Today In History with The Retrospectors

Punch Magazine published its first edition on 17th July, 1841. Subtitled ‘the London Charivari’, the weekly periodical aimed to carve a niche in the market with less crude and bawdy satire compared to its contemporaries. 

Its early days were challenging, with poor circulation and financial troubles. But, as it gained in popularity and influence, it contributed the modern use of the word "cartoon" to the English language - alongside some excellent examples of the form, thanks in large part to illustrator John Leech - before its downfall in the second half of the twentieth century.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Punch innovated the idea of the Christmas annual; explore how they gave big breaks to the likes of John Betjeman, Sylvia Plath, and P.G. Wodehouse; and discover Mohammed Al-Fayed’s attempts to turn the publication’s fortunes around… 

Further Reading:

• ‘The first issue of Punch’ (History Today, 2016): https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/first-issue-punch

• ‘About Punch Magazine’ (PUNCH Magazine Cartoon Archive): https://magazine.punch.co.uk/about/index

• ’Punch Magazine’ (British Pathé, 1962): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ACJhyygIxU

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: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2024.
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Kissing was a big deal in the Middle Ages: for signing contracts, for greeting colleagues, and for showing deference to the King - a tradition that ended on 16th July, 1439, when Henry VI issued a decree imploring his citizens to stop kissing his ring.

Some 400 years before the modern concepts of hygiene and germs had been scientifically established, the 18 year-old monarch clearly had an instinct that clamping down on kissing might stop the spread of the bubonic plague - a deadly disease that had been rampant for 100 years.

In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca explain why one village soaked their supplies in vinegar; reveal how to write a letter to the King (with appropriate levels of flattery); and consider the merits of banning bearded men from handling milk… 

Further Reading:

• BBC profile of Henry VI: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_vi_king.shtml

• ‘Here ye, here ye: No more smoochies!’ (History Daily, 2020): https://historydaily.org/kissing-ban-england-response-black-plague-1439

• ‘What Made The Black Death So Deadly?’ (The Infographics Show, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5q-PIN3KSE

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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 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2021.

#1400s #Royals #Discoveries #White #UK
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The inventor of margarine, French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, patented his butter substitute on 15th July, 1869. Inspired by a competition launched by Emperor Napoleon III to find a cheaper, longer-lasting alternative to butter for the French Navy, Mège-Mouriès called his creation ‘oléomargarine’.

It combined purified beef fat with milk and water to create a spread that was more stable than butter and less likely to spoil. The patent rights were eventually sold to Dutch manufacturers, eventually leading to Unilever evolving the spread into one of the world's biggest consumer products. As it spread across North America, dairy farmers saw it as a serious threat, leading to the so-called "Butter Wars" bans.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how margarine kick-started a fad for lab-grown foods which continues to this day; ask why posh restaurants never seem to make their own; and reveal why Wisconsin didn’t legalise it until 1967…

Further Reading:

• ‘Spread it around. Just don't mention it’ (The Washington Post, 2010): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2010/09/29/spread-it-around-just-dont-mention-it/66f52152-caa2-11df-8eee-2e1a26a3708e/

• ‘Hippolyte Mege-Mouries: A brief history of the bootleg margarine trade’ (Slate, 2013): https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/03/hippolyte-mege-mouries-a-brief-history-of-the-bootleg-margarine-trade.html

• ‘Watch how easy it is to make homemade margarine!’ (News24, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFm2aCP_wx0

#Food #Inventions #France #1800s

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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 2026.

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Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who demonstrated it in Britain for the first time on 14th July, 1867. He had discovered that when nitroglycerin, an explosive liquid, was absorbed by kieselguhr, a porous siliceous earth, it produced a solid that was resistant to shock but readily detonable by heat or percussion, making it safer to handle.

Nobel named his invention “dynamite” after the Greek word “dynamis,” meaning "power". His invention revolutionized the construction industry and made possible many engineering feats such as the construction of canals, tunnels, and roads, and also had a significant impact on mining, quarrying, and demolition operations.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore the ‘obituary’ legend that supposedly explained Nobel’s creation of the Nobel Prizes; uncover the extraordinary approach the Swede took to health and safety in his factories; and reveal how staggeringly little it cost to buy a stick of dynamite in New York City in 1910… 

Further Reading:

• ‘How Dynamite Spawned the Nobel Prizes’ (McGill University, 2021): https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/how-dynamite-spawned-nobel-prizes

• ‘This week in science history - The first demonstration of dynamite’ (The Naked Scientists, 2009): https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/week-science-history-first-demonstration-dynamite

• ‘Alfred Nobel: From Dynamite to the Nobel Peace Prize’ (Nobel Peace Center, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diaUxeVsg-4

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 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2023.

#Science #Discoveries #Sweden #1800s
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Designed as a temporary billboard for a luxury housing development, the iconic ‘Hollywood’ sign (originally spelling out ‘Hollywoodland’) was dedicated on July 13th, 1923. It was intended to last 18 months. Over a century later, it remains.

Erected at cost of $21,000—about $360,000 today—and lit by 4,000 bulbs that flashed dramatically in segments (“Holly,” then “Wood,” then “Land,”), the sign fell into disrepair by the late 1970s - when an unlikely alliance of Hugh Hefner and Alice Cooper came to the rescue…

In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca trace the rise of the Los Angeles suburbs from citrus groves to a filmmaking mecca; unearth the singular, diligent German immigrant who was responsible for the sign’s upkeep; and consider the glorious successor the iconic signed spawned: in Basildon…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Hidden History of the Hollywood Sign’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2023): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-hidden-history-of-the-hollywood-sign-180982518/

• ‘As the Hollywood sign turns 100, Los Angeles is in no mood to party’ (The Washington Post, 2023): https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/02/hollywood-sign-los-angeles-100-years/

• ‘Archive aerial footage shows Hollywoodland sign in 1930’ (Mail Online, 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lixq_XtJnww

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 2026.
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