BEST DAILY SHOW (British Podcast Awards Nominee, 2026). Curious, funny, surprising daily history - with Olly Mann (Answer Me This!), Rebecca Messina (The Week Unwrapped) and Arion McNicoll (The Chaser). 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! Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
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Oct 1, 2026 · 13:13
Tobe Hooper’s legendary low-budget horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, first screened in Austin on 1st October, 1974. The movie was an international sensation - making…
Sep 30, 2026 · 11:34
The first ever episode of Thunderbirds, the revolutionary British TV show starring puppets, aired on September 30th, 1965. It was instantly a hit in Britain, and elsewhere in the…
Sep 29, 2026 · 11:40
Henry Robinson opened the Office of Addresses and Encounters on Threadneedle Street, London on 29th September, 1650. The centre provided a forward-looking, unusual mix of…
Sep 28, 2026 · 10:56
The Liberty Loan Parade on 28th September, 1918 was the biggest party Philadelphia had ever seen: floats, marching bands, and miles of cheering crowds. Unfortunately, it turned…
Sep 25, 2026 · 11:05
Billy Graham’s Los Angeles Crusade started modestly on 25th September, 1949. But after newspaper giant William Randolph Hearst told his editors to "puff Graham", the nightly…
Sep 24, 2026 · 12:08
The ‘Austenmania’ craze of the mid-90s kicked off with the BBC’s production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, which first aired on 24th September, 1995. Now primarily remembered for…
Sep 23, 2026 · 12:03
Nintendo was world-famous by the 1980s but the origins of the company go back a century earlier - to September 23rd, 1889, when Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai, a maker…
Sep 22, 2026 · 11:38
Robert Walpole, first Lord of the Treasury, moved into 10 Downing Street on 22nd September, 1735, after three years of renovations. Although initially given to him as a personal…
Sep 21, 2026 · 11:50
Barrister Cecil Chubb attended a Salisbury auction on September 21st, 1915 intending to buy curtains or chairs, but impulsively bought… Stonehenge. Yes, that Stonehenge. Built by…
Sep 18, 2026 · 13:02
The first Paralympic Games - hosting 400 athletes from 23 countries - took place in Rome on 18th September, 1960. But it was only known by this name retrospectively: the day it…
Sep 17, 2026 · 11:49
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…
Sep 16, 2026 · 12:38
The Wall Street bomb, outside JP Morgan’s headquarters, killed 38 people and seriously injured 143 more on 16th September, 1920. It was the biggest terror attack in New York City…
Sep 15, 2026 · 13:04
As a symbol over 7,000 years old, the swastika had a long, diverse history before becoming the official flag of Nazi Germany on 15th September, 1935. It had been considered a…
Sep 14, 2026 · 13:03
Kellogg’s launched their space-age convenience food, Pop-Tarts, on 14th September, 1964. In a cheeky bit of corporate one-upmanship, the cereals company had beaten their…
Sep 11, 2026 · 12:06
Captain Peter Warner and his crew made a startling discovery as they sailed past the uninhabited island of Atta in the Pacific on 11th September, 1966: six naked, shaggy-haired…
Sep 10, 2026 · 11:51
London cab driver George Smith became the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building on 10th September, 1897. He was fined 20 shillings…
Sep 9, 2026 · 12:52
‘Friends’ spin-off ‘Joey’ premiered on NBC on 9th September, 2004. 18.6 million Americans tuned in to watch Matt LeBlanc’s next chapter as Joey Tribbiani, now relocated to Los…
Sep 8, 2026 · 11:54
The last known Tasmanian tiger to be held in captivity was found dead at Hobart’s Beaumaris zoo on 8th September, 1936. The critically endangered marsupial was accidentally…
Sep 7, 2026 · 13:08
America’s first attempt at submarine warfare set sail - or rather, sank - off the coast of New York on 7th September, 1776. ‘The Turtle’ was the brainchild of David Bushnell, a…
Sep 4, 2026 · 12:15
When 90 Irish nobles, led by the Earl of Tyrconnell and the Earl of Tyrone, fled for Normandy in the dead of night on 4th September, 1607, their intentions were not entirely…
Sep 3, 2026 · 11:36
Posing as a sailor, with a borrowed ‘Protection Pass’ in his pocket, Frederick Douglass boarded a train from Baltimore to Philadelphia on 3rd September, 1838 - and escaped the…
Sep 2, 2026 · 13:26
West German amateur pilot Mathias Rust went on trial on 2nd September 1987. Three months earlier, the teenager had flown a rented Cessna 172 from Helsinki deep into Soviet…
Sep 1, 2026 · 13:27
On 1st September 1997, as Britain was still reeling from Diana Princess of Wales’ untimely death, Elton John’s Candle in the Wind 1997 turned up on a shortlist of potential music…
Aug 31, 2026 · 12:20
The Bank of Pennsylvania opened to discover that an astonishing $162,821 (around $3 million today) had vanished without a trace on 31st August, 1798. With no smashed windows, and…
Aug 28, 2026 · 13:39
Larry Donovan made headlines by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge on 28th August, 1886: a daring feat that earned him the name of the ‘Champion Jumper of the World’ and a…
Aug 27, 2026 · 11:08
The British Museum Library registered the legal deposit of the first ever 'Ladybird Series' titles, from publishers Wills & Hepworth (later 'Ladybird') on 27th August, 1914. The…
Aug 26, 2026 · 12:53
The inspiration for Steven Spielberg movie ‘The Terminal’, Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, began his incredible 18-year stint inside Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport on…
Aug 25, 2026 · 12:04
Nissin Chikin Ramen (日清チキンラーメン), the first marketed brand of instant noodles, launched in Japan on 25th August, 1958. The product was created by Momofuku Ando, who developed the…
Aug 24, 2026 · 13:26
Darryl McCray, better known as ‘Cornbread’, was honoured at the Graffiti Hall of Fame in Harlem on 24th August, 2013. But it was in 1960s Philadelphia that he’d made his name… by…
Aug 21, 2026 · 12:26
The creation of Haiti was the culmination of a slave revolt that began on a stormy night in the dense woods of Bois Caïman in Saint-Domingue, on 21st September, 1791, when a…
Aug 20, 2026 · 11:38
‘This Is Us’ premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square on 20th August, 2013. 10,000 ‘Directioners’, some of whom had slept rough for three nights, were there to catch a glimpse of…
Aug 19, 2026 · 13:09
Mohammad Mossadegh was overthrown in a coup backed by the CIA and MI6 on 19th August, 1953. He had nationalised Iran's oil industry, threatening the British stake in the…
Aug 18, 2026 · 11:06
French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen became the first person to observe helium, an element never before seen on Earth, on August 18th, 1868. Janssen had been observing a…
Aug 17, 2026 · 11:12
Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin patented the three-point seatbelt while working for Volvo, on 17th August 1959. Prior to that, cars only had lap belts - basically a single strap…
Aug 14, 2026 · 12:59
The Stanford Prison Experiment, created by Philip Zimbardo, began on 14th August, 1971. 24 male college students volunteered to be assigned roles as either ‘guard’ or ‘prisoner’…
Aug 13, 2026 · 11:26
German circus performer Otto Witte went to his death-bed claiming he had been crowned King of Albania on 13th August, 1913 for a five-day reign which culminated with him being…
Aug 12, 2026 · 13:01
The Ford Model T rolled into production on 12th August, 1908, still hand-assembled in much the same way as its rivals. But Henry Ford’s ambition for the car was bigger: to create…
Aug 11, 2026 · 11:22
The Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened on 11th August, 1992, with more than 10,000 employees, 330 stores, and a Camp Snoopy theme park. With a gross area of 4.8…
Aug 10, 2026 · 11:09
The world’s most famous museum opened to the public for the very first time on 10th August, 1793: exactly one year after France abolished the monarchy. The Louvre, housed in a…
Aug 7, 2026 · 11:24
Jonathan Jackson, teenage brother of imprisoned black power activist George Jackson, entered the Marin County Courthouse concealing three guns under his raincoat on 7th August,…
Aug 6, 2026 · 11:38
Axe murderer William Kemler became the first person to be put to death by electric chair at Auburn Prison, New York on 6th August, 1890. It did not go smoothly. The first charge…
Aug 5, 2026 · 13:41
Is an ad a legally binding contract? Judge Kimba Wood finally brought the curtain down on one of the strangest disputes to ever reach a courtroom on 5th August, 1999 - concluding…
Aug 4, 2026 · 12:04
The public stocks in St Clement’s Dane’s parish (now Portugal Street in London’s Strand) were finally dismantled on 4th August, 1826. They had originally been mandated in 1351,…
Aug 3, 2026 · 12:17
Virginia Woolf returned to her journal after a two-year hiatus on 3rd August, 1917. In the gap, she had suffered a major mental breakdown, attempted suicide, and been under…
Jul 31, 2026 · 12:29
Nine year-old ‘Little Hugh’ went missing in Lincoln on 31st July, 1255. A popular narrative emerged that local Jews (in fact gathering for a wedding) had kidnapped, tortured, and…
Jul 30, 2026 · 11:36
The ‘Cool Britannia’ party - held at 10 Downing Street on 30th July, 1997 - quickly became one of the most iconic events of the New Labour era. Celebrities including Helen…
Jul 29, 2026 · 13:19
When J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring reached British bookshops on 29th July 1954, there was little sign it would become one of the most influential novels of the…
Jul 28, 2026 · 12:26
Independent horror film ‘White Zombie’, starring Bela Lugosi, premiered in New York City’s Rivoli Theatre on July 28th, 1932. It marked the first time that zombies had featured…
Jul 27, 2026 · 12:50
Warner Brothers’ biggest animated star, Bugs Bunny, made his cartoon debut on July 27th, 1940, in A Wild Hare - though, at the time, he didn’t officially have a name… Though…
Jul 24, 2026 · 12:23
American professor Hiram Bingham "discovered" Machu Picchu on 24th July, 1911 - though he initially misidentified it as Vilcabamba, the last stronghold of the Inca civilization…
Jul 23, 2026 · 11:15
Concerned that it was too London-centric, the BBC commissioned a series of pop-up outside broadcasts for its youth music station Radio 1, kicking off modestly in Newquay on 23rd…
Jul 22, 2026 · 13:45
Pablo Escobar dramatically escaped from La Catedral (aka ‘Hotel Escobar’, his luxurious prison compound) on 22nd July, 1992. The drugs lord had surrendered the previous year…
Jul 21, 2026 · 11:06
The fire that destroyed the second Temple of Artemis - one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world - was supposedly set on the day Alexander the Great was born: 21st July, 356…
Jul 20, 2026 · 11:55
Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg tried to kill Hitler with a suitcase bomb on 20th July, 1944. He failed. The plan — bold, desperate, and nearly successful — was part of Operation…
Jul 17, 2026 · 12:28
Punch Magazine published its first edition on 17th July, 1841. Subtitled ‘the London Charivari’, the weekly periodical aimed to carve a niche in the market with less crude and…
Jul 16, 2026 · 11:32
Kissing was a big deal in the Middle Ages: for signing contracts, for greeting colleagues, and for showing deference to the King - a tradition that ended on 16th July, 1439, when…
Jul 15, 2026 · 12:06
The inventor of margarine, French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, patented his butter substitute on 15th July, 1869. Inspired by a competition launched by Emperor Napoleon III to…
Jul 14, 2026 · 13:06
Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who demonstrated it in Britain for the first time on 14th July, 1867. He had discovered that when nitroglycerin, an…
Jul 13, 2026 · 11:50
Designed as a temporary billboard for a luxury housing development, the iconic ‘Hollywood’ sign (originally spelling out ‘Hollywoodland’) was dedicated on July 13th, 1923. It was…
Jul 10, 2026 · 12:24
The Scopes Monkey Trial - one of the most famous show trials in U.S. history - began in Dayton, Tennessee on 10th July, 1925. Though it centred on John T. Scopes - a high school…
Jul 9, 2026 · 11:22
One of the BBC’s biggest-ever flops, soap opera ‘Eldorado’, broadcast its final episode on 9th July, 1993 - just one year after it had begun, at a reported cost of £10 million.…
Jul 8, 2026 · 12:12
Promenades Aériennes, the world’s first modern rollercoaster, opened in Paris on 8th July, 1817. Thrillseekers climbed a towering wooden structure before being sent gliding back…
Jul 7, 2026 · 12:02
Pinocchio, ‘The Story of a Puppet’, debuted in Giornale per i bambini, an Italian weekly magazine for children, on 7th July, 1881. Its author, Carlo Lorenzini - going by the…
Jul 6, 2026 · 11:41
The Quarrymen took to the stage at a parish fête near Liverpool on 6th July, 1957: the event that first brought together the brains behind the Beatles, teenagers John Lennon and…
Jul 3, 2026 · 12:23
Captain Joshua Slocum set sail from Nova Scotia in The Spray, his revamped oyster sloop, on 3rd July, 1895: the first solo circumnavigation of the world. Sailing alone for no…
Jul 2, 2026 · 11:18
Airships had flown since the 1850s, but the first rigid airship to comfortably carry passengers - the Zeppelin - had its maiden voyage at Lake Constance on 2nd July, 1900. The…
Jul 1, 2026 · 12:18
Around sixty cyclists set off from a café in Montgeron, just outside Paris, on 1st July, 1903: the start of the first ever Tour de France. The event began as a…
Jun 30, 2026 · 12:05
Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, were among the prominent figures discussing Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution at the Oxford University Museum on 30th…
Jun 29, 2026 · 12:52
After nearly three decades of development, A.I. Artificial Intelligence finally had a theatrical release on 29th June, 2001. Written and directed by Steven Spielberg - following…
Jun 26, 2026 · 11:56
What happened to the 130 children that went missing from the town of Hamlein, Lower Saxony on 26th June, 1284? According to legend, a vindictive ‘Pied Piper’ took revenge after…
Jun 25, 2026 · 11:32
The fork had only recently received Royal approval in Britain when it was gifted to the Governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, on 25th June, 1633. It took centuries for…
Jun 24, 2026 · 12:44
Anne of Cleves was dumped by her profligate husband Henry VIII on 24th June, 1540, when she was summoned to Richmond Palace and asked to accept an annulment from her tyrannical…
Jun 23, 2026 · 13:38
Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis with a kitchen knife while he was asleep in their apartment in Manassas, Virginia on 23rd June, 1993. After a…
Jun 22, 2026 · 13:01
Sea Captain Hanson Gregory claimed to have first cut a hole in a donut on 22nd June, 1847, sparking an American tradition: the nation now consumes ten billion donuts per year.…
Jun 19, 2026 · 11:00
Sir Robert Peel received royal assent for the Metropolis Police Improvement Bill on 19th June, 1829 - leading to the creation of London's first professional police force, who…
Jun 18, 2026 · 11:20
Designed by Imagineers, and located on the outskirts of Walt Disney World, the town of Celebration, Florida welcomed its first residents on 18th June, 1996. Over 5,000 families…
Jun 17, 2026 · 13:51
O.J. Simpson, wanted for questioning over the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, was followed by both the LAPD and the world’s news cameras…
Jun 16, 2026 · 11:58
The world’s first animal charity, the RSPCA, was set up on June 16th, 1824, by a small group of men who met in Old Slaughter’s Coffee House in St. Martin’s Lane, London. They had…
Jun 15, 2026 · 12:45
Future poetic powerhouse Dante Alighieri was enshrined as one of Florence’s six priors on 15th June, 1300: a top political gig in the city’s complex guild-based government. But…
Jun 12, 2026 · 12:41
Before McDonalds, there was the Horn & Hardart Automat - a chain restaurant featuring coin-operated glass windows, which opened its first branch in Philadelphia on 12th June,…
Jun 11, 2026 · 11:46
It was the THIRD time behind bars for legendary rock n’ roller Chuck Berry when he was found to have dodged $110,000 in income tax on 11th June, 1979. He insisted on being paid…
Jun 10, 2026 · 13:12
Benjamin Franklin’s legendary ‘kite experiment’ supposedly took place on 10th June, 1752, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the traditional account, the future Founding…
Jun 9, 2026 · 12:32
Nero, the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, killed himself on 9th June AD 68. Having fled Rome to a suburban villa after being declared a ‘public enemy’ by the Senate,…
Jun 8, 2026 · 11:08
‘Ghostbusters’ opened in US cinemas on 8th June, 1984, quickly becoming the highest-grossing comedy of all time. The brainchild of SNL’s Dan Aykroyd - whose great-grandfather was…
Jun 5, 2026 · 12:33
When Lord Byron’s 17 year-old daughter, Ada Lovelace, attended a soirée at the home of academic Charles Babbage on 5th June, 1833, the pair hit it off immediately. He invited her…
Jun 4, 2026 · 11:41
‘The Annoying Thing’ is how the begenitaled amphibian animated by Erik Wernquist was first described; but by the time he released his first single ‘Axel F’ he was universally…
Jun 3, 2026 · 13:34
Los Angeles erupted in racist violence on 3rd June, 1943 in a week of riots that exposed deep tensions in wartime America. California’s Mexican-American “Pachuco” youth had…
Jun 2, 2026 · 12:08
Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson made an important discovery, by accident, on June 2, 1875. While working on their ‘harmonic telegraph’. Watson inadvertently plucked a…
Jun 1, 2026 · 12:00
Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire on his whole family at a family dinner at Kathmandu’s Narayanhiti Palace on 1st June, 2001. He killed nine royals, including his father, King…
May 29, 2026 · 11:58
Bing Crosby recorded the biggest-selling single of all time, ‘White Christmas’, on 29th May, 1942. The session took just 18 minutes, and the song was not considered the standout…
May 28, 2026 · 12:00
Before ‘Tomb Raider’, before ‘Mortal Kombat’, before ‘Street Fighter’, there was something even WORSE. ‘Super Mario Bros’ - which opened in the United States on 28th May, 1993 -…
May 27, 2026 · 13:19
William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister when he and opposition MP George Tierney fought a duel on Sunday, 27th May 1798 on London’s Putney Heath. Standing twelve paces apart,…
May 26, 2026 · 12:28
A coalition of Australian community groups came together on May 26th, 1998 for the country’s first “National Sorry Day”, an annual day of atonement for the social-engineering…
May 25, 2026 · 13:01
Hands Across America, a human chain from New York to California was formed on 25th May, 1986, in an attempt to raise awareness and funds for domestic poverty. The brainchild of…
May 22, 2026 · 13:03
When Jerry Lee Lewis landed at Heathrow Airport for his first UK tour on 22nd May, 1958, he was met with a flurry of journalists eager for a scoop. Yet just one question brought…
May 21, 2026 · 11:31
When Carl Wickman started America’s first bus company on 21st May, 1914, they weren’t a bus company, and they weren’t called Greyhound - they were a commuter service for miners…
May 20, 2026 · 13:09
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a US patent for reinforcing work trousers with copper rivets on 20th May 1873; an innovation that would eventually create the global market…
May 19, 2026 · 12:12
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s musical comedy-drama ‘Glee’ was first screened on Fox on May 19th, 2009. In a strategy to whip up excitement before the season premiere in the…
May 18, 2026 · 12:24
Dreamworks’ irreverent animated comedy Shrek opened in 3,500 U.S. theaters on 18th May, 2001 - dethroning The Mummy Returns with a $42 million opening weekend, and eventually…
May 15, 2026 · 10:42
George III narrowly dodged a bullet for the SECOND time in one day on 15th May, 1800, as he attended a performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The assassination attempt…
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