Today In History with The Retrospectors

Billed as a concours for ‘horseless carriages’, the Paris–Rouen competition which took place on 22nd July, 1894, is now widely considered the world’s first motor race.  Only 21 vehicles qualified. Some of them had solid iron tyres. One was an eight passenger wagonette that weighed four tonnes. The car that came in first - a 20 horsepower steam tractor - was ruled ineligible. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the wisdom of interrupting proceedings for a 90 minute luncheon, ask whether horsepower has become an unhelpful measurement of speed in the 21st century, and explain how the UK’s Locomotive Act of 1865 killed England’s chances of competing... Further Reading: • Vintage cars repeat the Paris-Rouen route in 1966 (Associated Press): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q94gZfHQ9JQ • An account of the race from Goodwood’s historic motorsport pages (2019): https://www.goodwood.com/grr/race/historic/2019/6/the-1894-paris-rouen-trial-the-race-that-wasnt-a-race/ • Race-winner Albert Lemaître and his ‘crime of passion’: https://peoplepill.com/people/albert-lemaitre-2 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

New York City's iconic green space, Central Park - larger than Monaco and Vatican City combined - was legislated for on 21st July, 1853. Over 750 acres of Manhattan were allocated for America's first major landscaped public park; a grand plan which aimed to rival European cities. Rocky and swampy land, previously home to small farms and settlements, was bulldozed - at a cost that exceeded the purchase of Alaska. A competition produced Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s winning design, a version of an English pastoral landscape that reflected the natural beauty of New York State. Their design included a parade ground, fountains, skating arena, and ladies’ ‘refreshment salon’. In this episode Arion, Rebecca and Olly question just how inclusive this ‘park for everybody’ truly was; consider how the upper classes benefited from the property opportunity presented by its construction; and check out the latest park’s trend: pizza box recycling bins... Further Reading: • ‘Almanac: On July 21, 1853, hundreds of acres of land in the center of Manhattan were set aside for Central Park, one of the world's most glorious public spaces’ (CBS News, 2019): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/almanac-central-park-new-york-city/ • ’12 Secrets of New York's Central Park’ (Smithsonian Magazine, ): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/12-secrets-new-yorks-central-park-180957937/ • ​​’How Central Park Was Created Entirely By Design and Not By Nature’ (Architectural Digest, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AVymQ-SU3A 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

Tim Berners-Lee uploaded a photo of parody doo-wop group Les Horrible Cernettes on 18th July 1992 - the first image to be shared online. The photograph was taken at the CERN Hardronic Festival by Silvano de Gennaro, an analyst in the Computer Science department. The girlband were striking a pose for their forthcoming CD cover, little realising their comedy love songs about colliders, quarks, liquid nitrogen, microwaves, and antimatter would soon go down in internet history. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the spooky social media resonance of this earliest online picture; explain how Berners-Lee used ‘sex’ to ‘sell’ the world wide web; and check out the Cernette’s biggest banger, ‘Collider’... Further Reading: • ‘The true story behind the 'first picture on the internet' myth’ (Metro, 2022): https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/18/the-true-story-behind-the-first-picture-on-the-internet-myth-16945088/?ito=article.mweb.share.top.link&fbclid=IwAR1BGGcwPK2HYL1f3-KBtCfQBILTtCtKOlq4aYIcZRfBzUJ8ssN0RwjPwi8 • ‘Was this the 1st photo on the web? 25 years on, Quebec woman tells how she came to be in it’ (CBC News, 2017): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/first-internet-photo-features-sherbrooke-woman-1.4206913 • ‘LHC - Collider’ (Cernettes, 2000): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1L2xODZSI4 This episode originally 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

Discover the fascinating tale of how the British royal family transformed their identity to Windsor in 1917, distancing themselves from their German roots amid World War I. Explore the societal impact of anti-German sentiment on public perception and the royal family's struggle to maintain relevance. Uncover King George V's clever public relations strategies and the flawed responses from institutions like the Royal Albert Hall. This riveting discussion highlights the delicate balance of tradition and perception in times of crisis.

John F. Kennedy Jr., son of JFK and Jackie Onassis, disappeared off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard on July 16th, 1999. He had crashed his private plane, killing his wife, his sister-in-law and himself. President Bill Clinton called it “a very sad time,” and for good reason — it was déjà vu for America. The Kennedy legacy was playing out once more, not with gunshots in Dallas or Los Angeles, but in slow, quiet dread over a radar blip gone missing. Search crews eventually found the wreckage, and the official cause was clear — JFK Jr. had lost spatial awareness while flying at night over water. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why he decided to take to the skies that evening, despite the changing weather conditions and his lack of instrument training; recall how, from being a toddler who saluted his father’s coffin on his third birthday, he grew up in the public eye; and consider the validity of the so-called “Kennedy Curse” that hangs over his otherwise privileged family…  Further Reading: • ‘Opinion | Tragedy Revisits the Kennedys’ (The New York Times, 1999): https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/19/opinion/tragedy-revisits-the-kennedys.html • ‘Why did JFK Jr.'s plane crash? What we know about the 1999 tragedy’ (Cape Cod Times, 2024): https://eu.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2024/07/17/jfk-jr-plane-crash-kennedy-carolyn-bessette-lauren-died-marthas-vineyard/74428324007/ • ‘Remembering JFK Jr. 25 years after deadly plane crash’ (TODAY, 2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBIz9Rykj8 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 first images of Mars found their way back to Earth from NASA’s Mariner 4 mission on 15th July, 1965 - and were simultaneously revelatory and disappointing. Delivered as binary code, rendered in black and white, and revealing only 1% of the planet, the photos were coloured in by hand and showed no evidence of life. But they played a significant part in the scientific understanding of the Red Planet for years to come. In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca compare the computing power of the 1960s with ‘lame’ Victorian telescopes; reveal the surprisingly recent date that the first ever colour image of Mars was committed to camera; and explain how a mis-translation from Italian lead H.G. Wells to think there may be Martian waterways... Further Reading: • Mariner 4 at NASA.gov: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mariner-4 • ‘Men Encounter Mars’ (NASA documentary, 1965): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKVzepl-2zY • ‘First Mission To Mars: Mariner 4’s Special Place in History’ (Cosmos, 2017): https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/first-mission-to-mars-mariner-4-s-special-place-in-history/ This episode first aired in 2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dive into the life of Billy The Kid, an infamous figure entangled in crime and legend. Discover how a troubled orphan transformed into a notorious outlaw whose escapades captured media attention. Delve into his incredible jail breaks and exceptional marksmanship. Explore the chaotic backdrop of the Lincoln County War, where rivalries and confrontations shaped his fate. Ultimately, witness the dramatic encounter with Sheriff Pat Garrett that sealed his legacy and sparked debates of hero versus villain.

Mary Whitehouse successfully sued Gay News and publisher Denis Lemon at the Old Bailey in a trial that began on 11th July, 1977 - Britain’s last conviction for blasphemy. What had ired the notorious Christian campaigner was the magazine’s publication of “The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name”, a poem by James Kirkup written from the perspective of a Roman centurion who graphically describes having sex with Jesus after his crucifixion. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the poem literally could not be defended on its artistic merit; reveal how it came to Whitehouse’s attention in the first place; and consider the literary potency of ‘Foxy Judas’...  Content Warning: explicit poetry, necrophilia, material likely to offend Christians. Further Reading: • ‘The gay poem that broke blasphemy laws’ (Pink News, 2008): https://www.thepinknews.com/2008/01/10/the-gay-poem-that-broke-blasphemy-laws/ • ‘Blasphemy in the Christian World - A History, By David Nash’ (OUP, 2010): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Blasphemy_in_the_Christian_World/BPYkhnY-3_cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=robertson+whitehouse+lemon&pg=PA98&printsec=frontcover • ‘The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name, by James Kirkup’ (Stand Up Jesus, 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iiIORJTOqY 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 ‘Abernathy Boys’, Temple and Louis, were aged just 5 and 8 respectively when they departed Guthrie, Oklahoma for a 1,300-mile horseback trip to Roswell, New Mexico on July 10th, 1909. Alone. Sons of widower John Abernathy, himself the youngest-ever U.S. Marshal, the boys encountered wolves, outlaws and vast stretches of untamed plains on their journey - but survived the trip and became national celebrities and friends with Teddy Roosevelt. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how, in another adventure, the brothers ended up commandeering a motor car back from New York City; consider the extent to which the boys were being exploited to provide their Dad with publicity; and reveal John’s arresting technique for capturing wild wolves… Further Reading: • ‘Free-range kids: Louis and Temple Abernathy rode horses from Oklahoma to New York to meet Teddy Roosevelt’ (The Washington Post, 2019): https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/19/ultimate-free-range-kids-two-boys-rode-horses-new-york-oklahoma/ • ‘How The Abernathy Boys Became The Most Adventurous Kids In History’ (Fatherly, 2016): https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/abernathy-boys-solo-cross-country-1909 • ‘America On Their Own: The True Adventures and Explorations of the Abernathy Boys’ (Holly Culver, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01szRIfFjiQ 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. This episode was first aired in 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rock Around The Clock was a moderately successful B-side - until its inclusion in the teen rebellion movie Blackboard Jungle - following which, on 9th July, 1955, Bill Haley and the Comets’ earworm became the first rock n’roll song to hit US No.1. But Haley was no teenage rebel. He was already in his late 30s, balding, and rocking a curl on his forehead that screamed “respectable uncle”. But he was smart. He had rebranded his country-western band, The Saddlemen, as a rock outfit;  raided high school dances for slang, watched what kids moved to, and marketed accordingly. But, despite kickstarting a musical revolution, his star dimmed quickly.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover Haley’s bizarre second wind in Mexico, where he became the voice of The Twist; consider Rock Around The Clock’s role in retro nostalgia, following its later inclusion in ‘Happy Days’; and examine exactly what in its DNA caused 50’s teenagers to slash open cinema seats in excitement…  Further Reading: • ‘Clock that rocked the world’ (The Times, 2004): https://www.thetimes.com/article/766e2b25-addf-46fc-bfb4-98f821692d79 • ‘The Making of a Teenage Anthem: The Story Behind "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets’ (American Songwriter, 2024): https://americansongwriter.com/a-teenage-anthem-the-story-behind-rock-around-the-clock-by-bill-haley-and-his-comets/ • ‘Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock’ (1955): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices