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. #70s #Inventions #US Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min
  2. Write Me A Cheque

    1D AGO

    Write Me A Cheque

    High-rolling merchant Nicholas Vanacker wrote out a cheque for a hefty £400 on 16th February, 1659 - one of the earliest modern cheques still preserved today. For goldsmiths-to-the-aristocracy Morris and Clayton, the innovation wasn’t just about ease; it was a strategic move to reduce risk and maximize profit, even though the process involved clerks physically visiting other banks to balance accounts. Eventually, in the 1770s, bankers got smart and started meeting at the Five Bells pub in Lombard Street to settle transactions over a pint—probably the most British way to handle financial exchanges… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track the history of the cheque through ancient civilizations; argue over the etymology of the word (French vs. Persian); and reminisce about the glory days of the cheque - the 1990s… Further Reading: • ‘16 February 1659: the first British cheque’ (MoneyWeek, 2021): https://moneyweek.com/426390/16-february-1659-the-first-british-cheque-is-issued • ’From the archives: the evolution of the cheque’ (Barclays, 2016): https://home.barclays/news/2016/08/evolution-of-the-cheque/ • ’How to Write a Check’ (Howcast, 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIZWqIv_flA 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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min

  3. 2D AGO · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    EXTRA: Granny Gets The Point

    This week’s bonus bit, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, is almost as long as the episode itself… which shows just how much we had to say about Britain going decimal. Who knew? You can make the experience EVEN LONGER if you watch the full, 35-minute public information film from 1971, Granny Gets The Point, first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqyasugti68 Enjoy - and thanks for supporting the show!

    9 min
  4. Sunday Special: Let's Get Decimal 🪙

    2D AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Sunday Special: Let's Get Decimal 🪙

    Pounds, shillings and pence made way for a decimal system on 15th February, 1971, ending a monetary structure that had shaped everyday British life for centuries. It was Decimal Day: not the end of the pound itself, but the end of our bewildering way of counting it. Three new coins were introduced overnight: the halfpenny, penny and two-pence piece. Larger decimal coins had already been eased into circulation during the late 1960s; the five- and ten-pence coins directly replaced the shilling and two shillings, while the seven-sided 50p had taken over from the ten-shilling note. This gradualism mattered: people could anchor the unfamiliar to the familiar, even if the logic of “new shillings” and “old pence” remained deeply confusing, particularly for older generations who had grown up fluent in the old system. The change was meticulously planned. Banks closed, shops displayed conversion charts, and prices were shown in both old and new money. For a transitional period, many retailers accepted both currencies, though they gave change only in decimal coins - a quiet but effective way of draining old money from circulation. In this Sunday Special, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track the roots of ‘old money’ back nearly two millennia to Roman currency and weights; discover how the decimalisation of British colonies such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand accelerated the UK’s adoption of new pennies; and thrill to the musical magic that is Max Bygraves’ little-remembered public information single ‘Decimalisation’... Further Reading: • ‘Decimal Day 1971: New coins replace pounds, shillings and pence’ (BBC, 2024): https://www.bbc.co.uk/articles/c7224g3gjm6o • ‘‘Decimal Day’ 50 years on: when Britain’s money changed forever’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/decimal-day-50-years-britains-money-changed-forever/ • ‘Max Bygraves - Decimalisation’ (1970, Pye): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncZihiuztvg #Economics #70s #UK 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 2026.

    11 min
  5. The Jamaican Bobsled Team

    4D AGO

    The Jamaican Bobsled Team

    The Winter Olympics kicked off in Calgary on 13th February, 1988 - but the stand-out stars of the event did not qualify for a medal. Rather, the four-man Jamaican Bobsled team - who would later become (unreliably) immortalised in the Disney comedy ‘Cool Runnings’ - became a testament to the intersection of determination, investment, and sporting excellence. The brainchild of Americans George Fitch and William Maloney, the concept was influenced by Jamaica's annual Pushcart Derby, and supported in part by the Tourist Board. Participants, including helicopter pilot Dudley Stokes, were recruited via the pair’s connections to the Jamaican military. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pick out fact from fiction in the Hollywood retelling of the saga; consider the legacy of Jamaica’s first-time involvement with this cold-weather sport; and reveal how reggae music really did help the team make it to the competition…  Further Reading: • 'I Was in The Jamaican Bobsled Team That Inspired 'Cool Runnings'' (Newsweek, 2022): https://www.newsweek.com/i-was-jamaican-bobsled-team-that-inspired-cool-runnings-1675732 • ‘Jamaican bobsleigh team: Everything you need to know about Cool Runnings, the 1988 Olympic Games, and more’ (Olympics, 2021): https://olympics.com/en/news/jamaican-bobsleigh-team-1988-winter-olympics • ‘Jamaican Bobsleigh Team Debut At Calgary Winter Olympics’ (Olympics, 1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm4DjRcmoPY We'll be back on Monday - unless you join CLUB RETROSPECTORS, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min
  6. Malcolm X in Smethwick

    5D AGO

    Malcolm X in Smethwick

    Just nine days before he was assassinated, Malcolm X visited an unlikely place on 12th February, 1965: Smethwick, the industrial suburb of Birmingham that had recently gained a grim reputation as ‘the most racist town in Britain’.  Having been refused entry to France, Malcolm X had been speaking at the London School of Economics when he was invited by Avtar Singh Jouhl of the Indian Workers’ Association to come to Smethwick’s Marshall Street, an ordinary residential road which had become a flashpoint for informal housing segregation.  White residents shouted racist abuse at him. He saw signs advertising jobs declaring “coloured people need not apply”. He went to the Blue Gates pub, where a ‘colour bar’ restricted service to non-white customers. After being denied service, he remarked that Smethwick felt “worse than America”. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the toxic politics of the 1964 general election, in which the notorious “If you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour” slogan had surfaced in Smethwick; explain how the Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths entered Parliament under a cloud, with Prime Minister Harold Wilson labelling him a “parliamentary leper”; and consider how, just weeks before the Race Relations Act 1965 would ban discrimination in public places, Malcolm X’s visit to Smethwick took place at pivotal moment in British race relations… CONTENT WARNING: racism, historical racist terminology Further Reading: • ‘The day Malcolm X came to Smethwick 60 years ago’ (BBC News, 2025): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8yy312xkxo • ‘Malcolm X in “the most racist town in Britain” (Black Country Living Museum): https://bclm.com/our-museum/blog/malcolm-x-in-the-most-racist-town-in-britain/ • ‘Malcolm X: 60 years on from special Smethwick visit’ (ITV, 2025): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eLVik05Wrs #UK #60s #Black #Racism  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 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    14 min
  7. The Urinary Leash

    6D AGO

    The Urinary Leash

    The first women’s public toilets in London opened on Bedford St on 11th February, 1852 - attempting to capitalize on the success of George Jennings’ ‘monkey closets’, used by over 800,000 visitors to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Unfortunately, even though the facility had been fought for by campaigning women’s sanitary organizations, middle and upper class Victorian ladies were not yet prepared to pee in public - and the toilets closed a year later. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain where the phrase ‘spending a penny’ (probably) comes from; reveal why ‘the urinary leash’ came to describe the predicament of women’s lives; and investigate why the number of 21st century public toilets continues to fall…  Further Reading: • ‘Pamphlets of the Ladies Sanitary Association’ (Wellcome Collection): https://wellcomecollection.org/works?query=%22Ladies+Sanitary+Association.%22 • ‘London's long-term lav affair: A history of public toilets in the capital’ (BBC News, 2022): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-59785477 • ‘Victorian realities - how did they use the toilet??!’ (Prior Attire, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHeSTDv_24 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2022. #1800s #Victorian #Sexism #Inventions #Funny #UK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 min
  8. Meet Tom and Jerry

    FEB 10

    Meet Tom and Jerry

    Hanna-Barbera’s classic cat-and-mouse cartoon series Tom and Jerry kicked off when their debut short, ‘Puss Gets The Boot’, was released by MGM on 10th February, 1940.  But, at that time, the stars of the film were known as ‘Jasper and Jinx’. And studio bosses very nearly canned the whole concept - until the audience feedback, and awards nominations, started rolling in… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the chase-based slapstick of this hilariously violent double act empowered MGM to rival the might of Disney and Warner Bros; reveal how Tom and Jerry got their names; and explain how the racist depiction of ‘Mammy Two Shoes’ evolved from an African-American caricature into an Irish one…  Further Reading: • ‘The 50 MGM Films that Transformed Hollywood - Triumphs, Blockbusters, and Fiascos, By Steven Bingen’ (Lyons Press, 2022): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_50_MGM_Films_that_Transformed_Hollyw/bYh0EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Puss+Gets+the+Boot&pg=PA87&printsec=frontcover • ‘The Untold Truth Of Tom And Jerry’ (Looper, 2020): https://www.looper.com/196800/the-untold-truth-of-tom-and-jerry/ • ‘Puss Gets the Boot’ (MGM, 1940): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHulAQmdqI 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 2026. This episode originally aired in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 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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