Today In History with The Retrospectors

Literature’s most famous castaway, Robinson Crusoe, was washed up on a desert island - where he would remain for 28 years - on 30th September, 1659.By selecting this date, author Daniel Defoe ensured that his fictional protagonist’s fate pre-dated the real-life estrangement of Royal Navy man Alexander Selkirk, who was stranded some 46 years later: 14 years prior to Defoe writing his novel.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how his story pioneered not only the English novel, but also the movie trailer; ask whether Crusoe’s narrative voice sounds like an authentic young man of the period, or betrays the fact that Defoe was nearly sixty when he created him; and dig around in the writer’s early career (including, but not limited to, creating perfume from civets)...Further Reading:• Daniel Defoe profile (The British Library): https://www.bl.uk/people/daniel-defoe• ‘Debunking the Myth of the ‘Real’ Robinson Crusoe’ (National Geographic, 2016): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/robinson-crusoe-alexander-selkirk-history• The Shipwreck scene from ‘Robinson Crusoe’ (1927): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCaYAD1ZGuMFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#1600s #Arts #UK Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The corpse of John Paul I was discovered by a nun in the early hours of 29th September, 1978. His body was embalmed within 24 hours, heightening suspicions that the cause of death may have been unnatural. He had been Pope for just 33 days.An unconventional Pope - who had refused to wear the papal tiara, use the Royal 'we’, or sit on a ceremonial throne - he seemed to have had a weird premonition that he wouldn't be in office for long, famously responding to his elevation to Popehood by telling the Cardinals, ‘May God forgive you for what you have done’.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review the conspiracies surrounding the Pope’s apparently untimely death; reveal the role of the unfortunately-named Cardinal Sin; and look back on some of his surprising comic journalism...Further Reading:• ‘Pope John Paul I is dead’ (CBS News, 1978): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-aC86_fZo4• ‘The Mysterious Death Of Pope John Paul I’ (All Thats Interesting, 2018): https://allthatsinteresting.com/pope-john-paul-i• ‘On This Day, 1978: Catholics mourn Pope's death’ (BBC, 2005): http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/29/newsid_2542000/2542375.stmFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#70s #Religion #Strange Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feet, inches, palms, cubits, rods… all were SWEPT ASIDE on 28th September, 1889, when the first General Conference of the Weights and Measures Commission met in Sèvres, France to refine a definition for the NEW universal measurement of distance: the metre.The calculation was painstakingly made by measuring a quarter of the meridian of the Earth - running from the North Pole to the Equator - and then dividing it into 10 million parts. Metal bars measuring exactly one metre were then distributed to attendees of the Conference. In this episode Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether this scientific method of calculating distance was *really* any better than barleycorns and man-size hugs; ask why the USA still hasn’t got on-board with the metric system; and explain why Napoleon might not have been as short as we think he was… Further Reading:• ‘Galileo, Krypton, and How the Metric Standard Came to Be’ (WIRED, 2018): https://www.wired.com/story/book-excerpt-the-perfectionists-history-meter/• ‘How France created the metric system’ (BBC Travel, 2018): https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180923-how-france-created-the-metric-system• ‘Who Invented the Meter?’ (It’s Okay To Be Smart, 2017):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3eHHwcMVcAFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#1800s #Inventions #Science #Technology #France Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Journalists, exhibitors and producers packed the Ambassador Hotel Theater, Los Angeles on 27th September, 1922 - to see the first ever paid-for screening of a 3-D film, ‘The Power Of Love’.Using an anaglyph system (meaning the 3-D glasses had two tinted lenses; one red, one green), viewers were told they could select a happy or sad ending - by closing one of their eyes.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider if the costs of double-projector movies explains why first-gen 3-D never took off; revisit the provocative tag-line from 1952 3-D movie ‘Bwana Devil’, and reveal what the critics consider to be the best 3-D film ever…Further Reading:• ‘The Power of Love’ (1922) on IMBb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013506/trivia• ‘The fascinating history of 3D films’ (Interesting Engineering, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmmFDyhCufc• ‘The 18 best 3D movies’ (Empire, 2016): https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-3d-movies/For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#20s #Film #Technology #Inventions #US Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christine Jorgensen began gender reassignment surgery in Copenhagen on 24th September 1951. The New York Daily News later heralded the event with a headline splash - “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty!” - thereby creating America's first transgender celebrity.Writing to friends, she said: “As you can see by the enclosed photos, taken just before the operation, I have changed a great deal. But it is the other changes that are so much more important. Remember the shy, miserable person who left America? Well, that person is no more and, as you can see, I’m in marvellous spirits.”In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how surprisingly tolerant her parents and much of the media were; how she was strong-armed into showbiz but used the notoriety to campaign for trans rights; and reveal that - amongst her many memoirs - she also penned a Scandinavian cookbook...Further Reading:• ‘Christine Jorgensen – Queer Icon’ (Queer Icons, 2020): https://queericons.home.blog/2020/02/27/christine-jorgensen/• ‘The Hour Magazine with Gary Collins: guest Christine Jorgensen’ (1980s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDlGUeF1Bg0• ‘Dec. 1, 1952: Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty’ (WIRED, 2010): https://www.wired.com/2010/12/1201first-sex-change-surgery/For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back on Monday! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#50s #Trans #Science #Denmark #US Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The BBC’s teletext information service, Ceefax, launched on 23rd September, 1974 - providing the British public with a way to look up headlines, football results and TV listings, some twenty years before the launch of Internet Explorer.Countless National Lottery winners discovered their victories via the analogue service, which was discontinued in 2012. To this day, devotees still share ancient samples of it by uploading old VHS tapes to the web.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why teletext never caught on in France; revisit the 1,445-episode ‘soap opera’ ITV Oracle ran on its rival service; and play a Teletext-style Bamboozle quiz of their very own… Further Reading:• ‘The Editors: Goodbye Ceefax’ (BBC, 2012): https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/10/goodbye_ceefax.html• ‘Minitel: The Old New Thing’ (WIRED, 2001): https://www.wired.com/2001/04/minitel-the-old-new-thing/• ‘Pages from Ceefax - Three and a half hours of outdated news, sport and weather’ (No Data Available, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU8P5G-GM_gWe had EVEN MORE to say about this internet 0.1, including the underwhelming Ceefax competition prizes on offer in the 1970s, the impact the BBC's teletext service had on the development of the TV remote control, and how to research cinema listings for the St George’s Centre Harrow in 1995. To hear bonus material this and every week*, support the show NOW at Patreon.com/Retrospectors!*top two tiers onlyThe 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 2021.#70s #Technology #Inventions #UK Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Witchcraft and infanticide were the charges levelled against young maidservant Judith Catchpole at the General Provincial Court in Patuxent County, Maryland on September 22nd, 1656. Since the case hinged on whether she had been pregnant, an all-female jury was assembled - the first in colonial America.Seven married women and four single women physically examined her - and found her not guilty of the crimes. Which were pretty obviously B.S.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the first and only instance of men being excluded from a jury in England; consider the views of the New York judge in the 1920s, who warned of fainting fits and emotional outbursts if women were permitted as potential jurors; and ask whether men or women are more likely to be swayed by sexy witnesses...Further Reading:• ‘Judith Catchpole Trial: 1656’ (Encyclopedia.com): https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/judith-catchpole-trial-1656• ‘OUR JURY SYSTEM AGAIN UNDER FIRE; One Judge Calls Verdicts of "Twelve Good Men And True"’ (New York Times, 1927):https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/07/24/95455867.html• ‘What is JURY OF MATRONS?’ (The Audiopedia, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr6wc4ZRXHs&t=30sFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#1600s #Crime #UK Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

‘The Fish Feud!’ - as the tabloids originally termed the standoff between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights - had escalated into a fully-fledged ‘Cod War’ by 21st September, 1958, when the destroyer H.M.S. Diana requested medical assistance for a Marine suffering appendicitis.The dispute arose when Iceland had unilaterally extended its fishing zone from 4 to 12 nautical miles. For centuries prior to this, boundaries were calculated via the ‘canon shot rule’ - i.e. the distance a canon could be fired from the shore.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Iceland was having a jingoistic moment; reveal how the Soviets intervened to disrupt Britain’s defense strategy; and explain how the humble battered sausage came to the rescue for the UK’s chip shops…Further Reading:• ‘Iceland v Britain: the cod wars begin’ (The Guardian, 1958): https://www.theguardian.com/business/from-the-archive-blog/2018/sep/07/first-cod-war-iceland-britain-fish-1958• ‘How Iceland Beat the British in the Four Cod Wars’ (Atlas Obscura, 2018): https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-were-cod-wars• ‘Storyville: Cod Wars’ (BBC, 2002): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsOytZMRXo0For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#50s #Politics #UK #Russia #Iceland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Henry Winkler, an accomplished water-skier, had asked the producers of ‘Happy Days’ if he could showcase his skills on the sitcom. On 20th September, 1977 his wish came true - in a shark-jumping sequence so absurd it would forever be linked with the irreversible artistic decline of long-running TV series.To ‘Jump the Shark’ was a phrase coined some eight years later by college roommates Sean Connolly and Jon Hein, and has since inspired other pop culture idioms including ‘growing the beard’ (a TV show that gets better with age) and ‘nuking the fridge’ (a ‘jump the shark’ for movie franchises, named after Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull).In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal Winkler’s star power as the top turn on Happy Days, and explain why Robin Williams’ appearance in the show *wasn’t* a dream. Do they say ‘eeeeeeeeeeey’ a lot? Exactamundo!Further Reading:• Fonzie ‘Jumps the Shark’ (Happy Days, 1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk_y_r5cXZs• ‘’Jumping the Shark’, ‘Fridging the Girlfriend’ and 8 Other Pop Culture Idioms Explained’ (Funk's House of Geekery, 2016):https://houseofgeekery.com/2016/07/11/jumping-the-shark-fridging-the-girlfriend-and-8-other-pop-culture-idioms-explained/• ‘Jumping the Shark: 10 Great TV Shows That Took a Turn for the Worse’ (Rolling Stone, 2014): https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-lists/jumping-the-shark-10-great-tv-shows-that-took-a-turn-for-the-worse-156728/dexter-35323/For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021.#70s #Person #TV #Sport #US Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why were multiple ships and planes lost in the section of the Atlantic between Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda? Journalist Edward van Winkle-Jones first floated the idea of ‘the Bermuda Triangle’ - although he didn’t call it that - in an article for the Miami Herald on 17th September, 1950.The speculation that ensued inspired a lively industry in conspiracies, myths and tall tales that remains to this day, but the association with that area being dangerous dates back almost 500 years - when no less a figure than Christopher Columbus reported seeing a giant flame crashing into the sea there.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask whether the area’s proximity to the USA has prolonged its notoriety; consider the role of aliens in its maritime history (yes. ALIENS); and discover whether the Bermuda Triangle is actually any more treacherous than any other stretch of deep water… Further Reading:• ‘Sea's Puzzles Still Baffle Men In Pushbutton Age’ (Miami Herald, 1950): https://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/BermudaTriangle/evwjones.html • ‘Where is the Bermuda Triangle, what is it, why do planes go missing there and what are the conspiracy theories?’ (The Sun, 2018): https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2021520/bermuda-triangle-ships-planes-conspiracy-theories/• ‘Bermuda Triangle: what happened to Flight 19?’ (BBC, 2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsQBeXWktUFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back on Monday! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe 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 2021. #50s #Discoveries #Strange #US Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices