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The foundations of modern copyright law were laid on 10th April 1710, when the Statute of Anne came into effect. Before the Act, anyone could copy and sell books without giving a penny to the author; now, writers would be protected from being completely exploited by (British) publishers for an initial period of 14 years.Writers like Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe had earned respect as professionals, pushing for more control over their own work, and leading to a shift away from the Stationers’ Company—a powerful guild that previously held a monopoly over publishing and censorship.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore how later writers like William Wordsworth would campaign for longer copyright duration; revisit the milestones that allowed the law to be applied to other creative endeavours, such as music and film; and reveal why you won’t be hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in many adverts for a few years yet…Further Reading:• ‘The Statute of Anne’ (British Parliament, 1710): https://ipmall.law.unh.edu/sites/default/files/hosted_resources/lipa/copyrights/Statute%20of%20Anne%20_1710_.pdf• ‘Whose line is it anyway?’ (The Sunday Times, 2012): https://www.thetimes.com/article/7c5efe43-97d5-4d9f-b53f-5444bca12a2a• ‘IP BASICS: What is Intellectual Property?’ (Intellectual Property Office UK, 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYiXTKbdNr4#Publishing #1700s #UK #LegalLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The only sitting U.S. president to ever be arrested was Ulysses S. Grant, who was busted THREE TIMES for the same crime: speeding. The first was 9th April, 1886, when he tore through Washington, D.C. in a horse-drawn buggy. General Grant scoffed at the idea of getting arrested and simply rode off: the 1860s version of flipping the bird.Grant’s love for fast horses wasn’t just a reckless hobby—it was part of his identity. Even at West Point, he was known more for his exceptional riding skills than his military prowess, and his ability to charge fearlessly into battle on horseback had made him an unstoppable force in the Civil War, leading the Union Army to victory. But back in peacetime D.C., his speed-demon tendencies weren’t quite as heroic. The streets were packed with pedestrians, and reckless buggies had already caused serious injuries, so law enforcement was cracking down.Just three months later, he was caught speeding again. This time, he played it cool, paid the fine, and didn’t cause a scene. But the real kicker came in 1872, when Grant—now a sitting U.S. president—was arrested yet again. This time, the officer in question was William West, a Black Civil War veteran turned policeman. The encounter was almost poetic: a president known for fighting for African American rights being held accountable by a Black officer who had once fought for the Union.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review the veracity of Officer West’s account, given it wasn’t published for many decades; consider why twenty women reportedly turned up to court the next day to testify against the President’s mates; and reveal how the arrests were reported very differently in the South…Further Reading:• ‘Has a U.S. President Ever Been Arrested Before? | When Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2023): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-president-ulysses-s-grant-was-arrested-for-speeding-in-a-horse-drawn-carriage-180981916/• ‘Was General Grant Arrested for Speeding in Washington, D.C.?’ (U.S. National Park Service)https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/was-general-grant-arrested-for-speeding-in-washington-d-c.htm• ‘Civil War Hero: Ulysses S. Grant was a Horse Whisperer?! | Told By Macey Hensley | History at Home’ (History, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOj0qUGpksg#Funny #Black #Crime #1800sLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The most famous armless statue of all time, ‘Venus de Milo’ was discovered by a farmer on the Aegean island of Milos on 8th April, 1829, sparking an international bidding war that saw her eventually donated to the Louvre by Louis XVIII.The French had a particular interest in snapping up a new ancient treasure, having been forced to return many priceless artefacts to their original nations following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the statue’s original blingtastic paintwork; explain why Louis XVIII’s obesity delayed its arrival in Paris; and ask what actually happened to Venus’s arms…Image: https://flickr.com/photos/sey_alg9/Further Reading:• ‘Venus de Milo: The Most Famous Armless Statue in the World’ (HowStuffWorks, 2020): https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/venus-de-milo.htm• ‘How a peasant farmer found the Venus de Milo’ (The National, 2020): https://www.thenational.scot/news/18365077.peasant-farmer-found-venus-de-milo/• ‘The conspiracy behind this famous statue’ (VOX, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs1VWuQEd7YLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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George Michael and Andew Ridgely, aka British duo Wham!, became the first Western group to play a gig in Communist China on 7th April, 1985.The event, staged at the People's Gymnasium in Beijing, was primarily a strategic move aimed at breaking the band in the United States; the brainchild of the band’s managers, Gordon Jazz Summer and Simon Napier Bell, who embarked on a series of hotel lunches with Chinese officials, gradually unveiling the proposal for Wham!'s performance.The logistical challenges were immense - requiring a jumbo jet solely dedicated to transporting equipment for the concert, and securing funding for an accompanying film from CBS. In this episode, The Retrospectors consider how the atmosphere was tempered by police presence and cultural sensitivities; reveal just why it was that the audience knew all the songs, even though they’d never heard of the band when they’d purchased their tickets; and discover how NOT to get a clap-along going during ‘Club Tropicana’... Further Reading:• ‘Wham! Play China’ (MOJO Magazine, 2023): https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/wham-play-china/• ‘When China met Wham!’ (CBC Radio, 2015): https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.3028194/when-china-met-wham-thirty-years-ago-the-band-staged-first-western-pop-concert-1.3028466• ’Wham! In China: Foreign Skies’ (Lindsahy Anderson, 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5flQd5ETILove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Gerald Holtom’s CND symbol, known internationally as the ‘peace’ symbol, made its debut at a protest march by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on 4th April, 1958. The march went from London to Aldermaston, where Britain’s nuclear weapons were and still are manufactured. Five hundred cardboard ‘lollipop sticks’ displaying the logo were produced - and it’s since scarcely been out of circulation as an anti-establishment plea for peace around the world.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly question whether Goya helped influence Holton’s iconic design; reveal how author J.B. Priestley had fermented the protests on this day; and consider the International Shoe Corporation’s dubious claim to the patent … Further Reading:• ‘The Peace Symbol: Beginnings and Evolution’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/the-peace-symbol-1779351#• ‘He gave his unforgettable work for nothing. Shouldn't the designer of the peace symbol be commemorated?’ (The Guardian, 2015): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/28/shouldnt-british-designer-gerard-holtom-of-peace-symbol-be-commemorated-paris-attacks• ‘Walter Wolfgang: 'why I marched to Aldermaston in 1958' (CND, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLqBUws7R8E#50s #UK #War #DesignLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode first aired in 2023Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Before the transcontinental telegraph, sending a message coast-to-coast in the United States could take up to a month via stagecoach. Until, that is, the opening of the Pony Express, on April 3, 1860.
Its founders, William H. Russell, William Bradford Waddell and Alexander Majors, set up over 150 relay stations along a pioneer trail, recruiting wiry teenage lone riders (‘orphans preferred’) to make the precarious trek in a record-breaking ten days.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the employment clauses insisted upon by these entrepreneurs; consider how Buffalo Bill Cody enshrined the concept in the American frontier myth for generations; and explain why, if you thought a job as a mailman sounded risky, you *really* wouldn’t want to be posted at the relay stations…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Pony Express Was Short-Lived And Costly’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2015): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pony-express-was-short-lived-and-costly-180954986/
• ‘Pony Express Debuts’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pony-express-debuts
• ‘Trailer: The Pony Express’ (Paramount, 1953): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5va9JXedVo
#1800s #US #Animals
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Fleetwood Mac’s iconic breakup album ‘Rumours’ hit No.1 on the U.S. album charts on April 2nd, 1977, and has never really left the public consciousness since. With banger after banger—Dreams, Go Your Own Way, The Chain—it resonated across generations, but perhaps especially with the band’s boomer contemporaries, many experiencing troubled relationships of their own.At the time of its recording in California, Mick Fleetwood was reeling from a collapsed marriage, John and Christine McVie were divorcing, and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were locked in an emotional war, with Nicks soon to embark upon a relationship with Fleetwood. Recording Rumours was a year-long endurance test. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the mathematical formula for Fleetwood’s cocaine consumpion; consider how TikTok has revived interest in this seminal LP; and reveal how, despite making positive noises, contemporary critics missed just how important the album would become…Further Reading:• ‘Rumours’ (Library of Congress, 2017): https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Rumours.pdf • ‘Fleetwood Mac: In the Middle of the Road’ (The Washington Post, 1977): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/02/09/fleetwood-mac-in-the-middle-of-the-road/537b612c-e519-4623-a118-144efcac1a1f/• ‘Fleetwood Mac - Rumours [Full Album]’ (Warner Records, 1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFU79MGj00#Music #70s #US #CelebrityLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Under the orders of King Charles III - who wanted marble and classical art for his palace at Portici - Spanish military engineer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre excavated some Campanian ruins on 1st April, 1748 - and discovered the long-lost city of Pompeii.Buried beneath volcanic ash and debris since Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, much of the city was remarkably preserved; including breathtaking buildings that portrayed the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the city's wealthy elite.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the site has since inspired all archaeological digs; ask why Pompeii in particular has generated such huge human interest; and reveal the truth about ‘Wanking Man’...Further Reading:• ‘Excavations of Pompeii in the 18th Century · The Discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum’ (from ‘Piranesi in Rome’, Wellesley College): http://omeka.wellesley.edu/piranesi-rome/exhibits/show/discovery-of-pompeii-and-hercu/pompeii-excavations• ‘The two embracing 'maidens' of Pompeii are both MEN’ (MailOnline, 2017): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4391498/The-two-embracing-maidens-Pompeii-MEN.html• ‘Pompeii: New Studies Reveal Secrets From a Dead City’ (National Geographic, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSg_Sd94Y8kLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po were introduced to British viewers on 31st March, 1997 - launching an international phenomenon and changing kid’s television forever.‘Teletubbies’ was an enormous hit for the BBC, but not without controversy: from viewers concerned that the characters’ toddlerish language might impede the linguistic development of the nation’s children, to angry Radio Times readers who claimed the BBC were committing ‘cultural vandalism’ by axing the long-running series Playdays.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly get lost in the weeds of Teletubbies Wiki fandom; revisit the ‘toy rage’ that the show had inspired by Christmas 1997; and reveal why the first generation ‘tubbies never did live appearances… Further Reading:• ‘Teletubbies turn 20: how four blinking toddlers became a true TV phenomenon’ (The Guardian, 2017): https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/mar/31/teletubbies-turn-20-how-four-blinking-toddlers-became-a-true-tv-phenomenon• ‘The Great Distractor’ (Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, 2021): https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/work/the-great-distractor• ‘Teletubbies: Ned’s Bicycle’ (BBC, 1997): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9woh2gKx1rM&list=PL8Zq4IrtuktnIh_XkWqMRfNkebVPgUIwyLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode first aired in 2022Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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After a 23 year run that included introducing American audiences to The Beatles, Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, the last original episode of ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ aired on CBS on March 28, 1971.The variety programme, which cost $8 million per year, fell victim to ‘the rural purge’, via which several iconic shows that appealed mainly to poorer and older demographics were axed in favour of screening old movies.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Sullivan was able to become a TV superstar, despite having no discernible talent for presentation; explain how the host’s advancing senility gave an early advantage to comedian Joan Rivers; and reveal whom this famously polite father figure deigned to call ‘bitch’…Further Reading:• ‘Right Here on Our Stage Tonight! - Ed Sullivan's America, By Gerald Nachman’ (University of California Press, 2009): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Right_Here_on_Our_Stage_Tonight/v7owDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ed+sullivan+show+28th+march+1971&pg=PA384&printsec=frontcover• ‘Ed Sullivan, Variety Show Host Influenced American Culture’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/ed-sullivan-4589827• ‘Elvis Presley performs "Hound Dog" on The Ed Sullivan Show’ (CBS, 1956): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNYWl13IWhY&list=PLQWND5qZhbj0nqnmye5U2g3Z-ai8wos4pLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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When Marlon Brando won Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role in The Godfather on March 27, 1973, he sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. Dressed in traditional Apache garb, she declined the award on Brando’s behalf, “And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry."Littlefeather’s appearance was met with a mix of boos and applause from the audience. But, before her death in 2022, the Academy honoured Littlefeather for her protest, calling it "a powerful statement on behalf of human dignity and against the marginalization of Indigenous people."In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca consider the lasting impact of this stark political moment; revisit Littlefeather’s earlier work for Playboy; and explain why, as a rumoured ‘Pretendian’, her ethnic identity continues to make headlines…Further Reading:• ‘A shocking moment in Oscars history, 50 years on’ (BBC Culture, 2023): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230302-the-most-shocking-moment-in-oscars-history-50-years-on• ‘Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native icon. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud’ (San Francisco Chronicle, 2022): https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php• ’Marlon Brando's Best Actor Oscar win for "The Godfather"’ (Academy Awards, 1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU#Hollywood #70s #Native #RacismLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.This episode originally aired in 2023Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Mille Miglia - a daring, 1,000-mile race across Italy - was first held on March 26th, 1927. Using ordinary dirt roads as the racetrack, competitors tore through cities, mountains, and countryside at unprecedented, breakneck speeds.Townspeople lined the streets, waving flags and throwing flowers, as glamorous Bugattis and Alfa Romeos roared past. The first winners, Nando Minoja and Giuseppe Morandi, completed the course in just over 21 hours, averaging an eye-watering 48 mph. They had to dodge wandering farm animals, slow-moving carts, and clueless pedestrians. But for all its romance, the Mille Miglia had a dark side. The combination of high speeds, unpredictable roads, and massive crowds made it incredibly dangerous. The 1938 race saw a devastating crash near Bologna; and in 1957, two separate fatal crashes, including one involving dashing aristocrat Alfonso de Portago, that finally brought an end to the competition in its original form. The event had experienced 56 deaths over its 24-race history. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how having a skilled navigator/mechanic was just as important as having a fast car; discover the methods ultimate champion Sir Stirling Moss used to win the race in just over 10 hours in 1955; and explain how spectators can still taste the golden age of this iconic race, even in the 21st century…Further Reading:• ‘The first 1000 Miglia in 1927 – The history of the 1000 Miglia’ (1000 Miglia Official Website): https://1000miglia.it/en/history-of-1000-miglia/1927-the-first-1000-miglia/• ‘No seatbelts, 170mph: days of death and dynamism’ (The Times, 2015): https://www.thetimes.com/article/f0b41044-bb1c-4694-afc9-947ace151afc• ‘Bracco vince la Mille Miglia’ (Archivio Luce Cinecittà, 1952): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V59ZbkF5J40#Italy #Motoring #20s #SportLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Marc Brunel’s visionary under-water tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping finally opened to the public on 25th March, 1843. It had taken 18 years to build, and was massively over-budget, but was the first tunnel successfully created under a navigable river anywhere in the world.Its construction had cost lives, caused controversy and changed the way tunnels would be built forever. But it soon became notorious as a gangway frequented by pickpockets and prostitutes.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Brunel had to build a vertical tunnel before embarking upon his horizontal one; tot up its takings as an enormously popular tourist attraction; and explain how the injuries sustained by Isambard Kingdom Brunel during its construction lead directly to his even more famous architectural masterpieces… Further Reading:• ‘The Opening Of The Thames Tunnel’ (SS Great Britain Blog Brunel, 2021): https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/the-opening-of-the-thames-tunnel/• ‘Open again after 145 years, the eighth wonder of the world’ (The Independent, 2010): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/open-again-after-145-years-the-eighth-wonder-of-the-world-1920723.html• ‘The Thames Tunnel Archive - Part 5/5’ (Brunel Museum London, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HADkw-laAMThis episode originally aired in 2022Love 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Fugitive Ronnie Biggs - infamous for participating in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, then escaping from Wandsworth Prison - was rescued by Bajan police after being kidnapped in Brazil today in history on 24th March 1981.A media frenzy ensued as reporters awaited his arrival, thanks to a tip-off by the operation's leader, John Miller. But Biggs found himself released by Barbados authorities, sparking a diplomatic clash between Brazil and the UK over extradition proceedings.In this episode, The Retrospectors explain why Biggs, back in Brazil, had little choice but to make a living through public appearances; consider his surprisingly insignificant involvement in the heist he is so strongly associated with; and reveal what happened when Biggs came back to England, after more than thirty years on the run… Further Reading:• ‘Kidnapping of Ronnie Biggs ends in farce’ (The Guardian, 1981): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/mar/25/ronnie-biggs-train-robbery-kidnap• ‘Former mercenary who tried to make it Biggs’ (The Herald, 1997): https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12290059.former-mercenary-who-tried-to-make-it-biggs/• ‘No One Is Innocent’ (Sex Pistols, 1979): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWiAMeAS7bM&t=5sLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Medieval power couple King Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, seemingly unable to produce a male heir, had a messy breakup. Their annulment on 21st March 1152 was granted by the Pope on the grounds of consanguinity - meaning they were too closely related by blood. And yet both parties went on to marry people to whom they were even more closely related.Henry of Anjou was Eleanor’s next husband - a move which made her the only woman in history to have been both Queen of France AND Queen of England. Meanwhile, Louis lost half his Kingdom - and had to sit and watch as Eleanor popped out male heir after male heir with her new hubby.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Arion explain why going on a Holy War is not great marriage therapy; get between the sheets with the Royal couple; and consider how an attempted kidnapping might have made for an awkward family atmosphere at Eleanor and Henry’s wedding reception… Further Reading:• ‘Eleanor of Aquitaine - Queen of France, Queen of England, By Ralph V. Turner’ (Yale University Press, 2009): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine/dVcslrfl1V4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Eleanor+of+Aquitaine+annulment&printsec=frontcover• ‘Eleanor Of Aquitaine: The Medieval Queen Who Took On Europe's Men’ (HistoryExtra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/eleanor-of-aquitaine-the-medieval-queen-who-took-on-europes-most-powerful-men/• ‘The Court of Love - Eleanor of Aquitaine #2’ (Extra History, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_KgUiDUPs0Love 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Jules Rimet, trophy of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from a stamp exhibition in Westminster Central Hall on March 20th, 1966 - the year England was hosting (and went on to win) the tournament. The theft sparked a massive Police investigation and multiple offers of rewards for its recovery.Astonishingly, the trophy had not been heavily guarded or alarmed, so the thieves stole it with bolt cutters. In a twist straight out of Enid Blyton, the cup was eventually discovered not by the boys in blue - but by a pet dog called Pickles, who was then lauded as a national hero.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the identities of the London gangsters who poached the Cup; explain what music hall star Tommy Trinder had to do with it; and discover how, in Brazil, the Cup was to go AWOL again… Further Reading: • ‘The Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy - The Hidden History of the 1966 World Cup, By Martin Atherton (Meyer & Meyer, 2008): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Theft_of_the_Jules_Rimet_Trophy/m7SbwNM4Y0sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theft+of+the+world+cup+1966&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover • ‘The World Cup is stolen’ (The Guardian, 1966): https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/mar/21/world-cup-stolen-football-archive-1966 • ‘Pickles - The dog who saved the 1966 World Cup’ (The Sun, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQjZagahHKULove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Las Vegas was a struggling mining outpost until March 19th, 1931, when Nevada Governor Fred B. Balzar signed Assembly Bill 98, also known as the Wide Open Gambling Bill: legalising casino gambling, and setting the stage for town’s transformation into Sin City. When the Boulder Dam project began, drawing thousands of workers nearby, Fremont Street exploded into a Saturday night hotspot. And when mobster Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo in 1946, glitzy Hollywood-style resorts followed in his wake, with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack drawing in high-rollers and cementing the city’s glamour.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Vegas boom was enabled by the election of tough-on-crime L.A. mayor Fletcher Bowron; discover why the City was known as the "Mississippi of the West”; and reveal how a 50-room hotel was once considered a cutting edge attraction in the Strip…Further Reading:• ’How Las Vegas Became a Gambling Mecca’ (HISTORY, 2022):https://www.history.com/news/las-vegas-history-mobsters-gambling• ’Nevada marks 90th anniversary of legal gambling’ (The Mob Museum, 2021): https://themobmuseum.org/blog/nevada-marks-90th-anniversary-of-legal-gambling/• The City of Las Vegas: The Early Years (City of Las Vegas TV, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czyMm5DdqAY#30s #US #Crime #Games #RacismLove 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The craze for paper dresses was the huge and unexpected impact of a viral marketing campaign for the Scott Paper Company that debuted in TIME magazine on 18th March, 1966. For $1.25, readers could send off for a red bandana print or a black and white pop art dress made of cellulose. It was intended as a press stunt to promote durable napkins, but, to everybody’s surprise, half a million units were sold in just eight months.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask whether these teenage kicks of the ‘60s presaged the 21st century trend for ‘fast fashion’; reveal how Richard Nixon got in on the act; and explain how, even if you think it sounds ridiculous, you’ve probably worn an outfit inspired by paper dresses at some point in your life, without even realising it…Further Reading:• ‘Fashion: Real Live Paper Dolls’ (TIME, 1967): http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836820,00.html• ‘Paper Fashion in the 1960s: The Genesis of Fast Fashion’ (Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, 2018): https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcostume/2018/03/17/paper-fashion-in-the-1960s-the-genesis-of-fast-fashion/• ‘Paper Clothing of the 1960s and the Rise of Fast Fashion’ (ElleYeah, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zZBjNuenMcThis episode originally aired in 2022Thanks 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 PeartTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Marie Stopes’ “Mother’s Clinic” opened its doors in Holloway, on March 17th, 1826. Stopes was a trailblazer, her birth control clinic providing working-class women with access to contraception and advice for the first time. However, her organisation's full name - "The Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress" - reveals her disturbing underlying belief in selective breeding for racial progress; a commitment that only strengthened as time went on, and she corresponded with Hitler.In this episode, The Retrospectors consider Stopes’s pioneering work on female desire and sexual health in her bestselling book, "Married Love,"; explain how she pivoted from paleobotany to reproductive health and racism; and ask why Marie Stopes International waited until the 21st century to rebrand itself…Further Reading:• ‘Family planning in the 1920s: Marie Stopes and the ‘wise precaution of delay’’ (The National Archives blog, 2022): https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20speople-family-planning-in-the-1920s-marie-stopes-and-the-wise-precaution-of-delay/• ‘Marie Stopes: a turbo-Darwinist ranter, but right about birth control’ (The Guardian, 2011): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/sep/02/marie-stopes-right-birth-control• ‘Marie Stopes’ Eugenics, Feminism and Birth Control’ (Wellcome Collection, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPqog-EV9jIThis episode originally aired in 2024Love 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Mikado opened on March 14, 1885 to immediate acclaim, and went on to become W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most famous and best-loved operetta, despite its tortured genesis. Due to growing creative tensions and their previous show flopping, Gilbert and Sullivan’s partnership was on the rocks, so The Mikado’s success took both completely by surprise. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at why the setting of The Mikado is really Japan in name only; discuss how Gilbert found inspiration in a sword hanging on his wall; and explain why Gilbert and Sullivan almost parted ways because of a magical love lozenge… Further Reading: • ‘A big day in history: Gilbert and Sullivan unveil 'The Mikado'’ (History Extra, 2012): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/a-big-day-in-history-gilbert-and-sullivan-unveil-the-mikado/ • ‘Arthur Sullivan - A Victorian Musician’ (Taylor & Francis, 2018): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Arthur_Sullivan_A_Victorian_Musician/VXt_DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 • ‘The Mikado’ (BBC, 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkOWxcbzn0&t=561s This episode originally aired in 2023Love 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 PeartCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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