Today In History with The Retrospectors

How come baseball, that most American of games, is even more popular in Japan than in its home country?  It’s a story with roots into the nineteenth century, as Arion, Olly and Rebecca discover while  they investigate the events of September 1st, 1964, when the San Francisco Giants introduced their newest player, Masanori Murakami, during a game against the New York Mets: the first Japanese player in Major League Baseball. His remarkable composure earned him a standing ovation at Shea Stadium. What made this even more impressive was the fact that Murakami had only signed his contract a few hours before - after the Giants found a Japanese translator to ensure he understood what he was agreeing to.  The Retrospectors explain how Murakami’s journey to the Major Leagues was almost accidental; discover how an American educator caught a wave of openness in Japan to establish baseball as a martial sport; and reveal why ‘Banzai’ Babe Ruth felt personally betrayed by Pearl Harbor…  Further Reading: • ‘How MLB's First Japanese Player Made it to Big Leagues’ (HISTORY, 2021): https://www.history.com/news/masanori-murakami-first-japanese-major-league-baseball-player • ‘Opinion | Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, & Assassination During the 1934 Tour of Japan” by Robert K. Fitts’ (The Washington Post, 2012): https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/banzai-babe-ruth-baseball-espionage-and-assassination-during-the-1934-tour-of-japan-by-robert-k-fitts/2012/06/08/gJQAqxTZOV_story.html • ‘Japanese Baseball is Awesome and You Need to Know More About it’ (Stark Raving Sports, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA4f9uKqsFI #Sport #Japan #60s This episode first aired in 2024 as a Sunday exclusive for members of Club Retrospectors 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

Ishi, a native American man who was widely acclaimed as the “last wild Indian” emerged from the wilderness on 29th August, 1911. His arrival came as a huge surprise to the people of Oroville, California, who had thought that his entire tribe had become extinct a good 40 years earlier. He was immediately taken to a jail cell and locked up, not because he had committed a crime but because authorities simply had no idea what to do with him. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore the relationship between Ishi and the anthropologists that took him in; discuss why he preferred to be photographed in a suit and tie rather than Native American dress; and speculate on what Ishi must have made of the vaudeville shows his handlers took him to see…   Further Reading: • ‘The Story Of Ishi, The ‘Last’ Native American’ (All That's Interesting, 2018): https://allthatsinteresting.com/ishi-last-native-american  • ‘America honours its debt to Ishi, last of the Yahis’ (The Guardian, 2000): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/aug/10/duncancampbell  • ‘A Man Called Ishi’ (Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology at CSU, Chico, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEmqOCta3NU  #US #1910s #Indigenous 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

Over 1,300 athletes from 12 countries gathered at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco for the first-ever Gay Games, on 28th August, 1982.  Intended as the “Gay Olympics,” the event had to change its name at the last minute after the US Olympic Committee sued. But the opening ceremony was electric, with none other than Tina Turner performing at a pivotal moment in her career - a bold and unprecedented move for a superstar at a gay event in the early ‘80s. The brainchild of Olympic decathlete Tom Waddell, the Games were intended to show that you could be openly gay and still achieve greatness - even in a city and community plagued by HIV. Waddell prioritized inclusion over nationalism, having athletes march by city instead of country, and selected a Black gay man and cancer survivor, Richard Hunter, to light the cauldron - symbolizing unity and resilience. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly marvel at the diversity of the opening parade; reveal the child that was conceived as a direct result of the event; and consider why the Games have never been televised…  Further Reading: • ‘Tom Waddell, the amazing man behind Gay Games’ (ESPN, 2014): https://www.espn.com/story/_/id/11305954/tom-waddell-amazing-man-gay-games • ‘The Gay Games are still relevant. Here’s why’ (The Conversation, 2018): https://theconversation.com/the-gay-games-are-still-relevant-heres-why-101104 • ‘Remembering the first Gay Games’ (BBC World Service, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVVD0Ww3qmo 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 shortest war in history began at 09:02 on 27th August, 1896 - and was over 38 minutes later - when The British Empire, at the peak of its power, flexed its military might over the African island of Zanzibar. The drama began when the pro-British Sultan Hamad suddenly died, and his cousin Khalid bin Barghash decided to seize the throne without British approval. The British, who technically managed Zanzibar as a protectorate, issued an ultimatum: leave the palace or face the consequences. Khalid, full of confidence (or denial), refused. He barricaded himself inside with about 2,800 defenders, a handful of artillery, and a single yacht serving as the entire navy. When the Royal Navy opened fire, the beautiful wooden palace quickly turned into splinters. The Sultan’s forces were completely outgunned, and by the end of the barrage, over 500 defenders were killed or wounded, the palace was in ruins, and the "navy" had been sunk. On the British side, one sailor sprained his shoulder. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal what happened to Barghash after he slipped out of a back door; explain why the War proved a turning point in Zanzibar’s relationship to slavery; and ask whether the wannabe Sultan had poisoned his predecessor… Further Reading: • ‘The Shortest War In History: How Long Was The 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War?’ (HistoryExtra, 2024): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/shortest-war-history • ‘Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964)’ (BlackPast, 2016): https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/sultanate-zanzibar-1856-1964/) • ‘Coast and Conquest - History Of Africa with Zeinab Badawi [Episode 12]’ (BBC News Africa, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hKeMgH6A34 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

Equally beloved at office boardrooms and toddler birthday parties, Colin the Caterpillar - a £7 swiss roll cake with white and milk chocolate and buttercream - was launched at an unsuspecting public by Marks and Spencer on 26th August, 1990. At the product development stage, he was going to be a fish - even though fishcake is a TOTALLY different foodstuff. Luckily, the Colin we know and love made it to M&S shelves, where he has since sold more than 15 million units, and spawned dozens of high street imitators. (And an infringement claim against Aldi.) In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion explain how Colin’s popularity coincided with the trend for ‘illusion cakes’; dig up the horrifying sweet/savoury pile-up that is Jane Asher’s ‘Mary Mary’ cake; and consider Colin’s enduring place in British popular culture... Further Reading: • ‘Colin the Caterpillar: A brief history’ (New Statesman, 2018): https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/food-drink/2018/12/colin-caterpillar-brief-history • ‘This is the original M&S Colin the Caterpillar cake back in 1990’ (Good Housekeeping, 2020): https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/a33631942/original-colin-the-caterpillar-cake-1990/ • ‘Colin v Cuthbert The Caterpillar: Can M&S Sue Aldi For Copyright Over A Cake?’ (Good Morning Britain, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZrjPL8p874 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 ‘Great Moon Hoax’ was published by the New York Sun on 25th August, 1835, claiming over six instalments that renowned English astronomer John Herschel had spotted bat-men, unicorns, and bipedal beavers on the lunar surface. Despite the absurdity of the claims, the tale was so wild and well-written that many readers bought into it. The mastermind behind the hoax, Richard Adam Locke, later tried to justify his actions by claiming it was a satire meant to expose the ridiculousness of some contemporary scientific theories. Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Sun used the horrors of slavery to account for its deception; consider how the story spread all the way to Italy; and reveal why Edgar Allen Poe was particularly unimpressed by the gag… Further Reading: • ‘The Great Moon Hoax Was Simply a Sign of Its Time’ (Smithsonian, 2015): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-moon-hoax-was-simply-sign-its-time-180955761/ • ’Belief, Legend, and the Great Moon Hoax | Folklife Today’ (Library of Congress, 2014): https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/08/the-great-moon-hoax/ • ’The Great Moon Hoax’ (The Folklorist, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azlz163nN-A This episode first aired in 2024 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

Established in 1852, Devil’s Island, one of six penal colonies in French Guiana, was finally closed on 22nd August, 1953. Nicknamed the ‘Green Hell’ and the ‘Dry Guillotine’, it earned a reputation as ‘The Alcatraz of South America’: the world’s most brutal prison. Established by Emperor Napoleon III to remove political opponents and jumpstart France’s programme of colonisation, the horrors of the islands became more understood in France following the publication of memoirs by René Belbenoît and Henri ‘Papillon’ Charrière. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why a spell on Devil’s Island was potentially preferable to elsewhere in Guiana; reveal what the guards did with rebellious prisoners and their cadavers; and check out some contemporary perspectives - on TripAdvisor… Further Reading: • Why Devil's Island Was The World's Most Feared Prison (All Thats Interesting, 2021): https://allthatsinteresting.com/devils-island • ‘Notorious French Prison Turns Into a No-Man's Land’ (LA Times, 2002): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-15-adfg-devilisle15-story.html • ‘Devil's Island Prison Colony’ (British Pathé, 1947): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_xCHbpkDss 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

CCTV footage captured middle-aged bank worker Mary Bale dropping friendly tabby cat Lola into a Coventry wheelie bin on 21st August, 2010. The video went viral, and Bale was disgraced on the front page of The Sun.  Despite her initially nonchalant response, Bale faced the full force of internet mob mentality, not to mention a court trial for animal cruelty. One tantalising, unanswered question remained: WHY DID SHE PUT THE CAT IN THE BIN? In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether Bale’s behaviour was actually quietly condoned by millions of her contemporaries; uncover the classist dog whistles in the reporting of the event; and explain how ‘Cat Bin Lady’ became a rapid international sensation… Further Reading: • ‘Is Mary Bale the most evil woman in Britain?’ (The Independent, 2010): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/is-mary-bale-the-most-evil-woman-in-britain-2064733.html • ‘The trial of Mary Bale’ (Financial Times, 2011): https://www.ft.com/content/36396618-54ef-11e0-96f3-00144feab49a • ‘Woman throws cat in wheelie bin’ (Daryl Mann, YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbMt82yVj24 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

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction was released in Britain on 20th August, 1965 - having already reached No. 1 for four weeks Stateside.  With its distorted guitar riff, raw energy, and thinly veiled sexual frustration, it became the Rolling Stones’ biggest global hit - but initially could only be heard on pirate radio stations in the UK, thanks to the band’s label wanting the Stones back from their US tour to promote it in person; and it was banned by the BBC from mainstream airplay for being too sexually suggestive.  Satisfaction wasn’t just a smash hit; it was a cultural shift, setting the Stones apart from their fellow British Invasion stars, the Beatles, by establishing them as a lurid, horny counterpoint to Lennon and McCartney’s more wholesome music-hall stylings.  And the story of that famous riff? Keith Richards literally dreamed it up, woke in the middle of the night, grabbed his cassette recorder, played the now-iconic “da-da-da da-da-da-da” line, and promptly fell back asleep - leaving an hour of his own snoring on the tape. In this episode, recorded to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of this iconic single, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal why Richards wanted a horn section, not a fuzzy guitar; unpick  Mick Jagger’s surprising and satirical lyrics; and consider how, with Satisfaction, the Rolling Stones finally found their sound… Further Reading: • ‘The Story Behind The Song: ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, The Rolling Stones’ classic they wrote in their sleep’ (Far Out Magazine, 2020): https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rolling-stones-satisfaction-story-jagger-richards-song/• ‘(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction’ (Library of Congress, 2006): https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/CantGetNoSatisfaction_LeRoy.pdf • ‘The Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction’ (ABKCO Music & Records, Inc., 1965): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIPxlFzDi0 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

Tippi Hedren, star of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ and ‘Marnie’, was already known for her activism - primarily rescuing big cats - when, on 19th August, 1975 she visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in Sacramento, California Her nail art dazzled many of the women she met - so she set about helping them retrain as Hollywood manicurists, disrupting an industry which had previously been seen as a Beverly Hills luxury. Today, over half of nail technicians in the USA are of Vietnemese descent. In this episode, Rebecca, Arion and Olly consider if Hedren’s template for celebrity ambassadorship has ever been bettered; uncover the story of Ted Ngoy, the Cambodian ‘Donut King’; and discover who turned up to a charity event sporting the most expensive manicure of all time... Further Reading: • ‘How Tippi Hedren made Vietnamese refugees into nail salon magnates’ (BBC, 2015): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32544343 • 'Nailed It: A Documentary On How Vietnamese Workers Took Over U.S. Nail Salons’ (NPR, 2019): https://www.npr.org/2019/05/19/724452398/how-vietnamese-americans-took-over-the-nails-business-a-documentary?t=1628758439044 • ‘Kelly Osbourne wears $250k nail varnish by Azature to the Emmys’ (HELLO!, 2012): https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/201209259431/kelly-osbourne-wears-worlds-most-expensive-manicure/ 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