Today In History with The Retrospectors

El Santo, masks, spandex suits... all were yet to be conceived when Salvador Lutteroth González launched Mexico's first ever national pro wrestling promotion, on 21st September 1933.‘Lucha Libre’ - basically translated as ‘freestyle wrestling’ - has its roots in folklore, carnival sideshows and Greco-Roman traditions; but it was only after matches began to be televised in the 1950s that the events truly took flight. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the authenticity of this scripted sport; reveal the surprising source of production finances that enabled the expansion of the promotion; and discuss the luchador who doesn’t even fight, except in union disputes…Further Reading:• ‘The Marvel of Mexican Wrestling: A Brief History’ (The Daily Iowan, 2021): https://dailyiowan.com/2021/07/27/the-marvel-of-mexican-wrestling-a-brief-history/• ‘Lucha libre – an introduction to Mexican wrestling’ (Lonely Planet, 2015): https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/lucha-libre-an-introduction-to-mexican-wrestling• ‘El Santo vs. las Mujeres Vampiro’ (1962): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bS7VDneMcM&t=60sLove 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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There was no red carpet, no Palme d’Or, and no Palais des Festivals - but Hollywood nonetheless descended on the French Riviera for the opening of the first Cannes Film Festival on 20th September, 1946. It was actually the second time the event had been attempted - the first, in September 1939, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the competition was conceived as a rebuke to fascist propaganda scooping top prizes at the world’s first film festival, Venice; reveal why Hitchcock’s ‘Notorious’ never stood a chance after its disastrous debut screening; and consider the ‘Raoul!’ meme that has persisted at Cannes festivals for more than fifty years… Further Reading:• ‘Cannes Film Festival: See Vintage Photos of the First-Ever Fest’ (Time, 2015): https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/• ‘The first Cannes Film Festival : September 1946’ (Numero, 2020): https://www.numero.com/en/cinema/cannes-film-festival-second-world-war-september-1946-michelle-morgan-alfred-hitchcock-the-battle-of-the-rails• ‘Cannes Film Festival’ (British Movietone, 1946): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ceQplqpBkgFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Powered by steam engines, and positioned on 60ft poles along the seafront, the Blackpool illuminations were first shown to adoring public on 19th September, 1879.70,000 people came to see eight arc lamps, positioned 320 yards apart. Between them they provided illumination equal to 48,000 candles: an incredible spectacle considering it would still be another year before Thomas Edison patented the modern commercial lightbulb. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall some of the weirder celebrities who have been roped into performing the iconic switching-on ceremony in the Lancashire town; reveal the connection between the Walt Disney Company and this Northern institution; and explain how the resort initially developed its three piers to segregate the middle-classes from the ‘Kiss Me Quick’ day-trippers… Further Reading:• ‘Blackpool Illuminations celebrates its centenary’ (The Guardian, 2012): https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2012/aug/31/blackpool-illuminations-centenary-100-years-lights• ‘Cities of Light: Two Centuries of Urban Illumination - Eds. Dietrich Neumann, Margaret Maile Petty, Sandy Isenstadt’ (Taylor & Francis, 2014):https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Cities_of_Light/iHLfBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=blackpool+illuminations&pg=PA58&printsec=frontcover• ‘Vintage Blackpool Illuminations’ (AshBlackpoolFan, 2020):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X5wkeF34pQFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ‘broadcasting ban’ on 11 Northern Irish organizations including Sinn Fein was finally lifted by Prime Minister John Major on 16th September, 1994, one fortnight after an IRA ceasefire had been achieved.The regulations, implemented six years earlier by Margaret Thatcher and her Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, prevented British TV networks from broadcasting interviews with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, lest they drum up sympathy for Republicanist terrorism. So the broadcasters found a workaround: they employed voice actors to dub over the interviews.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly re-examine some of the absurd circumstances in which the ban was implemented and avoided; consider the pushback to the policy from the Labour party and miffed BBC staffers; and explain how the ban played into Cuba’s hands… Further Reading:• ‘Northern Ireland, the BBC, and Censorship in Thatcher's Britain By Robert J. Savage’ (Oxford University Press, 2022): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Northern_Ireland_the_BBC_and_Censorship/UJtjEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%27sinn+fein%27+and+%27broadcast+ban%27&printsec=frontcover• ‘The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Fein’ (BBC News, 2005): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4409447.stm• ‘Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams Voiced By An Actor’ (BBC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdf4xOdas1gFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back on Monday! 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 2022.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rerun. BMW unveiled its redesigned MINI for the first time, on 15th September, 1997; the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show. Its predecessor had been in production for 41 years.Reborn as a ‘city’ car, rather than a micro compact, and with Union flags painted on its roof, this was the moment the iconic brand became seen as cheeky, sporty and British - but not, actually, especially small. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the MINI has its roots in the Suez Crisis; ask why the similar VW Beetle reboot was discontinued in 2019; and reveal how many people can officially squeeze into a ‘new’ Mini...Further Reading:• ‘ROVER SHOWS NEW MINI; LAUNCH IS 2000’ (Automotive News Europe, 1997): https://europe.autonews.com/article/19970915/ANE/709150811/rover-shows-new-mini-launch-is-2000• ‘The history of the Mini in pictures’ (Daily Telegraph, 2013): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/10457166/The-history-of-the-Mini-in-pictures.html?frame=2737732• How the BBC covered the launch (1997): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is-9aI7utFQ&t=112s‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ We’re planning exciting new things for the autumn, and we’re banking that most of you haven’t heard it yet. So stick with us.For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow with a new episode! 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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The USSR pulled ahead in the Space Race on 14th September, 1959 - when they became the first nation to successfully crash a man-made object into the Moon.Luna II was carrying a metal sphere bearing Soviet symbols, a replica of which was pettily presented to President Eisenhower by a jubilant Nikita Khrushchev.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how Nixon and Kennedy then went on to frame - and win - the ‘Space Race’; examine the ‘love-hate’ relationship British astronomer Bernard Lovell had with the Luna project; and uncover the ultimate punishment the Americans administered to Khrushchev on his Stateside tour… Further Reading:• ‘The sixtieth anniversary of the first human created object to land on the Moon, Luna 2’ (British Library, 2019): https://blogs.bl.uk/science/2019/09/the-sixtieth-anniversary-of-the-first-human-created-object-to-land-on-the-moon-luna-2.html• ‘The Other First Moon Landing’ (Vice, 2016): https://www.vice.com/en/article/pgkq59/the-other-first-moon-landing-luna-two-anniversary]• ‘Luna 2 (USSR)’ (International Astronautical Federation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osfs3AnH-ZA&t=58sFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Phineas Gage, a foreman on the New England railroads, was pierced through the head with a 13-pound tamping iron on 13th September, 1848. The rod went straight through his skull and landed several yards away.Despite this, Gage was able to present himself at a physician, and anticipated being back at work in a couple of days. In reality, his convalescence was long and difficult, and Dr John Martyn Harlow claimed Gage’s personality had undergone permanent change - an observation which made him perhaps the most notorious case study in neuroscience. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly question Dr Harlow’s account; discuss the surgery that saved Gage’s life; and explain how the 2007 discovery of a photograph portraying him holding a ‘harpoon’ has changed how he is perceived forever… Content Warning: injury, gore.Further Reading:• ‘Phineas Gage and the effect of an iron bar through the head on personality’ (The Guardian, 2010): https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/nov/05/phineas-gage-head-personality• ‘Phineas Gage: Neuroscience's Most Famous Patient’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2010): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/• ‘Lessons Of The Brain: The Phineas Gage Case’ (Harvard University, 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXbAMHzYGJ0For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NBC premiered ‘Royal Flush’ - the pilot episode of iconic Sixties pop-comedy show The Monkees - on 12th September, 1966. And the Daydream Believers quickly found their way into America’s heart…The Beatles-a-like actors had never met or worked with each other ever before answering an ad seeking ‘four insane boys, aged 18-21’, placed by‘Five Easy Pieces’ producer Bob Rafelson.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why each episode of the sitcom ended with a fourth wall-breaking discussion between the boys; explore how credible songwriters like Carole King and Neil Diamond ended up working on their singles; and discover why, despite the boyband’s enormous success, the series was cancelled in its second season… Further Reading:• ‘The Untold Truth Of The Monkees’ (Grunge, 2019): https://www.grunge.com/146172/the-untold-truth-of-the-monkees/• ‘Why 'The Monkees' Was a Perfect Meld of Television and Music (That Will Never Happen Again)’ (Huffington Post, 2016): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-the-monkees-was-a-per_b_10368468• ‘The Monkees: Royal Flush’ (NBC, 1966): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JESo3dcRuoFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

High-speed collisions between locomotives became mainstream entertainment on 9th September, 1896, when Joe Connolly - AKA “Head-On Joe” - staged the first of the 70 deliberate trainwrecks with which he entered the record books.The trend lasted until the 1930s and attracted tens of thousands of spectators to state fairs across the United States. The events were responsible for maiming and even killing some witnesses - but this did nothing to affect their popularity.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly pore over the wreck of Texas’s notorious ‘Crash at Crush’; explain how the Depression ultimately killed off the spectacle forever; and tot up Head-On Joe’s Iowan Box Office receipts… Further Reading:• ‘For 40 Years, Crashing Trains Was One of America’s Favorite Pastimes’ (Atlas Obscura, 2019): https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/staged-train-wrecks• ‘Iowa State Fair attractions: Spectacles like train crashes, elephants used to entertain’ (Des Moines Register, 2019):https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/courtney-crowder/2019/08/16/iowa-state-fair-attractions-train-crashes-elephants-plane-crashes-war-shrapnel-cannonball-spectacle/2019050001/• ‘1932 Iowa State Fair: Roosevelt/Hoover Train Collision’ (Kinolibrary, 1932): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci5l0ljjVBw\For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back on Monday! 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 2022.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Margaret Gorman, a schoolgirl from Washington DC, was crowned ‘Miss Intercity Beauty’ at the “Fall Frolic” in Atlantic City on 8th September, 1921 - an event that would eventually become known as Miss America, and watched by 75% of American households.She and her fellow competitors took part in an early incarnation of the swimsuit round (complete with woollen leggings), making their grand entrance on a barge, headed up by ‘Neptune’ (played by the octogenarian inventor of smokeless gun powder. Of course.) In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the controversy that saw early favourite Virginia Lee kicked out on day one; consider the appeal of the ‘rolling chair parade’; and address the intrinsic Madonna/Whore complex at the heart of this iconic beauty pageant… Further Reading:• ‘Margaret Gorman won first Miss America pageant amid scandal’ (The Washington Post, 2021): https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/12/16/first-miss-america-margaret-gorman/• ‘Live from Atlantic City: The History of the Miss America Pageant Before, After and in Spite of Television By Armando Riverol’ (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992):https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Live_from_Atlantic_City/sf1dR1iEC78C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22miss+america%22&printsec=frontcover• ‘Miss America and Atlantic City Become Forever United [1921-2006]’ (The Spectacular History of the New Jersey Shore): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7VJBnDkkgAEnjoy this? There’s FIVE MINUTES MORE available to our show’s top supporters, in which you can discover what Margaret Gorman did next; how the competition came to be called ‘Miss America’; and what the consolation prizes on offer were for the less-than-beautiful beauties. Unlock it - and a bonus bit like it, every single week - by supporting our show on Apple Podcasts, or at https://patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'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 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices