Paul McCartney married Heather Mills in an extravagant ceremony at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, Ireland, on 11th June, 2002.  300 VIP guests were in attendance, including Elton John, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr, but only one official photo was ever released - so local teens with disposable cameras became unlikely paparazzi for hire.  The couple’s doomed love story began in 1999 at the Pride of Britain Awards, but when the tabloid press got hold of their relationship, eyebrows were raised over their age gap, Mills’ rocky employment history, and her supposed friction with Paul’s daughter, designer Stella McCartney. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look back at the misogynistic coverage of Mills in the popular press; revisit the turbulent fallout of this high-profile celebrity marriage; and pore over the ashes of Mills’s prior romances… Further Reading: • ‘McCartney ties knot at rock 'n' roll wedding’ (CNN, 2002): https://edition.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/11/mccartney.wedday/index.html • ‘First view from inside Paul McCartney and Heather Mills' wedding’ (Mail Online, 2015):  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3035182/Help-Gloom-Macca-s-girls-doomed-wedding-view-inside-Paul-Heather-s-wedding-did-grim-faced-Stella-Mary-know-coming.html • ‘Mills rants after getting £24.3m from Macca’ (On Demand Entertainment, 2008): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9R7gV9evNE 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Oxford v Cambridge Men’s Boat Race has been an annual tradition since 1856 - but the first one was the result of a light-hearted bet between two friends called Charles on 10th June, 1829. When Wordsworth (Christ Church College, Oxford) and Merivale (St. John’s, Cambridge) challenged each other to race up the Thames in Henley, they never could have known their schoolboy jape would attract 20,000 spectators, nor that it would go on to become one of the major sporting events in the British calendar.  In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion consider if rowing is still an elitist sport; whether Oxbridge colleges should now ditch the pretence that they never admit postgraduate students specifically to participate in the race; and reveal Hugh Laurie’s consolation prize for losing for Cambridge in 1980… Further Reading:  • ‘Origins of the Boat Race’ at the Boat Race’s official website: https://theboatrace.org/origins • 111 years after the original race, Oxford and Cambridge compete in Henley again (British Pathé, 1940): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQSsei8KxCw • ‘Ten Things You Didn’t Know About The Boat Race’ from Sky History: https://www.history.co.uk/article/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-boat-race This episode first aired in 2021 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Wise Little Hen’, the Silly Symphonies short from was released on 9th June, 1934 and introduced a new Disney character: Donald Duck. With his distinctive strangled quacking (born from the unique talents of Clarence Nash - a man who’d spent his childhood mimicking barnyard sounds), Donald's hot-tempered, accident-prone slapstick sensibilities brought a welcome unpredictability to the sanitised world the studio had constructed around their hero, Mickey Mouse. But Donald wasn’t just a cartoon character. He soon became a symbol of resilience during World War II, when he starred in morale-boosting shorts like Donald Gets Drafted - and even donned a swastika to parody Nazi Germany in the Oscar-winning Der Fuehrer's Face. In this episode, The Retrospectors unpick the particular appeal of Donald’s vain, cocky, and boastful appearances; explain why it took years for him to truly earn his iconic sailor’s outift; and reveal how Duck Tales has its roots in military service… Further Reading: • ‘A Duck for All Seasons’ (The Washington Post, 1984): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1984/06/24/a-duck-for-all-seasons/36253ddd-a547-47ab-9c50-b0ff696f707e/ • ‘50-Year Career : Clarence Nash, Donald Duck's Voice, Dies’ (Los Angeles Times, 1985): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-02-21-mn-619-story.html • ’The Wise Little Hen’ (Disney, 1934): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLFyNRuEkCM 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Notorious Nazi doctor, ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele, spent the last twenty years of his life on the run. His remains were recovered in São Paulo on 6th June, 1985, when Brazilian Police dug up the grave of a man named “Wolfgang Gerhard” - later proven to be Mengele, who’d drowned at a beach resort at the age of 68. Mengele, responsible for sending up to 400,000 Jews to their deaths at Auschwitz, was able to escape to Argentina via Italy after the War, even living freely under his real name for a period, before Mossad and ‘Nazi Hunter’ Simon Wiesenthal began hunting him down more assiduously. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how frustratingly close Israel’s secret services came to capturing him in his lifetime; explain how he was able to live under cover in South America for decades; and consider the irony of what finally happened to his skeleton… Content Warning: depictions of Auschwitz, Holocaust torture techniques Further Reading: • ‘Son Says Mengele's Dead, Tells Why He Kept Silent : Learned of Death in 1979’ (Los Angeles Times, 1985): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-11-mn-10339-story.html • ‘How did the infamous Josef Mengele escape punishment?’ (The Spectator, 2020): https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-did-the-infamous-josef-mengele-escape-punishment/ • ‘Confirming the remains of Josef Mengele’ (NBC, 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m46WUDwxxpA This episode first premiered in 2024, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!   We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/retrospectors   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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lizzie Borden’s murder trial began on June 5, 1893 in New Bedford Courthouse, Massachusetts. The 32 year-old was accused of killing her father, wealthy magnate Andrew Borden, and his wife Abby, her stepmother, who had been crushed by the blows of a hatchet - 11 and 19 times, respectively. In attendance were three judges, Borden’s high-powered defense team (paid for from her late father’s estate), and reporters and onlookers keen to parse the lurid details of the shocking deaths in the Borden homestead. But, despite there being no other suspects, Borden was acquitted. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Lizzie just *may* have innocently been purchasing poison; consider whether this was the case that first ignited the female interest in ‘true crime’ stories in America; and reveal what’s happened to the ‘Borden Murder House’ in the 21st century … Content Warning: domestic violence, description of brutal murder scene. Further Reading: • ‘Why 19th-Century Axe Murderer Lizzie Borden Was Found Not Guilty’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2019): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-19th-century-axe-murderer-lizzie-borden-was-found-not-guilty-180972707/ • ‘Lizzie Borden case: Images from one of the most notorious crime scenes in history’ (CBS, 2021): https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/lizzie-borden-case-images-crime-scene/ • ‘48 Hours: Lizzie Borden Took an Axe’ (CBS, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYDiEcyDUBU 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twice the usual crowd turned up to see the Cleveland Indians take on the Texas Rangers on June 4th, 1974 - drawn in not by the baseball match, but by an innovative promotion: for just 10 cents, fans could grab 10 ounces of beer. The lines never stopped, as fans circled back, drank in line, and kept the buzz going. Tensions were high, as this was a rematch with the Texas Rangers following a brawl. Fans cheered when a Rangers player got injured, and started throwing trash, rocks, and batteries onto the field. Then came a full-on invasion: around 200 fans, some armed with chains and chunks of stadium seats, rushed the pitch. Players fought to protect each other. The umpire, bleeding from a thrown rock and narrowly missed by a knife, finally called it: game over. Cleveland forfeited. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Cleveland’s ill-advised 10 cent beer promotion came to be; unpick what the baseball players were thinking, as they were dashed back to a hotel for their safety; and marvel at the gratuitous nudity on the pitch, in the golden age of 70s streaking… Further Reading: • ‘A mistake by the lake: Remembering the 10-cent Beer Night riot’ (Sports Illustrated, 2013): https://www.si.com/mlb/2013/06/04/mistake-lake-remembering-10-cent-beer-night-riot • ‘10 Cent Beer Night: An Oral History of Cleveland Baseball's Most Infamous Night’ (Cleveland Magazine, 2024): https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/sports/articles/10-cent-beer-night-an-oral-history-of-cleveland-baseball's-most-infamous-night • ‘10-Cent Beer Night: A look back’ (Sports & Extras Network, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFtR38Mlscc 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Radical playwright Valerie Solanas, author of the SCUM Manifesto (for the ‘Society of Cutting Up Men’) attempted to assassinate pop artist Andy Warhol at The Factory on 3rd June, 1968. As a result, Warhol wore a corset for the rest of his life; security had to be introduced at the previously open-door environment of The Factory; and Solanas’ name went down in infamy. In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca ask whether her feminist writing would carry more weight if she’d never committed this violent act; consider the ethics of wannabe-assassins becoming celebrities, and wonder whether her SCUM Manifesto reads more like Jane Austen or Germaine Greer… Content Warning: mental health, paranoid schizophrenia, injury detail Further Reading: • ‘I Shot Andy Warhol’ trailer (1996):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAQRCcQlXXE • ‘The SCUM Manifesto’ on Northeastern University’s website:  https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/rants/scum.html • ‘This Is Why a Radical Playwright Shot Andy Warhol’ (Time, 2015):  https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/ This episode was first published in 2021 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall the shocking events of the Heysel Stadium disaster, which lead to all English football clubs being banned from European competitions for five years from 2nd June, 1985. The tragedy occurred during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, when hooligans from both clubs had infiltrated the neutral sections. The policing was inadequate, with officers diverted by minor thefts, and the stadium's security measures woefully insufficient. 39 fans died, and 600 were injured, but, astonishingly, the match continued - with Juventus winning 1-0. In this episode, The Retrospectors discover how the ban led to the creation of the ill-fated ‘Screensport Super Cup’; consider how Rupert Murdoch's investment in rights transformed the sport; and reveal how the ban affected English clubs’ ability to attract international talent… 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most significant rebellion of the Medieval era, the so-called Peasant’s Revolt, kicked off in Brentwood, Essex on 30th May, 1381, when tax collector John Bampton attempted to collect unpaid poll tax. The protest triggered a violent confrontation, rapidly spreading across the south-east of the country. Within a month, the rebels were marching towards London, massacring merchants and razing the palace of the king’s uncle, John of Gaunt. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether the protestors really were ‘peasants’ at all; appraise 14 year-old king Richard II’s handling of their appeasement; and explain how, despite the horrific hardship of the Black Death, the working classes had, for once, something of an advantage… Further Reading: • ‘The Peasants' Revolt Of 1381: A Guide’ (HistoryExtra, 2021): https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/your-guide-peasants-revolt-facts-timeline/ • ‘Peasants' Revolt’ (British Library): https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item132518.html • ‘The Untold Story Of The 1381 Peasants Revolt’ (Timeline, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kq9sbtFCR8&t=2s 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whit Monday became the first of the new ‘Bank Holidays’ on 29th May, 1871, as millions of Britons got an officially-sanctioned paid day off.  The brainchild of eccentric polymath (and former banker) Sir John Lubbock, the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 created four official days off, cleverly packaged as innocuous financial regulation so as to sneak through Parliament without incurring moral panic. So admired was the innovation that the holidays became informally known as “Saint Lubbock’s Days”. But, in a way, Lubbock had only revived the spirit of the medieval calendar, which had plenty of saint days and community-wide rest. The industrial revolution had crushed all that under factory whistles and time cards, but now, with the rollout of the Victorian railways, city folk could flee to the seaside for a sunny day with their families.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pore over Lubbock’s bizarre CV; consider the debate around renaming Bank Holidays as “Princess Diana Day” or “Britishness Day”; and explain why, despite the new laws, not all industries shut up shop…  Further Reading: • ‘Bank holiday notice, 1896’ (NatWest Group Heritage Hub): https://www.natwestgroup.com/heritage/history-100/objects-by-theme/our-people-in-the-community/bank-holiday-notice-1896.html • ‘Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury 1834 – 1913’ (Chislehurst Society): https://chislehurst-society.org.uk/pages/about/people/sir-john-lubbock-lord-avebury-1834-1913/ • ‘What is a Bank Holiday? | Why Do We Get Bank Holidays?’ (Twinkl Educational Publishing, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_I_pzgE920 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A naval juggernaut of 137 ships, 10,000 sailors, 2,500 guns, and 20,000 soldiers was launched at England by Philip II of Spain on May 28th, 1588: the Spanish Armada. Their goal? A full-scale invasion to dethrone Queen Elizabeth I and restore Catholicism, no less.  Unfortunately, their commander, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, had no naval experience. And the English got wind of the "secret" invasion months in advance. When they finally arrived, the Spanish were struggling with storms, rotting supplies, and low morale; and the comparatively cobbled-together English fleet darted in, fired, and slipped away before the lumbering Spanish could react. Then came the infamous “fire ships”—floating bonfires set toward the Spanish fleet, causing panic, chaos, and most importantly, shattering the Armada’s crescent formation. With ships scattered and winds whipping up, the Spanish went into retreat — but the exit door was now a long, stormy road around Scotland and Ireland… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why the Spanish believed victory was inevitable; reveal how the biggest toll on the Armada came AFTER the famous battle; and explain why it took so long for news of the victory to spread around England… Further Reading: • ‘Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada’ (Royal Museums Greenwich): https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/elizabeth-i-spanish-armada • ‘The Spanish Armada: 10 Little-Known Facts’ (HistoryExtra, 2018): https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/spanish-armada-facts-elizabeth-i-medina-sidonia-catholic-philip-ii/  • ‘England vs The Spanish Armada: The Defeat Of The Invincible Fleet’ (Timeline, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZsTRdmnp_Y 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microwave cookery was first demonstrated by Ross Kilgore of Westinghouse at the Chicago World’s Fair, which opened on 27th May, 1933. But the event was deemed to be a side-show of little scientific significance, and was forgotten until microwaves were ‘discovered’ two decades later. Incredibly also on display at the Chicago World’s Fair were incubated premature babies; people with dwarfism paraded in ‘midget’s village’; and, most attention-grabbingly of all, a provocative fan dancer called Sally Rand. Different times. In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca compare the Fair’s SkyRide to its ‘coal mine’; question the purpose of a cigar-smoking robot; and explain why amoebic dysentery made an unwelcome souvenir for many...  Further Reading: • America’s Best History looks back at the ‘Century of Progress’ exhibition:  https://americasbesthistory.com/wfchicago1933.html • Wilding Pictures captures Technicolor footage of the Fair in 1934: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTqNPjQvOC0 • The ‘Coal Mine’ exhibit, preserved at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry: https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/coal-mine/ 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The major political upheaval that befell Italy happened on 26th May, 1981, when Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his entire cabinet resigned. This followed the exposure of a secretive Masonic lodge, known as P2 or Propaganda Due, intent on creating a shadowy state-within-a-state. Its 962 elite members included high-ranking military officers, civil servants, bankers, and a certain Silvio Berlusconi. The mastermind behind the sect, Licio Gelli, was a former fascist functionary who had reinvented himself as a powerful and well-connected businessman. Gelli fled to Switzerland, but despite being eventually arrested and later extradited to Italy, spent no time behind bars. In this episode, The Retrospectors unpick the involvement of ‘God’s Banker’, Roberto Calvi; consider Gelli’s lengthy involvement with fascism; and discover a surprising use for old flowerpots… Further Reading: • ‘Licio Gelli, fascist and masonic chief’ (FT, 2015): https://www.ft.com/content/7d3fdd08-a418-11e5-8218-6b8ff73aae15 • ‘Licio Gelli: Businessman who became the 'puppet master' of the sinister right-wing organisation, P2 (The Independent, 2015): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/licio-gelli-businessman-who-became-the-puppet-master-of-the-sinister-rightwing-organisation-p2-a6783576.html • ‘PBS Newshour’ (PBS, 1981): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3yV8L3s7QQ 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hanged for piracy and murder, sea captain William Kidd was executed in Wapping on 23rd May, 1701. From the gallows he proclaimed to the large assembled crowd that he was innocent of the crimes, as he was a licensed privateer.  The vessel he’d captured, the Quedagh Merchant, was indeed sailing under a ‘French pass’ - though the documents that prove this lay unearthed until the 20th century. His trial was used by the governing Tory party as a political opportunity to embarrass his Whig sponsors, and he was convicted on all counts. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain what happened to his body after his botched hanging; reveal the extraordinary monetary value of his plunder; and explain how, despite his established prowess as a seaman, he became seen as a public enemy… Further Reading: • ‘Biography of Captain William Kidd, Scottish Pirate’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/captain-william-kidd-2136225 • ‘The sacrifice of Captain Kidd’ (HistoryExtra, 2011): https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/the-sacrifice-of-captain-kidd/ • ‘Accidental Pirate’ (National Geographic, 2008): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4aGvWzFoko 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Namco’s ground-breaking arcade game Pac-Man had its first focus test in a Tokyo cinema foyer on May 22nd, 1980. Created by 24 year-old Toru Iwatani, it was originally called ‘Puck-Man’ and designed to appeal to women as well as men. Each of the ghosts - Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde - was programmed to have its own personality using AI routines, creating a sense of ‘character’ despite the pixelated rendering. Atari declined the opportunity to distribute the game in the U.S. - where, in just a year, it generated $1billion of revenue - in quarters… In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the gameplay wipes out after 256 levels; explore the craze that saw a Pac-man strategy textbook shift one million copies; and consider why the game’s name was changed to avoid some unfortunate graffiti…  Further Reading: • ‘The game that ate the world: 40 facts on Pac-Man's 40th birthday’ (The Guardian, 2020): https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/may/22/pac-man-video-game-40-years-old • ‘Why Players Around the World Gobbled Up Pac-Man’ (Smithsonian Magazine): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-players-around-world-gobbled-up-pac-man-180974902/ • ‘Pac-Man Level 256 - the last level in the game’ (The Glitch Gamer, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcI42czB2q4 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour leader Ed Miliband awkwardly ate a bacon sandwich at New Covent Garden Market on 21st May, 2014. Mid-bite, eyes squinting, lips oddly parted, and fingers clumsily gripping the sandwich - it was an instantly meme-able moment. The British press pounced. The photo became a viral sensation, with endless edits, spoofs, and headlines suggesting Miliband wasn’t “human enough” to relate to the average voter. It was a perfect storm of bad optics, class-coded food politics, and the relentless image-focused nature of modern campaigning. The idea that someone couldn’t even eat a sandwich “properly” became, bizarrely, a shorthand for unrelatability. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly unpick why this accidental photocall continued to resonate a year later, becoming a ‘defining image’ of the 2015 general election; recall how David Cameron swerved a similar encounter with a hot dog; and discover how the Google results for this iconic moment have been somewhat interfered with… Further Reading: • ’Is this the moment Ed realised that the man who sold him this bacon sandwich is voting Tory? Labour leader's nationwide tour gets off to a difficult start’ (Mail Online, 2014): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2634977/Is-moment-Ed-realised-man-sold-bacon-sandwich-voting-Tory-Labour-leaders-nationwide-tour-gets-difficult-start.html • ‘The Defining Image of the British Election’ (The Atlantic, 2015): https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/ed-miliband-bacon-british-election/392867/ • ’Ed Miliband: 'The bacon sandwich didn't lose me the election'’ (LBC, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O38SKEBPohU 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Hitachi launched their ‘personal massager’ on 20th May, 1968, they had no idea (or so they claim) that they were about to, um, go down in sex toy history. The Magic Wand was initially developed to relieve tension and relaxing sore muscles - but soon became celebrated as the most powerful vibrator the world had ever seen. In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion discover how its innocent packaging helped boost sales when female masturbation was taboo, reveal the role sex educator Betty Dodson had in introducing it to the chattering classes, and consider how Apple would react today, if it was revealed that ‘rubbing an iPad on your bits felt good’... Content Warning: Explicit content, references to genitalia. Further Reading: • ‘A Brief History of The Magic Wand’, Cosmopolitan (2017): https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a14105499/hitachi-magic-wand-history/ • Sam returns her ‘neck massager’ to The Sharper Image in Sex and the City (2002): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4QIO4XVPc • Magic Wand’s official website: https://magicwandoriginal.com/ 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nobel Prize-winning dramatist Harold Pinter's London premiere of his debut, ‘The Birthday Play’ was detested by most critics - on 19th May, 1958. Set in a mundane seaside boarding house, the play initially lures audiences in with a naturalistic facade, before plunging them into a perplexing, uncomfortable narrative. Critics lambasted the production for its nonsensical dialogue and lack of clarity; lines of attack which were not eased by Pinter's lifelong refusal to offer explanations. The sole exception was a positive review from The Sunday Times’s Harold Hobson - but this was printed after the show had already been pulled. In this episode, The Retrospectors explain how Pinter’s play nonetheless left a lasting impact on British theatre; reveal who ‘Betrayal’ was REALLY about; and attempt to quantify the value of the Pinteresque pause... Further Reading: • ‘Hated by critics, the new boy Harold Pinter’ (Sunday Times, 1958): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/from-the-archive-hated-by-critics-the-new-boy-harold-pinter-wjj2mssv8vp • ‘Fighting talk’ (The Guardian, 2008): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/03/theatre.stage • ‘The Birthday Party, By Harold Pinter’ (BBC, 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vbXyXeEDhU&t=64s 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Socialite, wit and fashion influencer Beau Brummell fled to France on 16th May, 1816, in order to escape his creditors, from whom he had racked up around £600,000 of gambling debts. Staying at Dessin’s Hotel, he entertained in his apartments while learning French and writing his memoirs, biding his time until his bestie George IV appointed him to the British consul in nearby Caen. But the position lasted only two years, and eventually he was jailed for his mounting debts in France. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track the highs and lows of this iconic dandy’s relationship with the Palace; consider how his career in the consulate came to such a rapid end; and explore his influence on gentleman’s fashion ever since…  Further Reading: • ‘Beau Brummell - The Ultimate Man of Style, By Ian Kelly’ (Atria Books, 2013):  https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Beau_Brummell/z0bihH_cbTgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Beau+Brummell&printsec=frontcover • ‘Regency London: Where did the Ton spend their time?’ (Britain Magazine, 2023): https://www.britain-magazine.com/featured/regency-london-where-did-the-ton-spend-their-time/ • ‘Beau Brummell: The First Menswear Influencer?’ (Gentleman’s Gazette, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgVvvGHFiM 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ellen Church became the first ever airline stewardess on May 15th, 1930 - when she took to the skies with a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California to Chicago.  A licensed airplane pilot, she’d approached the airline to inquire about flying planes, but, when she was told that in fact they didn’t employ women at all, she suggested that they put registered nurses like herself aboard to care for the passengers - and was hired to recruit and train seven additional women for the role. Candidates needed to be no taller than 5 feet, 4 inches; not more than 25 years old… and single. Their salary was $125.00 per month. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the seemingly never-ending list of safety responsibilities given to this first generation of ‘Sky Girls’; unpick the sexist recruitment policies underpinning their employment; and discover some of the most sexualised ad-campaigns of all time… Further Reading: • ‘Flight Attendants of History: How the First Stewardess Got Her Job’ (Time, 2015): https://time.com/3847732/first-stewardess-ellen-church/ • ‘Shaking up a cocktail, tucking passengers into bed and calming nervous flyers: Fascinating vintage photos reveal life in the sky for the first air hostesses of the 1930's’ (Mail Online, 2015): https://rb.gy/h01wa • ‘Southwest Airlines’ - commercial circa 1972: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR7JApjgIGw 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices