Today In History with The Retrospectors

King Henry VIII’s third wife, Queen Consort Jane Seymour, died aged just 29 on 24th October, 1537 - 12 days after giving birth to their son, future King Edward VI. Her death was attributed to complications following a prolonged and challenging labour, though recently it has been speculated it was in fact a pulmonary embolism. Despite her limited education, Jane's gentle nature and domestic skills appealed to Henry, who was, perhaps, looking for a more ‘girl next door’-type following his disastrous marriage to Anne Boleyn, whom he had beheaded just ten days before marrying Jane. In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca weigh up Jane's plain reputation with her latent plucky side and glitzy jewellery; consider Jane’s role in reconciling Henry with his daughter Mary, who had been declared a bastard; and delight in the discovery of black wax in Henry’s mourning court…Further Reading:• ‘Jane Seymour | Hampton Court Palace’ (Historic Royal Palaces): https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/jane-seymour/#gs.71s7lp• ‘Jane Seymour | Queen, Henry VIII's Third Wife, Facts & Death’ (HistoryExtra, 2021): https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/kings-and-queens-in-profile-jane-seymour/• ‘The HORRIFIC Death Of Jane Seymour - Henry VIII's Third Wife’ (Her Remarkable History, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3wckPOvxVYLove the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 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/RetrospectorsThe 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: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hosts explore Archbishop James Usher's calculation of the date and time of the beginning of the world, the controversy surrounding his views, and the impact of his work. They discuss the historical context of dating the Bible, the methodology behind Usher's breakthrough, and the futility of his chronology. The chapter also mentions the Holderness Family podcast and provides highlights of its content.

The Sydney Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October, 1973, marking the start of a two-week festival of events in celebration of the audacious new building. “I understand that its construction has not been totally without problems,” Her Majesty commented with some understatement, adding “but the human spirit must sometimes take wings or sails, and create something that is not just utilitarian or commonplace”.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss why the construction of the Opera House ran ten years late and 1,357% over budget; examine what prompted visionary architect Jørn Utzon to walk away from his magnum opus mid-project; and reveal why finding a home for the pie shop has long bedevilled the landmark's designers…Further Reading:• ‘Sydney Opera House - 50 years of extraordinary moments’ (Sydney Opera House, 2023): https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story/50-years-extraordinary-moments • ‘The Surprising Story of the Sydney Opera House's Construction’ (Google Arts & Culture, 2020): https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-surprising-story-of-the-sydney-opera-house-39-s-construction/CAVhiDXG4On-xA?hl=en • ‘The Sydney Opera House (construction story) 1958 - 1973’ (BBC, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81-EDxHdmlI We'll be back on Monday - unless you join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!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: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ten thousand spectators gathered by the side of the Thames on 19th October, 2003 to watch street magician/illusionist David Blaine come back down to Earth, having spent 44 days suspended in a perspex box in a stunt called ‘Above The Below’.It was an accomplishment almost sabotaged by the British tabloid media and general public, who had heckled him, tried to dismantle his crane, and even flown up a hamburger on a drone to taunt him.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why Londoners were so hostile to this performance art unfolding in their midsts; explain what Dizzee Rascal had to do with it all; and reveal exactly how Blaine did a wee, whilst suspended in mid-air…Further Reading:• ‘Above the Below’ - David Blaine’s Official Website: https://davidblaine.com/above-the-below/• ‘Remembering David Blaine's 44 days in a glass box, which frustrated the British public like no other act of performance art’ (The Independent, 2018): https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/david-blaine-london-glass-box-stunt-reaction-starvation-above-below-a8523606.html• ‘David Blaine - Above the Below’ (Harmony Korine, 2003): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki5fRls2uv4‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on Today in History with the Retrospectors: running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow, so follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsLove the show? Join  🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!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: Emma Corsham.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On October 18th, 1867, the United States formally took possession of Alaska, after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre.This certainly looks like an incredibly good deal today but at the time the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden”, among other derogatory names.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss how the the discovery of gold served to change Americans' attitude to their purchase; explain why Alaska natives maintain that their land was never Russia's to sell; and reveal why the handover ceremony was a thoroughly unedifying spectacle… Further Reading:• ‘U.S. takes possession of Alaska’ (History.com, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-takes-possession-of-alaska • ‘There Are Two Versions of the Story of How the U.S. Purchased Alaska From Russia’ (Smithsonian, 2017): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-russia-gave-alaska-americas-gateway-arctic-180962714/ • ‘Why did Russia sell Alaska to America?’ (History Matters, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoR_k4Go9W8 Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 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/RetrospectorsThe 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: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Explore the origins of circus music and how it evolved from military marches. Discover the association of 'Entry of the Gladiators' with circuses and fairgrounds. Learn about the transformation of the Grandmash Chromatic into Thunder and Blazes. Dive into the role of wind bands and brass instruments in circuses. Uncover the history, rearrangements, and comedic use of 'Entry of the Gladiators'.

Jack The Ripper’s ‘letters’ can mostly be dismissed as hoaxes. The possible exception is the letter sent to George Lusk, the President of Mile End Vigilance Committee, on 16th October, 1888. It was marked, “From Hell”. And it had half a human kidney attached to it. “Sor I send you half the Kidne I took from one women”, it began. “prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer. Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk”.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly unpick the motivation of the fraudulent letter-writers; examine whether the kidney sent with this letter could have been that of victim Catherine Eddowes; and interrogate Rebecca’s dalliance with Ripperology on an East London walking tour… Further Reading:• ‘Inside The 'From Hell' Letter Written By Jack The Ripper’ (All Thats Interesting, 2021): https://allthatsinteresting.com/from-hell-letter• ‘Your guide to Jack the Ripper’ (HistoryExtra, 2018): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/your-guide-to-jack-the-ripper/• ‘George Lusk And The Letter From Hell’ (Jack The Ripper Tour, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGP0aX8ENd4This episode first premiered in 2022, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 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: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On October 13th, 1881, the linguist and grammarian Eliezer Ben-Yehuda held what is thought to have been the first modern conversation in Hebrew with two friends at a Paris café.The conversation would have had some serious stumbling blocks, given that the language was still missing numerous modern words including bicycle, towel, and – crucially for being in a cafe – a word for coffee.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss the connection between Hebrew's revival and growing Jewish nationalism; look at the personal lengths Ben-Yehuda was willing to go to make the language take off, including speaking to his son exclusively in Hebrew; and explain why, in the early days, conversing in an ancient language must have been like speaking exclusively in David Bowie song lyrics…Further Reading:• ‘Revival of the Hebrew language’ (The Jerusalem Post, 2010): https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-news/this-week-in-history-revival-of-the-hebrew-language • ‘How to revive an ancient language, according to 19th-century Hebrew and Persian revivalists’ (University of Washington, 2018): https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/israel-hebrew/reviving-hebrew-persian-ancient-languages-eliezer-ben-yehuda-manekji-limji-hataria/ • ‘Hebrew wasn’t spoken for 2,000 years. Here’s how it was revived’ (National Geographic, 2023): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/hebrew-wasnt-spoken-for-2000-years-heres-how-it-was-revived • ‘The History & Revival of the Hebrew Language’ (Unpacked, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBiiad9fO-g We'll be back on Monday - unless you join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!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: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world’s most famous adult magazine went ‘SFW’ on 12th October, 2015 - when Scott Flanders, then Playboy’s chief executive, announced that future editions would no longer contain full nudity.The change lasted for only one year.‘Reading it for the articles’ had, at one time, been a plausible option - the magazine had published stories by Margaret Atwood and interviews with Malcolm X, Vladimir Nabokov, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jimmy Carter. But, in the internet era, Playboy had become more lucrative as a clothing brand than as a credible print title, finally ceasing publication in 2020.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the first issue, from 1953; dig into Hugh Hefner’s burial plot; and visit Playboy’s website, FOR RESEARCH…Further Reading:•‘Playboy to remove nudity from magazine’ (Channel 4 News, 2015): https://www.channel4.com/news/playboy-to-remove-nudity-from-magazine•‘Playboy's Postfeminism Problem’ (Diggit, 2018): https://www.diggitmagazine.com/column/playboys-postfeminism-problem‘Playboy Is Bringing Nudity Back’ (ThinkTank, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiJzqwM4ibA‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on Today in History with the Retrospectors: running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow, so follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsLove the show? Join  🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!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: Emma Corsham.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Triggering a national and international outcry, the San Francisco school board issued an order on October 11th, 1906, requiring all Japanese and Korean children to attend a separate “Oriental School” where Chinese pupils were already segregated. The move came as a huge embarrassment to President Theodore Roosevelt, who was trying to build relations with Japan, prompting him to describe the school board’s action as a “wicked absurdity” in his annual message to Congress.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss why an earthquake prompted San Francisco to act; explain why anti-Chinese sentiment came to be transferred to Japanese immigrants; and look into how laws overtly banning Asians from entering the country remained on the books in the US until 1965… Further Reading:• ‘Segregation of Japanese School Kids in San Francisco Sparks An International Incident’ (California State Library, 2019): https://cal170.library.ca.gov/japanese-segregation/ • ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ (History.com, 2009): https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/gentlemens-agreement • ‘The dark history of the Chinese Exclusion Act’ (TED, 2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K88pWCimZg Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 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/RetrospectorsThe 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: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices