Today In History with The Retrospectors

Berated by the tabloids as exhibitionist pornography, Madonna’s coffee table book, ‘Sex’, quickly sold out upon its release on 21st October, 1992. Influenced by artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy Sherman, the book included images of full-frontal nudity, simulated gay sex, mixed race couples, threesomes and trans imagery. Madonna vigorously defended it, in a series of interviews, as a portrayal of female sexuality. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask if Madonna was fighting an uphill battle to be taken seriously; debate whether the book was art, a smutty publicity stunt… or both; and consider whether a particularly sensational spread involving a canine companion was taken out of context...  Content Warning: discussion of erotic imagery, including abusive sexual fantasies Further Reading: • ‘How Madonna Turned Controversy Into a Best-Selling Book’ (Entertainment Tonight, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILybauhbA00 • ‘25 Years Later, Madonna's 'Sex' Book Is Still Pop's Most Radical Moment’ (HuffPost, 2017): https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/madonna-sex-book-25th-anniversary_n_59e9f8f1e4b0f9d35bca11e6 • ‘Madonna's 'Erotica,' 'Sex': Misunderstood Masterpieces’ (Rolling Stone, 2017): https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/madonnas-erotica-sex-why-musical-masterpiece-defiant-book-still-matter-200685/ This episode first aired in 2021 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

Losing control of his monoplane at 2,000 ft, First Lieutenant Harold R. Harris made history on 20th October, 1922, when he became the first person to use a manually-activated parachute to save his life. He landed in the grape arbor of a family house in Dayton, Ohio, narrowly missing the occupants, and escaping with just a few scratches. During World War I, many countries believed that giving pilots parachutes would encourage them to abandon planes, rather than fight to the end. But Harris’s experience proved the life-saving potential of this technology. And, as a result, he earned a badge from ‘the Caterpillar Club’, an elite group of pilots who survived thanks to parachutes, founded by Leslie Irvin (its name coming from the silk used to make early parachutes). Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover just how many members the Caterpillar Club has now welcomed; unearth the female trailblazer who joined their ranks; and reveal a surprise twist in Harris’ subsequent aviation career ✈️… Further Reading: • ’History of the Parachute (Inventors and Innovations)’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-parachute-1992334 • ‘The “First” Members of the Caterpillar Club’ (National Air and Space Museum, 2019): https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/first-members-caterpillar-club • ‘Parachutist’ (British Pathé, 1950): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRLAybBcsP0 This episode was first published 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

The traditional music for the circus, "Entrance of the Gladiators", wasn’t actually written for the circus at all, instead when it was composed on 17th October, 1899, it was in fact intended to be a military march.   Julius Fučík composed it, in part, to showcase the cutting-edge capabilities of the era's brass instruments, which had become quicker and more precise than ever before.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate how a sober military march ended up being associated with clowns and trapeze artists; explain what circus music would have sounded like before big bands took over; and reveal which song you should listen out for that traditionally tells circus performers if there is a fire or an escaped wild animal…   Further Reading: • ‘Julius Fučík ‘Entrance of the Gladiators’: Roll Up Roll Up!’ (Clasicalexburns, 2020): https://classicalexburns.com/2021/10/15/julius-fucik-entrance-of-the-gladiators-roll-up-roll-up/  • ‘Circus Music History and Facts’ (History of Circus, 2020): https://www.historyofcircus.com/circus-facts/circus-music-history-facts/  • ‘Julius Fucik - Entry of the Gladiators’ (The Wicked North, 2005): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0  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

In front of the world’s TV cameras, 18-month-old Jessica McClure - affectionately known as “Baby Jessica” - was lifted from a disused well in Midland, Texas on 16th October, 1987, having been trapped down there for two and a half harrowing days.  Jessica had slipped into the eight-inch-wide shaft while playing in her aunt’s backyard. The hole was too narrow for adults to enter, and too deep for a simple rescue; within hours, the local emergency had turned into a media storm. CNN, still a young network at the time, broadcast the event live to millions, cementing the story of Baby Jessica as one of the first true 24-hour news sensations. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the rescue operation took shape, with a heady mix of engineers, miners, firefighters, and volunteers; reveal that the hero of the day, paramedic Robert O’Donnell, never recovered from the trauma of the rescue; and check-in with ‘Baby’ Jessica now, forty years on… Further Reading: • ‘RESCUE WORKERS FREE CHILD TRAPPED 2 1/2 DAYS IN WELL’ (The Washington Post, 1987): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/10/17/rescue-workers-free-child-trapped-2-12-days-in-well/53916dc9-3911-4352-9b63-8b92b93ac302/ • ‘Opinion: How 58 hours in Midland, Texas, changed the future of TV news’ (CNN, 2021): https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/30/opinions/baby-jessica-cnn-films-shorts-mark-bone-opinion • ‘Baby Jessica: 30 Years After Being Rescued From The Well’ (People, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksZMIvHNeJ0 #Strange #80s #US #Child 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

Future President Abraham Lincoln had yet to grow his iconic facial fuzz when he received a letter from Grace Bedell - an 11 year-old resident of Westfield, New York - dated 15th October, 1860.  “I have yet got four brothers... and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin”, she wrote. “All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.” When Lincoln returned to Westfield (having just been elected), he had grown a beard - and thanked Bedell personally for the suggestion. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how jibes about Lincoln’s appearance had become part of his Presidential campaign; explain the origin of ‘sideburns’; and uncover the surprising story of how Lincoln’s beard lead to the creation of MB Games… (Plus, for our supporters on Patreon* and our paid subscribers on Apple Podcasts, we discuss the SECOND letter Grace Bedell wrote to Lincoln in 1864, requesting his help gaining a job with the Treasury so that she could financially support her parents. Sign up now to hear it at patreon.com/Retrospectors) *top two tiers only. Further Reading: • ‘The Surprising Reason Abraham Lincoln Grew a Beard’ (Biography, 2020): https://www.biography.com/news/abraham-lincoln-beard • ‘Grace Bedell: Abraham Lincoln grew beard after girl, 11, wrote to him and said 'all the ladies like whiskers'’ (Mail Online, 2012): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240765/Grace-Bedell-Abraham-Lincoln-grew-beard-girl-11-wrote-said-ladies-like-whiskers.html • ‘The Interesting Story Behind Lincoln's Beard’ (Today I Found Out, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJRrusMBGxU  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

Accused of planning the assassination of her cousin Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots stood trial for treason on 14th October, 1586. Mary’s coded letters, delivered to her co-conspirators in beer barrels, had been intercepted by Sir Francis Walsingham, who had deciphered and copied them and built a case against the former Scottish monarch. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Mary had come to be exiled in not one, but two, palaces; consider her pleas of innocence, in the light of her apparent propensity for plotting; and paint a memorable picture of her decapitation at the hands of the State…  Further Reading: • ‘Mary, Queen of Scots: Life Story (The Babington Plot)’, (Tudor Times, 2017): https://tudortimes.co.uk/people/mary-queen-of-scots-life-story/the-babington-plot • ‘Facts about the execution of Mary Queen of Scots’ (History Scotland, 2020): https://www.historyscotland.com/history/facts-about-the-execution-of-mary-queen-of-scots/ • ‘The Babington Plot’ (Russel Tarr, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1siZxHuzkdU This episode first aired in 2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Margaret Travers Symons was the first woman to make herself heard in the British House of Commons - albeit without permission - on 13th October, 1908. During a tour of Westminster, the suffragette campaigner escaped her escort and interrupted a debate on children’s issues, making a bold demand for votes for women. Meanwhile, outside Parliament, some 60,000 people were protesting for the cause. Symons’ act of defiance occurred during a pivotal time for the women’s suffrage movement. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst, were turning to ever-more extreme and direct forms of action, in pursuit of their motto of ‘Deeds, not Words’. Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the movement then escalated into acts of vandalism, arson, and even bombings; consider just how ‘equal’ equal voting rights were when they finally arrived; and discover the day suffragettes dispatched the grille on Parliament’s ‘women’s gallery’ in spectacular style… Further Reading: • ‘First woman to speak in UK parliament’ (Bangladesh Post, 2019): https://bangladeshpost.net/posts/first-woman-to-speak-in-uk-parliament-14420 • ’Suffragettes History Facts: A Guide To The Votes for Women Campaigners’ (HistoryExtra, 2024): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-suffragettes/ • ’Suffragettes vs Suffragists: Did violent protest get women the vote?’ (Channel 4 News, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw0IAFIhVfA 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

On 10th October, 1967 a treaty went into force that has gone on to become the backbone for all international space law – a United Nations-approved agreement known as the The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, but better known today as the Outer Space Treaty. It’s a relatively succinct document of just 17 articles, some as short as a single sentence, but it represented a lot of fundamentally very challenging cooperation at the time. Not least because it came about when the Cold War was in full swing, and both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to prevent the expansion of the nuclear arms race into space.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the principles of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 turned out to be a good fit for rules on what can and can't be done in outer space; revisit everyone's favourite topic of property law in the 13th century; and discuss whether Elon Musk will, according to the law, own other planets if he lands on them. Further Reading: • ‘Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies’ (US Department of State, 2009): https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm  • ‘How an international treaty signed 50 years ago became the backbone for space law’ (The Verge, 2017): https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/27/14398492/outer-space-treaty-50-anniversary-exploration-guidelines  • ‘Who Owns The Moon?’ (Vsauce, 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks8WH3xUo_E  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 Royal Albert Hall was the unlikely venue for the biggest Sumo wrestling tournament ever staged outside of Japan on 9th October, 1991. Around forty wrestlers, described in the press as “bouncing like fat Buddhas,” thundered across a ring on clay sourced from a field near Heathrow.  Part of the grand Japan Festival - a four-month cultural takeover marking 100 years of the Japan Society, including kabuki at the National Theatre and Buddhist sculptures at the British Museum - demand for tickets was sky-high, thanks to Channel 4’s cult Friday night sumo broadcasts. A Shinto-style canopy was shipped over, and reinforced hotels were arranged for the athletes, complete with detachable showers, reinforced beds, and double-sized meals to help them hit their 7,000-calorie daily target. The lineup featured stars with nicknames like “The Killer Whale,” “The Plum,” and the 37-stone “Dump Truck,” Konishiki Yasokichi. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the impact the festival had on introducing Londoners to Japanese culture; reveal why the wrestlers had a pit-stop in Anchorage on their way to England; and explain why some fans didn’t tell their colleagues they were attending… Further Reading: • ‘Albert Hall hosts first sumo tournament held outside Japan’ (The Guardian, 1991): https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/oct/10/sumo-wrestling-royal-albert-hall • ‘Sumo Wrestling's Solid Foundation in the UK and Europe’ (SportsLook, 2023): https://featured.japan-forward.com/sportslook/sumo-wrestlings-solid-foundation-in-the-uk-and-europe/ • ‘Sumo: Terao v Kotogaume 1991 (London)’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa0TrLXi-uk #Japan #Sport #London #90s 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

Hairdressers descended upon Oxford Street on October 8th, 1906 to witness Karl Nessler’s first public demonstration of his pioneering new ‘perm’ - a style which didn’t have its heyday until some eighty years later. Creating a long-lasting curl had been a goal for many stylists over the decades, but Nessler had hit upon a winning combination of technique and chemicals. He achieved this by subjecting his wife, Catherine, to a seemingly endless onslaught of painful and laborious experiments. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the system of weights, pulleys and chandeliers that facilitated these early experiments; discuss the parallel movement for (yet more risky) chemical relaxers in the African-American community; and compare notes on the weirdest hairdos they’ve permitted on their own heads...  Further Reading: • ‘The Story Of Hair and The Nessler Wave’ (Timeless Tales, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pi11YxY4ww • ‘Inside the heated history of the permanent wave machine’ (The State Museum of Pennsylvania): http://statemuseumpa.org/wave-machine/ • ‘Making waves: Celebrating the centenary of the perm’ (The Times, 2006): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/making-waves-tnttbrtt30n 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