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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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The first Pokémon videogames, ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ were launched in Japan on 27th February, 1996. The franchise went on to be the most successful ever video game to TV adaptation, and the highest selling trading card game in history of cards. Created by Satoshi Tajiri, the gameplay recalled his childhood obsession for bug-hunting, and made use of Nint…
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Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, was on a quest for the perfect running shoe grip when he found inspiration in his wife’s waffle iron. Pouring polyurethane directly onto their wedding gift, he began to develop the prototype that would eventually become Nike’s legendary waffle sole trainer, and which received its patent on 26th February, 1974. But…
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The Anderson Shelter, the pop-up sheds distributed to millions of Londoners during the Blitz was first erected on February 25th, 1939 - in the garden of Mrs. Spong, in Carlsbad Street, Islington. Devised to protect civilians from Nazi air raids, and handed out free to those who earned under £5 per week, the shelters were dug four metres into the gr…
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The ‘Last Invasion’ of Britain was not, as most people assume, The Battle of Hastings - but actually a farcical French attempt to conquer the Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard on 24th February, 1797. Windy weather had already scuppered the first two prongs of this failed three-pronged attack, which was ultimately overthrown by a rag-bag militia of vo…
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Pan-Am pilot Byron Rickards was surrounded by soldiers and told he had become the prisoner of a revolutionary organisation shortly after landing in Arequipa, Peru on 21 February 1931 - the first recorded aircraft hijack in history. Rickards refused to drop pro-rebel propaganda, leading to a stand-off - although, astonishingly, it wasn’t the only ti…
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On 20 February, 1472, Orkney and Shetland officially became part of Scotland having been offered up as security for the dowry of the daughter of King Christian of Norway and Denmark. The marriage was aimed at quelling a long-standing tax-related feud between the two powers. But as time wore on, it began to feel as though the Scandinavians just didn…
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Pedro Lascuráin set an unbeatable record in presidential speedrunning—serving as Mexico’s president for a paltry 45 minutes on 19th February, 1913. His one achievement? To hold the title just long enough to hand it over to the real mastermind behind the coup, General Victoriano Huerta. Huerta didn’t last too long either - and eventually even the U.…
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Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto - 84 years after star-spotters first began their hunt for a ninth planet in our solar system, the elusive ‘Planet X’ on 18th February 1930. The 24-year-old made the groundbreaking discovery at the Lowell Observatory, Arizona, just one week into a task that had mired other researchers for decades. That said, it was la…
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The 1870 Education Act was the first to deal specifically with the provision of British schools. Speaking in the House of Commons, William Edward Forster MP proposed: "I believe that the country demands from us that we should… cover the country with good schools, and get parents to send their children to those schools.” But there was opposition: fr…
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The Rockettes kicked off a celebrity line-up including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli, Jimmy Stewart, Al Pacino and Miss Piggy at ‘The Night of 100 Stars’, a benefit for the Actors Fund of America recorded on 14th February, 1982 at Radio City Music Hall, New York. A night of sheer glitz and excess, the true tally of stars on-stage totalled 206 - bu…
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The Coso Artifact - a man-made, cylindrical object apparently encased in a geode - was discovered by Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell while prospecting for gems in Olancha, California on February 13th, 1961. The OOPArt (or ‘out-of-place artifact’) caused a sensation amongst Creationists, Forteans and conspiracists, who believed it mig…
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Henry Puyi, the six-year old Emperor of China, abdicated the throne on 12th February, 1912 —but of course it was his adoptive mother, Empress Dowager Longyu, who did the paperwork. With tears in her eyes, she dramatically whispered, “I am the sinner of a thousand years.” Meanwhile, young Puyi had only pressing question: “Does that mean I don’t have…
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Elbridge Gerry, a founding father and governor of Massachusetts, rearranged the electoral districts of a map in order to give his Democratic Republican party an electoral advantage on 11th February 1812 Despite Gerry's other, more noble, contributions to American politics, this act of “gerrymandering” has brought him unintended infamy - though the …
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Violent ‘town versus gown’ confrontations have been part of Oxford life ever since the University was founded - but reached an ignominious peak on 10th February, 1355, when almost 100 people were massacred in what became known as the ‘St Scholastica’s Day Riot’. The killing spree began as a brawl in a bar. When a pair of students at the Swindlestoc…
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Inventing the internet and pioneering satellite navigation, U.S. government agency DARPA has had an illustrious history since being founded by President Eisenhower (as the Advanced Research Projects Agency) on February 7th, 1958. Created in response to the Soviets launching Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, its mission, which continu…
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Blackface performers The Virginia Minstrels - replete with white clown mouths, oversized tailcoats, and bookended by tambourine and bones players - first appeared on 6th February, 1843, at the New York Bowery Amphitheatre. They were an instant hit, but it wasn’t the first time a blackface act had been making (white) crowds laugh. American minstrels…
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George III’s mental incapacitation was formally recognised by Parliament on February 5th, 1811, when The Regency Act handed power to his son, the future George IV. Though George III had struggled with bouts of illness for decades, his periods of lucidity made it difficult to decide when, or even if, he should be replaced. He resisted the idea of ce…
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The debut of ‘The Sims’ happened on this day, February 4th, 2000. Will Wright (‘Sim City’) developed an initial concept which revolved around architecture - but soon the Sims themselves proved to be the most captivating aspect of the gameplay. Unlike other avatars, The Sims lived full lives with jobs, hobbies, relationships, and even their own lang…
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The women of the Wild West mostly spent their lives laundering men’s clothes, bringing up children, and avoiding getting caught in the crossfire - but that didn’t stop a legend forming around them; not least dime novel heroine and ‘Bandit Queen’ Belle Starr, who was murdered on 3rd February, 1889. The ‘outlaw’ was riding home, two days before her 4…
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Before Yuri Gagarin, before Alan Shepard… a chimp called Ham was blasted into space for six-and-a-half minutes of weightlessness on 31st January, 1961. He successfully returned to Earth without serious physical injury, albeit over 100 miles away from NASA’s intended splashdown location. Travelling at 5,857 m.p.h, Ham was seated in a special chair c…
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Running a remote Yorkshire farm, with no flushing toilet and no electricity is an unlikely route to TV stardom, but 46 year-old spinster Hannah Hauxwell managed it on 30th January, 1973, when ITV aired the landmark documentary ‘Too Long A Winter’. Speaking lyrically about her singlehood, how she braved the bitter Winter, and how she survived on a g…
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When fans of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, suggested holding an annual dinner to mark his birthday, they probably didn’t realise a) it would still be happening over 200 years later; and b) they got the wrong date. Yet, even though Burns was born on January 25th, the first ever Burns Supper was celebrated on January 29th, 1802, just a few …
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General John J. Pershing’s mission to capture the guerrilla leader Pancho Villa in Mexico was quietly withdrawn on 28th January, 1917 Initiated in response to Villa's cross-border raid on Columbus, New Mexico, the mission was ordered by President Woodrow Wilson but proved embarrassing and ineffective for the U.S, Army, with Villa remarking that Per…
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Modern art was controversially celebrated on 27th January, 1687, when Charles Perrault read his poem ‘The Century of Louis The Great’ at the Académie Française - railing against the prevailing wisdom that believed literature should follow the strict classical templates laid down by the likes of Homer and Aristotle. The subsequent debate between riv…
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Henry VIII is typically remembered as he was at the end of his life - weighing in at a colossal 28 stone, with ulcerated legs, failing eyesight and an explosive temper. But, prior to the jousting accident he suffered 24th January, 1536, history had recorded him as merry, affable and physically attractive. Jousting was his favourite sport, but after…
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