Today In History with The Retrospectors

Fourteen years of food rationing came to an end in Britain on 4th July, 1954, when restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted. Members of the London Housewives’ Association held a special ceremony in London’s Trafalgar Square to mark Derationing Day. Meanwhile, The Minister of Fuel and Power, Geoffrey Lloyd, burned a large replica of a ration book.Rationing had been introduced due to difficulties importing food to Britain by boat during the war, but also affected the supply of clothes, furniture and fuel. During the war, the Ministry of Food urged the British people to grow their own veg to play their part in defeating the Germans.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the merits of a ‘mock’ fish and chips recipe; examine how the Conservatives used this ‘Victory Day for Housewives’ to score a political point of the previous Labour government; and reveal how to avoid ‘Humble Pie with Hitler’... Further Reading:• ‘Food Rationing In WW2: When Did It Begin & End, & How Did People Cook?’ (HistoryExtra, 2021): https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/when-food-rationing-begin-end-ww2/• ‘The wartime recipes that kept Britain going in the Second World War’ (Country Life, 2017): https://www.countrylife.co.uk/food-drink/victory-in-the-kitchen-easy-wartime-recipes-to-try-149921• ‘Rationing Recipes from the Second World War - Potato Wrapped Sardines’ (Imperial War Museums, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNWCrYqGVkE&t#WW2 #Food #UK #50sLove 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! 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

David Bowie retired his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust live on stage at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 3rd July, 1973. To the surprise of most of his band, the Spiders From Mars, he announced to a devastated crowd that the gig was “the last show we’ll ever do.” Bowie’s management company had plans to take Ziggy on an international tour, but being Ziggy Stardust had taken a mental and physical toll on the singer. “I really did want it all to come to an end,” he wrote in Moonage Daydream. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how a ‘fake’ Lou Reed influenced Bowie to create the character of Ziggy; discover how, for a while, his fans were called ‘the Uglies’ and his genre ‘freakrock’; and reveal how this iconic rockstar felt ‘hopelessly lost’ in his own fantasy…Further Reading:• ‘Looking back on David Bowie's most legendary gig: The death of Ziggy Stardust’ (London Evening Standard, 2019): https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/david-bowie-death-ziggy-stardust-hammersmith-odeon-a4034746.html• ‘How David Bowie killed off Ziggy Stardust’ (Far Out Magazine, 2021): https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-david-bowie-killed-ziggy-stardust/• ‘David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust’ (Live, 1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq8gG3pzMrU&list=PLNJirx02I6P72KTv5oJPSF-kkagLgfJWr&index=3#Music #70s #UK #LGBTLove 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!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

Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, were among the prominent figures discussing Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution at the Oxford University Museum on 30th June 1860; an encounter sometimes referred to as ‘The Great Debate’. The confrontation is best remembered for a heated exchange in which Wilberforce supposedly asked Huxley whether it was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey. Huxley is said to have replied that he would not be ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how both men came to believe they had ‘won’ the ‘debate’; trace back the origins of the men’s nicknames ‘Darwin’s Bulldog’ and ‘Soapy Sam’; and consider whether Darwin himself was keen on causing such controversy…Further Reading:• ‘The Great Debate’ (Oxford University Museum of Natural History): https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/great-debate• ‘Did Huxley really mop the floor with Wilberforce?’ (National Geographic, 2008): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/repost-did-huxley-really-mop-the-floor-with-wilberforce• ‘Darwin’s Dangerous Idea’ (PBS, 2012): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=povYofKYqJM #Science #Victorian #UKWe'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

Delve into the wild saga of Eminem's dramatic legal battle with his mother, sparked by a controversial lyric. Explore the complexities of their strained relationship as a mother sues her son over defamation. Discover how Eminem's personal struggles and family dynamics reflect in his music. The discussion also touches on the unique challenges of proving defamation in art and introduces the fascinating work of drag artist Pauline Pantsdown. It's a blend of family drama, legal intrigue, and artistic expression!

America’s first programme to feature an all-black cast, Amos 'n' Andy premiered on CBS on June 28th, 1951. Despite being based on one of the most popular radio shows of all time, the series lasted only two years, following a barrage of criticism.Although popular with many African-Americans, the show traded on ethnic caricatures, and the prejudices of its white creators. The NAACP mounted a formal protest almost immediately, describing the sitcom as “a gross libel of the Negro and distortion of the truth”, and, eventually, the Blatz Brewing Company withdrew its sponsorship, sounding the death knell for the production.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how the radio incarnation itself faced the ire of African-American protestors; uncover President Truman’s involvement in casting decisions; and explain why it really should have been called ‘The Kingfish Show’...  Content Warning: Blackface minstrelsy, racist language.Further Reading:• ‘Amos 'n' Andy' in Video Debut’ (The New York Times, 1951): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/07/01/89445865.html• ‘Reflections on Black Image in Amos ‘n’ Andy’ (Abernathy Magazine): https://abernathymagazine.com/reflections-on-black-image-in-amos-n-andy/• ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy: Amos Helps Out, colorized’ (CBS, 1951): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYuWeBCD4VQ&list=PLuJ-ZI9pevL1H0NAP1WZkN14I4Az51tQk#50s #TV #Black #RacismLove 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! 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

The deadly fight between Patrick Farrell and James Donnelly on 27th June 1857 kickstarted one of the longest-lasting and most violent feuds in Canadian history.The property the Donnellys had been squatting on had been previously leased by Farrell. A judge had ruled that the lot be split 50/50, but, at a barn raising bee, Donnelly chucked a handspike at Farrell, who died two days later. Decades later, the Donnelly family’s homestead was attacked by a vigilante mob, leaving five of their family dead.In this episode Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why nobody was convicted of the murders, despite two trials and a reliable eyewitness; reveal why the Donnelleys became known locally as the ‘black’ Donnelleys, a nickname which persists to this day; and unearth, amongst one of their number, a surprising predilection for poetry…Further Reading:• ‘History | Lucan Museum’ (donnellymuseum.com): https://www.donnellymuseum.com/history• ‘Black Donnellys - The Outrageous Tale of Canada's Deadliest Feud, By Nate Hendley’ (Formac Publishing Company Limited, 2018): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Black_Donnellys/sK5jDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0• ‘The Doomed Donnellys of Ontario’ (TVO Today, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqqfg3PND7o#Canada #Irish #Crime #1800sLove 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/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

At a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a packet of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum became the first ever product to have its barcode scanned - at 8:01 a.m. on June 26th, 1974.Inspired by the morse code training of his Boy Scout days, Norman Joseph Woodland first sketched out a barcode on a Florida beach in 1948, drawing dots and dashes in the sand. Together with fellow Drexel Institute graduate student Bernard Silver, he received a U.S. Patent in 1952 - but it would be another 20 years before IBM produced the technology that could be rolled out to grocery stores.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the invention accelerated the growth of the largest retailers; consider Woodland’s original ‘bullseye’ barcode design; and reveal why conspiracy theorists think barcodes are the DEVIL’s work… Further Reading:• ‘How the barcode changed retailing and manufacturing’ (BBC News, 2017): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38498700• ‘N Joseph Woodland obituary’ (The Guardian, 2012): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/dec/16/n-joseph-woodland• ‘How Do Barcodes Work?’ (sciBRIGHT, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfeVckbQxdQ#Science #Business #70s #USLove 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/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

Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis with a kitchen knife while he was asleep in their apartment in Manassas, Virginia on 23rd June, 1993. After a nine-hour surgery, Bobbitt’s penis was successfully reattached - and the case became an international news sensation.The 24 year-old manicurist was charged with malicious wounding and faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted. But in court she showed that her then-husband had repeatedly sexually and physically abused her and was found Not Guilty, on the basis of temporary insanity.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how John’s penis was discovered and transported after amputation; explain why Virginia’s marital abuse laws were insufficient to cover the scope of the Bobbitt’s relationship; and consider one of the weirdest offers to ever come from Playboy…  CONTENT WARNING: rape, domestic violence, gore.Further Reading:• ‘Lorena Bobbitt: SEX, LIES, AND AN 8-INCH CARVING KNIFE’ (Vanity Fair, 1993): https://www.vanityfair.com/style/1993/11/lorena-bobbitt-interview-sex-lies-carving-knife• ‘You Know the Lorena Bobbitt Story. But Not All of It’ (The New York Times, 2019): https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/arts/television/lorena-bobbitt-documentary-jordan-peele.html?searchResultPosition=4• ‘The night Lorena Bobbitt sliced off her husband John's penis’ (ABC 20/20, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmSWTavWC_A#90s #US #Crime #StrangeWe'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

John McEnroe was once the world’s No.1 tennis player, winning seven major Grand Slams. But he’ll always be remembered for his extraordinary rant against umpire Edward James at Wimbledon on 22nd June, 1981.During his match with Tom Gullikson, James ruled that the New Yorker’s serve went out. McEnroe’s reaction – “You can’t be serious man, you cannot be serious!… You guys are the absolute pits of the world!” – staggered the genteel world of tennis.In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca discover that McEnroe had already established a bad-boy reputation with the UK press, who’d labelled him ‘superbrat’ in 1977; marvel at the reaction of the BBC commentators to the unfolding drama; and consider whether the general public would still actually remember who McEnroe was, if this had never happened…Further Reading:• The rant unfolding (1981), from the ESPN Archives: https://youtu.be/ransFQVzf6c• The Washington Post, pre-rant, record McEnroe’s depiction in Britain as ‘superbrat’ (1979): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1979/06/24/british-aim-fire-at-the-superbrat/7115ab3c-154a-4f5a-b99e-2632fbd2bc5f/• John McEnroe on ‘Desert Island Discs’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xxfz3‘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. We'll have something new for you tomorrow!: podfollow.com/Retrospectors Love the show? Join  🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. 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

The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, anti-Christian uprising in China, reaching  Peking on 21st June, 1900, when Empress Dowager Cixi declared war on all foreign powers and demanded that they depart the country at once. The rebels were known as the “Boxers” in English, because many of its members practiced Chinese martial arts; in their native language they went by the more evocative title of “the [secret] Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists” (Yìhéquán). In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover some of the Boxer’s magical beliefs; consider why Christian converts became so hated in the North of China in particular; and explain how the Emperor himself was forced to take a back seat in this moment of national crisis… Further Reading:• Boxer Rebellion in China | Boxer Rebels (ThoughtCo, 2018): https://www.thoughtco.com/chinas-boxer-rebellion-in-photos-195618• ‘Boxer Rebellion: China, Definition & Cause’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/boxer-rebellion• ‘Why did so many countries get involved in the Boxer Rebellion?’ (History Matters, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSe8FmYlYdk#China #1900s #WarLove 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/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