Episodes

  • The Oklahoma Land Grab

    The Oklahoma Land Grab
    Sep 16 2024
    The largest land rush in history kicked off on 16th September, 1893 - on Oklahoma's Cherokee Strip. Tens of thousands of people—horseback riders, wagons, and even a passenger train—waited for a cannon’s boom to initiate a mad race for land. The term "Boomer" became synonymous with those waiting for that cannon's boom to charge in, while "Sooners" were the sneaky folks who snuck into the land early to claim it before the rush began. Officers were tasked with clearing out the opportunistic Sooners, but it wasn’t an easy job. With everyone trying to stake their claims in chaos, tensions ran high, and skirmishes sometimes broke out between claimants, creating a dangerous situation for those trying to ‘play fair’ - and the Native American tribes who had already been relocated there once already. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Oklahoma, previously considered arid land unsuited for farming, had suddenly become a hot commodity; reveal what happened when fights for land turned ugly; and, as settlers carved out their fortunes, investigate how long it took for the Cherokee tribes to receive their payment…. Further Reading: • ’CHEROKEE OUTLET OPENING’ (The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture): https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH021 • ‘Cherokee Strip Land Rush - By Jay M. Price’ (Arcadia Publisher, 2006): https://books.google.com/books/about/Cherokee_Strip_Land_Rush.html?id=ikXycrCcTvAC • ’Cherokee Outlet Land Run’ (Olahoma Council Social Studies): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyhlU-Zt9YY&t=133s 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 ❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins
  • I'mma Let You Finish

    I'mma Let You Finish
    Sep 13 2024
    Rerun: Kanye West was ejected from Radio City Music Hall at the MTV VMAs on 13th September, 2009, after drunkenly interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video. Distraught that the country star’s ‘You Belong To Me’ video has beaten Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ to the trophy, he memorably proclaimed: “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly examine whether this viral moment was ultimately harmful or beneficial to both stars’ careers; highlight how the fracas accelerated Twitter’s adoption by the mainstream media; and ask whether - after all these years - Kanye was right… Further Reading: • ‘How the Taylor Swift-Kanye West VMAs scandal became a perfect American morality tale’ (Vox, 2019): https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/26/20828559/taylor-swift-kanye-west-2009-mtv-vmas-explained • ‘2009 VMAs Oral History: What You Didn't See When Kanye West Rushed the Stage on Taylor Swift’ (Billboard, 2009): https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/television/8523549/2009-mtv-vmas-oral-history • Artisan News Service reports on the event in 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z8gCZ7zpsQ ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday… … But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins
  • Meet The Monkees

    Meet The Monkees
    Sep 12 2024
    Rerun: 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=0JESo3dcRuo ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday… … But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins
  • The Real Lord of the Flies

    The Real Lord of the Flies
    Sep 11 2024
    Captain Peter Warner and his crew made a startling discovery as they sailed past the uninhabited island of Atta in the Pacific on 11th September, 1966: six naked, shaggy-haired teenage boys, who had been stranded there for fifteen months. Sione, Stephen, Kolo, David, Luke, and Mano had escaped from their boarding school in Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, having "borrowed" a boat and embarked on a spontaneous adventure that went horribly wrong when a storm left them adrift at sea. For eight days, they battled the elements, surviving on coconuts, bananas, and rainwater before they spotted Atta. With their boat breaking apart, they used makeshift buoyancy aids to swim to the island, beginning their remarkable tale of survival. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the boys’ ingenuity, faith and resilience had kept them alive; reveal the extraordinary lives they went on to have afterwards; and marvel at their well-maintained muscles… Further Reading: • ‘The Miraculous Survival of 6 Tongan Boys in 1965’ (People, 2020): https://people.com/human-interest/inside-real-life-lord-of-the-flies-survival-of-6-tongan-boys-54-years-ago/ • ’The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months’ (The Guardian, 2020): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months • ‘The real-life 'Lord of the Flies'’ (ABC News, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDz-331V-pY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins
  • Leopold And Loeb: Life Plus 99 Years

    Leopold And Loeb: Life Plus 99 Years
    Sep 10 2024
    Chicagoans gathered around their radio sets on 10th September, 1924 - to hear Judge John R. Caverly sentence wealthy teenagers and lovers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb to life in prison for the brutal murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks. The couple showed no remorse, exhibited a complete lack of empathy, and said they had committed their crime "because we damn well wanted to", but were nonetheless spared the death penalty following the passionate defense submitted by their attorney, the celebrated campaigner Clarence Darrow. In this edition, The Retrospectors explore how classism intersected with blood-lust when it came to the public perception of the pair’s propsective punishment; explore how Nietzsche's concept of the Superman influenced their acts; and explain why their ill-conceived plan to extort ransom money failed so spectacularly… Content Warning: Descriptions of Violence/Murder. Further Reading: • ‘Leopold and Loeb: 90 Years Later, Finding the Truth’ (CrimeReads, 2018): https://crimereads.com/leopold-and-loeb-90-years-later-finding-the-truth/ • ‘Leopold and Loeb's Criminal Minds’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2008): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/leopold-and-loebs-criminal-minds-996498/ • ‘Darrow’ (Atlantis Films, 1991): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQzN9mtvLvM This episode first premiered in 2023, 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 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    13 mins
  • OMG! From Churchill to Chatrooms

    OMG! From Churchill to Chatrooms
    Sep 9 2024
    The viral phrase ‘OMG’ has a much longer history than you might think… first being recorded on 9th September, 1917, in a letter from Lord John Fisher, a 75-year-old retired admiral, to Winston Churchill. Fisher used it sarcastically, riffing on the idea of a new order of knighthood; playing off the similar-sounding "OM," the Order of Merit, which he himself had received. While his pun was witty, the abbreviation didn’t catch on at the time, and the acronym stayed buried in history until the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) uncovered it decades later, whilst preparing their 2011 edition. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how OMG resurfaced in 1994, in a soap opera message board; delve into a potted history of abbreviations, from Queen Victoria’s shorthand to Twitter; and reveal the meaning of another of Lord Fisher’s favourite phrases - "Buggin's Turn"… Further Reading: • ‘The First Use of OMG Was in a 1917 Letter to Winston Churchill’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-first-use-of-omg-was-in-a-1917-letter-to-winston-churchill-145636383/ • ‘OMG: The creator of the abbreviation 'would have loved emojis'’ (BBC News, 2020): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-54893939 • ‘The Curious Origins of Popular Sayings’ (Hochelaga, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlin1W-qThs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    13 mins
  • The Self Service Revolution

    The Self Service Revolution
    Sep 6 2024
    Rerun: Clarence Saunders opened the world’s first self-service supermarket, ‘Piggly Wiggly’, in Memphis, Tennessee on 6th September, 1916. Calculating that the revenues gained through impulse purchases would outweigh those lost from shoplifting, Saunders’ concept forever changed the world of shopping for groceries - but his business acumen did not last. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review Saunders’ promotional hustles; weigh up the items in a shopping basket of the era; and reveal how ‘Piggly Wiggly’ (almost certainly) gained its distinctive name... Further Reading: • ‘The Untold Truth Of Piggly Wiggly’ (Mashed, 2021): https://www.mashed.com/426197/the-untold-truth-of-piggly-wiggly/ • ‘America's First Supermarket at 100: How It Changed the World’ (Time, 2016): https://time.com/4480303/supermarkets-history/ • ‘Piggly Wiggly, the first true grocery store - Life in America’ (Recollection Road, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVvgAd_5vpo 'Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday… … But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins
  • Bring On The Beard Tax

    Bring On The Beard Tax
    Sep 5 2024
    Rerun: Peter The Great levied a tax on facial hair on 5th September, 1698, requiring every man in Moscow to shave or stump up some cash - although there were exemptions for the Orthodox Church. The hare-brained scheme occurred to the eccentric Peter on his expeditions through Europe, where he came to see clean chins as symbolic of progress and sophistication. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover Peter’s other ‘European rules of comportment’; convert the costs of Peter’s taxes into the highly-relatable metric of ‘sturgeon from North’; and reveal how a similar tax was proposed in New Jersey as recently as 1907… Further Reading: • ‘Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present’ (Mauricio Borrero, 2009): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Russia/dhm0cGdrTOIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=beard+tax+1698&pg=PA83&printsec=frontcover • ‘10 terrible taxes in history’ (HistoryExtra, 2018): https://www.historyextra.com/period/general-history/10-terrible-taxes/ • ‘Ten Minute History - Peter the Great and the Russian Empire’ (History Matters, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tBNr2gjAA0 Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday… … But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! 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: Emma Corsham. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins