Rebecca’s favourite episode of 2025 is “The 'Ten Cent Beer Night' Riot”. 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 #Sport #Mistakes #70s #Strange 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's favourite episode of 2025 was “Land Rover's Rugged Beginnings” A British motoring icon made its debut at the Amsterdam Motor Show on 30th April, 1948: the Land Rover. The UK’s first off-road vehicle (that wasn’t a tractor!) had been sketched in sand by its creator, Maurice Wilks.  Heavily inspired by the American Willys Jeep, the first Land Rovers were simple, no-frills workhorses with no roof, no heater, and barely any doors — just half-height flaps to keep you from falling out. And at £450, they were priced for farmers, not aristocrats. But the car soon caught on, with everyone from Winston Churchill to Bob Marley. Despite being noisy, leaky and slow, the Land Rover's charm wasn’t about comfort — it was about practicality, reliability, and an unmistakably rugged, "real" vibe that everyone could get behind. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly unpick how the marque inspired explorers, aid workers, and adventurers; consider why the British Army abandoned the vehicle in the 21st century; and discover why the steering wheel on the first models was placed in the middle… Further Reading: • ‘Why everyone wants a classic Land Rover’ (The Times, 2022): https://www.thetimes.com/article/7e9e5d1e-7dec-11ec-b216-7a521e8f125c • ‘Land Rover Design - 70 Years of Success by Nick Hull’ (David & Charles, 2018): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Land_Rover_Design_70_Years_of_Success/w9IjEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=maurice+wilks&pg=PT19&printsec=frontcover • ‘History Of Land Rover: Discover the Amazing Story Behind the Land Rover!’ (Land Rover World, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV3BIQ6WfR8 #Motoring #Design #40s #UK #Inventions 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

Happy New Year, Retrospectors! We’ll return with new episodes from Monday 5th January, but in the meantime the team have been choosing their favourite episodes from 2025 that are worthy of a second listen. First up, Olly has selected our conversation about ‘New Coke’. Coca-Cola was approaching its 100th birthday on 23rd April, 1985, when it unveiled a new beverage at New York City's Lincoln Center: the ‘smoother, rounder, bolder’ flavour of ‘New Coke’. The success of Diet Coke had fragmented the market, and, in response to Pepsi's aggressive marketing campaigns targeting younger consumers, Coke had sought to introduce a sweeter formula. But, instead of offering the new formula alongside the original, they made the catastrophic decision to discontinue their classic recipe, known as Merchandise 7X.  The company had conducted extensive taste tests involving 190,000 consumers, which indicated a preference for the new formula. However, these tests overlooked the deep emotional connection many had with the original Coke. Protest groups like the Society for the Preservation of the Real Thing and Old Cola Drinkers of America, founded by Gay Mullins, emerged, reflecting the public's dissatisfaction, and, just 79 days after the launch, on July 11th, 1985, Coca-Cola held a press conference to announce the return of the original formula - now branded as "Coca-Cola Classic."  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal those hardcore cola fans who stockpiled soda like it was gold; uncover the psychiatrist’s opinion that Coke’s most committed customers were behaving as if they’d experienced a bereavement; and consider the conspiracy theories that suggest Coca-Cola engineered the whole debacle deliberately… Further Reading:  • ‘Coke, The Taste That Distresses’ (The Washington Post, 1985): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/06/07/coke-the-taste-that-distresses/1f0758dd-98a2-4a9d-ae1c-c188c2228354/ • ‘New Coke Didn’t Fail. It Was Murdered’ (Mother Jones, 2019): https://www.motherjones.com/food/2019/07/what-if-weve-all-been-wrong-about-what-killed-new-coke/ • ‘1985: Coca-Cola launches new Coke’ (CBS Evening News, 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8j97dOLsyk #80s #Advertising #Mistakes #Food 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

How much have YOU learned from this year’s show? It’s time for our annual trivia test, as Arion and Rebecca face Olly’s fiendishly difficult questions for 2025.  And, for the first time, this year you can PLAY ALONG! Just click the link here 👇 https://forms.gle/ytZpWTei392F7YvCA Have an amazing festive season, and thanks so much for listening to the podcast this year. We’ll be back with new episodes from Monday 5th January - or one day earlier if you join Club Retrospectors on Apple Podcasts or Patreon, where supporters get an exclusive Sunday episode every single week, and an ad-free RSS feed.  Merry Christmas! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mistletoe and Wine became the UK’s Christmas Number One on 18th December, 1988; the first of three singles Cliff Richard would take to the top of the festive charts. What makes its triumph so curious is that the song began life as a sardonic showtune written in 1976 for a small musical based on The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. Originally, it underscored a scene in which the impoverished heroine is literally kicked into the snow by the heartless middle classes. Its journey to yuletide staple began with Twiggy’s 1987 performance in an ITV adaptation of the musical. By then the number had morphed into a lively pub singalong, catching the ear of Terry Britten, long-time Cliff collaborator, who passed the tune along.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover why Leslie Stewart, one of the songwriters, disliked Cliff’s canonical version; explain why British ears appreciate the song with simultaneous earnestness and irony; and reveal what links this festive classic to the iconic theme tune for ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’... Further Reading: • ‘I Wrote That: Cliff Richard’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine’’ (PRS, 2024):  https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/features/mistletoe-and-wine-cliff-richard-leslie-stewart-keith-strachan-christmas-i-wrote-that • ‘Mistletoe and Wine's political beginnings’ (BBC News, 2013): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25333691 • ‘Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine’ (Official Video, 1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZCEBibnRM8 #Music #Christmas #Christian #80s #Theatre 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 debut episode of the world’s longest-running animated sitcom - 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' - aired in the U.S. on 17th December, 1989; attracting the Fox network’s highest ever Sunday night ratings. It was an instant sensation, with many contemporary critics remarking that the ‘dysfunctionality’ of The Simpsons was in-keeping with other 90s hits Roseanne and Married… With Children, while conservative voices including George H W Bush criticised what they saw as its celebration of underachievement. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how it came to be that a Christmas special should introduce the series; explain why Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit about it; and reveal how many colours are in the show’s distinctive paint palette…  Further Reading: • ‘Honoring ‘Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire’’ (Vulture, 2018): https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/honoring-simpsons-roasting-on-an-open-fire.html • ‘Did Tracey Ullman Get Rich Off ‘The Simpsons’?’ (Mental Floss, 2017): https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94628/did-tracey-ullman-get-rich-simpsons • ‘Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire’ (Fox, 1989): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIfLqO3SSBs 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 Hideaway Club, now part of London’s Chinatown, opened on 16th December, 1964. Ronnie and Reggie Kray didn’t turn up for the big night, even though they had booked a table. It was an opening gambit in a war of intimidation against the manager of the club, Huw Cargill McCowan - to whom the gangsters had proposed a protection racket; threatening him when he turned down their offer. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Krays’ (first) trial fell apart; consider how the brothers used the glamour of their West End nightclub to sanitise their personal brand; and explain how journalist John Pearson shaped the public understanding of these notorious bad boys while they were behind bars…  Further Reading: • ‘The Kray Twins - Just Pictures’ (Rich2015, YouTube, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhR7dyGmipM • ‘An Evening at El Morocco with the Kray Twins and Barbara Windsor’ (Flashbak, 2016): https://flashbak.com/evening-el-morocco-kray-twins-barbara-windsor-59411/ • ‘The hidden history of London's Chinatown’ (Telegraph, 2018): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/london-chinatown-history/ 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 world’s most famous bandleader, Glenn Miller, was last seen on December 15th, 1944 - after hitching a ride on a small plane to Paris. Desperate to ensure his band could perform for Allied troops, Miller had flown from Britain against advice, his early death shocking fans around the world. Glenn Miller wasn’t just a celebrity; he was a musical juggernaut. Leading the Army Air Forces Band during WWII, Miller assembled what is now considered one of the best big bands in history. And his contributions went beyond the stage—he revolutionized military music, turning stuffy marches into jazz-infused anthems. At his peak, he boasted 16 number-one hits and 69 top-10 tracks in just three years. Arion, Rebecca and Olly dig into the conspiracy theories surrounding his death; reveal the chilling letters he sent his wife and brother just days before his final flight; and consider what his legacy might have been, had he survived… Further Reading: • ‘Major Glenn Miller: The Loss of an Icon’ (The National WWII Museum, New Orleans): https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/major-glenn-miller-loss-icon • ‘Glenn Miller’s plane went missing on Christmas Eve’ (The Washington Post, 2019): https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/12/24/glenn-miller-is-missing-years-ago-big-band-mega-star-vanished-flight-over-english-channel/ • ’Glenn Miller - In The Mood | Colorized (1941) 4K’ (Classic Hits Studio, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aME0qvhZ37o 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

Inspired by a dream, Prince Charles of Provence ordered an excavation that uncovered a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of Mary Magdalene on 12th December, 1279.  The evidence presented included a papyrus note, a sweet rose fragrance filling the air, a wax-covered tablet proclaiming Mary's identity, and even a piece of skin where Jesus supposedly touched her after his resurrection.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate how and why Mary may have ended up in France in the first place; recall the bout of ‘Magdalene mania’ that gripped the mediaeval world; and explain why, for centuries, people said she was a sex worker…  Further Reading: • ‘How Early Church Leaders Downplayed Mary Magdalene's Influence’ (HISTORY, 2019): https://www.history.com/news/mary-magdalene-jesus-wife-prostitute-saint • ‘The Skull and Bones of Mary Magdalene’ (Atlas Obscura, 2013): https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/marys-house-in-provence • ‘Relics of St. Mary Magdalene in the Basilica of Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume, France’ (Pierre Repooc Productions, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO8MQzApXvE This episode first aired in 2023 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 Muppet Christmas Carol’ underwhelmed at the box office when it was first released on 11th December, 1992 - but found its audience on video and DVD in the decades later, becoming a gold-plated Christmas classic, re-watched by families, year after year.  There was darkness behind the scenes - from the sudden death of Muppets creator Jim Henson, to the legal wrangling over Disney’s acquisition deal for his company, and composer Paul Williams’s return from a difficult decade of addiction. But, despite this, or, perhaps, because of it, 28 year-old first-time director Brian Henson delivered a faithful and enduring adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how Steve Whitmire shouldered the daunting job of playing Kermit for the first time; consider Michael Caine’s masterstroke performance as Scrooge (‘as if playing opposite the Royal Shakespeare Company’); and reveal how Jerry Juhl’s script shifted from comedy pastiche to heartfelt musical…  Further Reading: • ‘‘You’ll never see Michael Caine blink’: An oral history of The Muppet Christmas Carol at 30’ (The Independent, 2022): https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-muppet-christmas-carol-brian-henson-b2243015.html • ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol movie review’ (Roger Ebert, 1992): https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-muppet-christmas-carol-1992 • ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol Trailer #1’ (Disney, 1992):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNo-Q0IDJi0 #90s #Film #Christmas #Heartwarming Thanks 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 Peart Theme 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

19 year-old singer Frank Sinatra, Jr was snatched from his casino dressing room on 10th December, 1962. His famous father was willing to pay the kidnappers a $1 million ransom - but they insisted they only required $240,000.  When the case went to trial, the defence suggested that the Sinatras may have been in on the crime - a slur that damaged Frank Jr’s reputation for the rest of his life. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly take a peek back through kidnapper Barry Keenan’s infamous 27-page ring binder; explain how the assassination of Kennedy scuppered his earlier attempt at snatching Frank, Jr; and ask how the roadblocks set up specifically to block the bungling criminals failed so spectacularly… Further Reading: • ‘FBI Cracks Sinatra Kidnapping Case’ (British Pathé, 1963): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJm3lXkPZyM • ‘The story of the bumbling kidnappers who snatched Frank Sinatra’s only son from hotel’ (Mirror Online, 2021): https://www.mirror.co.uk/features/story-bumbling-kidnappers-who-snatched-25280617 • ‘The Bizzare And Terribly Executed Kidnapping Of Frank Sinatra Jr.’ (All Thats Interesting, 2021): https://allthatsinteresting.com/frank-sinatra-jr-kidnapping 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

Now a 900 strong pub chain, with an annual turnover of £1.6 billion, J.D. Wetherspoon is a big name on the British high street. But when entrepreneur Tim Martin flung open the doors of the first branch in London’s Muswell Hill on 9th December, 1979, it was known as ‘Tim’s Free House’ - and closed down on its opening night. He built up the business by taking over leases at old buildings such as churches and cinemas, and converting them into pubs - meaning they weren’t tied to any particular brewery, guaranteeing lower prices for customers.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly interrogate Martin’s ‘man of the people’ image, reveal why Wetherspoon’s famous carpets are so expensive; and ask if the ‘paltry chip count’ meme explains why they came off social media… Further Reading: • How Wetherspoon's Conquered Britain (Esquire, 2018): https://www.esquire.com/uk/food-drink/a19129642/how-wetherspoons-conquered-britain/ • ‘Did Wetherspoons See The Pandemic Coming?’ (Channel 5, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDQl21ZoMEw • ‘Wetherspoons Paltry Chip Count: How the counting chips page went sour’ (JOE.co.uk, 2021): https://www.joe.co.uk/uncategorized/inside-the-wetherspoons-paltry-chip-count-how-the-last-wholesome-corner-of-facebook-turned-sour-303164 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

A woman played a female role on the London stage for the very first time on December 8th, 1660, as Desdemona in a revival of Shakepeare’s Othello. The actress was probably Margaret Hughes - though nobody bothered to record this at the time, so we can’t be sure. After the 1660 restoration of King Charles II, theatres opened their doors for the first time after 16 years of Puritan suppression. Charles, who had been exiled in France, admired continental theatre, where women had already been performing for over a century, and so England’s actresses were finally permitted to follow suit. Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the stories of those pioneering performers who combatted sexism and sexual harassment to have their time in the limelight; consider the fate of the ‘pretty boys in petticoats’ once real women were allowed on stage; and, once again, marvel at Samuel Pepys’s inability to keep his sexual urges out of his diaries… Further Reading: • ’Who was the first Shakespearean actress?’ (British Library, 2016): https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/05/who-was-the-first-shakespearean-actress.html • ’The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660-1700 - By Elizabeth Howe’ (Cambridge University Press, 1992): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_First_English_Actresses/gPC5RvL7O_8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=elizabeth+howe+women+on+stage&printsec=frontcover • ‘April de Angelis Interview | The first women on stage’ (Whats On Stage, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvaJIzHj6zY 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

Queen Elizabeth II made Britain’s first long-distance automated phone call on 5th November, 1958 - when, from Bristol, she spoke directly to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 300 miles away, without the need for an Operator.  Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) transformed the telephone network, but was not without its challenges: automation brought efficiency but also led to job losses, sparking some labour disputes, and the roll-out was not completed for twenty years.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why women were selected over men as telephone operators; track the evolution of phone technology through international calls and push-button phones; and propose a future role for the monarchy in testing out social media DMs…  Further Reading: • ‘Caller, putting you through!’ (Daily Express, 2012): https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/334666/Caller-putting-you-through • ’Queen's first video call echoes Her Majesty's historic trunk call to Edinburgh in 1950s’ (The Scotsman, 2020): https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/queens-first-video-call-echoes-her-majestys-historic-trunk-call-to-edinburgh-in-1950s-2881983 ‘Queen Dials Edinburgh’ (British Pathé, 1958): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfH0Xr1rIcY This episode first aired in 2023 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 ‘ghost ship’ Mary Celeste was discovered drifting in the Atlantic by Captain David Morehouse of the Dei Gratia on 4 December 1872. On board there were intact provisions, undisturbed cargo, no evidence of violence or theft… and zero crew. Although some damage to the rigging and open hatches hinted at recent rough weather, nothing suggested a crisis severe enough to justify taking to the lifeboat. One pump had been dismantled and about a metre of water had collected in the hold, but this was neither unusual nor dangerous for a vessel of that size. Crucially, the ship’s papers and navigational instruments were missing, implying a deliberate and orderly departure.  Nevertheless, no signs of fire, piracy, collision, or structural failure explained why Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, their two-year-old daughter, and seven experienced crewmen had deserted a floating refuge for a far riskier open boat. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pore over the case that captured the Victorian imagination; explain how Arthur Conan-Doyle kickstarted some internet conspiracies; and consider some of the fruitier explanations for the mystery…  Further Reading: • ‘Mary Celeste, The 'Ghost Ship' Found Abandoned In The Atlantic’ (All That’s Interesting, 2022): https://allthatsinteresting.com/mary-celeste • ‘From the Mary Celeste to the USS Cyclops: The ships which disappeared or were found abandoned’ (Daily Mail Online, 2023): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12218135/From-Mary-Celeste-USS-Cyclops-ships-disappeared-abandoned.html • ‘The True Story of the Mary Celeste’ (Smithsonian, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTb54_gLd5Q #Mystery #Victorian #Strange 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

Renaissance Man Thomas Harriot was noted for many things - devising the theory of refraction, creating mathematical symbols including ‘greater than’ and ‘lesser than’, and being the first person to draw the Moon through a telescope. But the contribution for which he’s most remembered is bringing back the potato to Britain - an event commonly credited to 3rd December, 1586. On first spotting the vegetable on Roanoke Island, he wrote: ‘They are a kind of roots of round form, some of the bigness of walnuts, some far greater, which are found in moist & marish grounds growing many together one by another in ropes, or as though they were fastened with a string. Being boiled or sodden they are very good meate.’ In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca ask what a ‘versifier’ is; come up with a new name for Accountancy; and discover the bizarre means by which Antoine-Augustin Parmentier popularised spuds in France… Further Reading: • ‘The history of the potato: The humble vegetable that changed the world’ (Sky HISTORY): https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-history-of-the-potato-the-humble-vegetable-that-changed-the-world • ‘Thomas Harriot (1560 - 1621) - Biography’ (MacTutor History of Mathematics, St Andrews University): https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Harriot/ • ‘History through the eyes of the potato’ (Leo Bear-McGuinness, TEDx 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xROmDsULcLE 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

Tinseltown’s most notorious pimp was convicted of providing high-class ‘call girls’ to undercover police officers on 2nd December, 1994. It followed a dramatic sting involving the LAPD, the Beverly Hills police department, the state alcoholic beverage control agency and the state attorney General's office. They seized her ‘little black book’ (actually a red Gucci diary) full of high-profile names, but the only celebrity client of hers that testified was Charlie Sheen. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether Fleiss’ own desire for profile was part of her undoing; explain how she had unseated ‘Madam Alex’ from the top of the tree; and reveal the role of Travellers Cheques in her most famous client’s downfall… There was a surprising next chapter to Fleiss’ career - as a carer for parrots - which we discuss in today’s bonus bit, only available for supporters of the show. Just click Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, or head over to Patreon.com/Retrospectors (top two tiers only) to hear it, and a weekly bit of bonus content every single week. By so doing, you’re also supporting our show - so, thanks! Further Reading: • ‘HEIDI FLEISS GUILTY OF PANDERING’ (The Washington Post, 1994): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/12/03/heidi-fleiss-guilty-of-pandering/d836cdbd-4461-47d2-9038-45842269c3c9/ • ‘Heidi Fleiss on Her Arrest, Macaw Cause and “Drug Addict” Ex Tom Sizemore’ (The Hollywood Reporter, 2018): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/heidi-fleiss-her-arrest-macaw-cause-drug-addict-tom-sizemore-1117449/ • ‘Jurors in the Heidi Fleiss trial watch videotape of police arresting four alleged prostitutes’ (AP, 16 Nov 1994): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO0mQUA0bVw 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

Which young men should be sent to fight in Vietnam? Amidst a growing public outcry against the biases in the system, the United States instituted a live televised lottery draft on December 1st, 1969. In a sombre spectacle, plexiglass drums and capsules containing birthdates were drawn live on CBS, dictating the order in which men born on that day might be conscripted. Youth delegates participated to symbolize approval from the draftees’ generation, but some refused to cooperate; one storming off live on air, others making peace signs or reading out protests during the broadcast. Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how this dystopian ‘Hunger Games’ lottery came to be; consider the effect Vietnam the draft had on parenting and college statistics back home; and track their own birthdays to discover when they would have been drafted… Further Reading: • ‘Live From Washington, It's Lottery Night 1969!’ (HistoryNet, 2009): https://www.historynet.com/live-from-dc-its-lottery-night-1969/ • ’Curtis W. Tarr, Selective Service chief who ran the Vietnam War draft lottery, dies at 88’ (The Washington Post, 2013): https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/curtis-w-tarr-selective-service-chief-who-ran-the-vietnam-war-draft-lottery-dies-at-88/2013/06/26/7c615842-de97-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_story.html • ‘The Draft Lottery’ (CBS, 1969): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl29gRRppBg 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

In the annals of automotive innovation, November 28th, 2018 marked a peculiar milestone: the birth of the Lincoln Chimes. The brainchild of Jennifer Prescott, overseer of "Vehicle Harmony" at the motor company, this warning system replaced the synthetic sound of in-car emergency alerts with a blend of violin, viola, and marimba played by The Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Lincoln's endeavour followed in the wake of Bentley revamping its alert and indicator sounds, drawing inspiration from the gentle ticking of a grandfather clock - but cars are not the only luxury products to dabble in ‘sonic branding’. From computer startup chimes to the noise accompanying credit card transactions, there’s a soundscape of jingles which have become an integral part of our conditioned understanding of products and experiences. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how NBC were the first company to trademark  a sound; check out MasterCard’s deviation into recorded music; and reveal just how many drafts Brian Eno went through before settling on his final start-up sound for Windows95… Further Reading: • ‘Why Big Brands Are Using Sonic Signatures To Reach Consumers’ (Forbes, 2018): https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2019/05/08/why-big-brands-are-using-sonic-signatures-to-reach-consumers/?sh=35f5b651d39c • ‘Inside Mastercard’s ‘10-layer’ sonic branding plan’ (Marketing Brew, 2022): https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2022/10/17/inside-mastercard-s-10-layer-sonic-branding-plan • ‘2019 Lincoln Aviator chimes recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’ (Wheel Network, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7uZ27Uzgsk This episode first aired in 2023 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 notorious accused spy of the early Cold War, Alger Hiss, emerged from Lewisburg Penitentiary on 27th November, 1954; calm, composed, and determined to reclaim his reputation. Surrounded by a scrum of journalists, he insisted fear had shaped his conviction, and vowed to vindicate his name. A reserved, cultured “grey man” who had risen through the New Deal, attended the Yalta Conference with Roosevelt, and served as acting Secretary-General at the UN’s founding, Hiss’s conviction for perjury when accused of Soviet espionage had captured America’s attention. Former communist Whitaker Chambers claimed Hiss had been part of an underground network with him in the 1930s, and produced the explosive “pumpkin papers” to prove it: microfilm and typed copies of classified documents that he said Hiss had passed to him, which he’d then stored inside a pumpkin on his farm in Maryland. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover how a young Richard Nixon was instrumental in Hiss’s downfall; discover how support for Hiss among prominent liberals turned the case into an early culture-war flashpoint, fuelling the rise of McCarthyism; and probe into Hiss’s red-tinged prison reading list… Further Reading: • ‘Chaos Agent, by Jeff Kisseloff’ (Harper’s, 2025): https://harpers.org/archive/2025/09/chaos-agent-jeff-kisseloff-rewriting-hisstory-alger-hiss/ • ‘SEQUELS: Ordeal of Living’ (TIME, 1954): https://time.com/archive/6885609/sequels-ordeal-of-living/ • Alger Hiss Released From Jail’ (British Pathé, 1954): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIII6PLV4LY #Scandal #ColdWar #50s #Legal #Politics  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