Today In History with The Retrospectors

• The Last Of His Tribe

  Ishi, a native American man who was widely acclaimed as the “last wild Indian” emerged from the wilderness on 29th August, 1911. His arrival came as a huge surprise to the people of Oroville, California, who had thought that his entire tribe had become extinct a good 40 years earlier. He was immediately taken to a jail cell and locked up, not because he had committed a crime but because authorities simply had no idea what to do with him. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore the relationship between Ishi and the anthropologists that took him in; discuss why he preferred to be photographed in a suit and tie rather than Native American dress; and speculate on what Ishi must have made of the vaudeville shows his handlers took him to see…   Further Reading: • ‘The Story Of Ishi, The ‘Last’ Native American’ (All That's Interesting, 2018): https://allthatsinteresting.com/ishi-last-native-american  • ‘America honours its debt to Ishi, last of the Yahis’ (The Guardian, 2000): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/aug/10/duncancampbell  • ‘A Man Called Ishi’ (Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology at CSU, Chico, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEmqOCta3NU  #US #1910s #Indigenous This episode first aired in 2023 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The First Gay Games

  Over 1,300 athletes from 12 countries gathered at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco for the first-ever Gay Games, on 28th August, 1982.  Intended as the “Gay Olympics,” the event had to change its name at the last minute after the US Olympic Committee sued. But the opening ceremony was electric, with none other than Tina Turner performing at a pivotal moment in her career - a bold and unprecedented move for a superstar at a gay event in the early ‘80s. The brainchild of Olympic decathlete Tom Waddell, the Games were intended to show that you could be openly gay and still achieve greatness - even in a city and community plagued by HIV. Waddell prioritized inclusion over nationalism, having athletes march by city instead of country, and selected a Black gay man and cancer survivor, Richard Hunter, to light the cauldron - symbolizing unity and resilience. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly marvel at the diversity of the opening parade; reveal the child that was conceived as a direct result of the event; and consider why the Games have never been televised…  Further Reading: • ‘Tom Waddell, the amazing man behind Gay Games’ (ESPN, 2014): https://www.espn.com/story/_/id/11305954/tom-waddell-amazing-man-gay-games • ‘The Gay Games are still relevant. Here’s why’ (The Conversation, 2018): https://theconversation.com/the-gay-games-are-still-relevant-heres-why-101104 • ‘Remembering the first Gay Games’ (BBC World Service, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVVD0Ww3qmo 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The 38 Minute War

  The shortest war in history began at 09:02 on 27th August, 1896 - and was over 38 minutes later - when The British Empire, at the peak of its power, flexed its military might over the African island of Zanzibar. The drama began when the pro-British Sultan Hamad suddenly died, and his cousin Khalid bin Barghash decided to seize the throne without British approval. The British, who technically managed Zanzibar as a protectorate, issued an ultimatum: leave the palace or face the consequences. Khalid, full of confidence (or denial), refused. He barricaded himself inside with about 2,800 defenders, a handful of artillery, and a single yacht serving as the entire navy. When the Royal Navy opened fire, the beautiful wooden palace quickly turned into splinters. The Sultan’s forces were completely outgunned, and by the end of the barrage, over 500 defenders were killed or wounded, the palace was in ruins, and the "navy" had been sunk. On the British side, one sailor sprained his shoulder. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal what happened to Barghash after he slipped out of a back door; explain why the War proved a turning point in Zanzibar’s relationship to slavery; and ask whether the wannabe Sultan had poisoned his predecessor… Further Reading: • ‘The Shortest War In History: How Long Was The 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War?’ (HistoryExtra, 2024): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/shortest-war-history • ‘Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964)’ (BlackPast, 2016): https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/sultanate-zanzibar-1856-1964/) • ‘Coast and Conquest - History Of Africa with Zeinab Badawi [Episode 12]’ (BBC News Africa, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hKeMgH6A34 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Colin The Caterpillar - A Cultural Odyssey

  Equally beloved at office boardrooms and toddler birthday parties, Colin the Caterpillar - a £7 swiss roll cake with white and milk chocolate and buttercream - was launched at an unsuspecting public by Marks and Spencer on 26th August, 1990. At the product development stage, he was going to be a fish - even though fishcake is a TOTALLY different foodstuff. Luckily, the Colin we know and love made it to M&S shelves, where he has since sold more than 15 million units, and spawned dozens of high street imitators. (And an infringement claim against Aldi.) In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion explain how Colin’s popularity coincided with the trend for ‘illusion cakes’; dig up the horrifying sweet/savoury pile-up that is Jane Asher’s ‘Mary Mary’ cake; and consider Colin’s enduring place in British popular culture... Further Reading: • ‘Colin the Caterpillar: A brief history’ (New Statesman, 2018): https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/food-drink/2018/12/colin-caterpillar-brief-history • ‘This is the original M&S Colin the Caterpillar cake back in 1990’ (Good Housekeeping, 2020): https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/a33631942/original-colin-the-caterpillar-cake-1990/ • ‘Colin v Cuthbert The Caterpillar: Can M&S Sue Aldi For Copyright Over A Cake?’ (Good Morning Britain, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZrjPL8p874 This episode first aired in 2021 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Beavers on the Moon

  The ‘Great Moon Hoax’ was published by the New York Sun on 25th August, 1835, claiming over six instalments that renowned English astronomer John Herschel had spotted bat-men, unicorns, and bipedal beavers on the lunar surface. Despite the absurdity of the claims, the tale was so wild and well-written that many readers bought into it. The mastermind behind the hoax, Richard Adam Locke, later tried to justify his actions by claiming it was a satire meant to expose the ridiculousness of some contemporary scientific theories. Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Sun used the horrors of slavery to account for its deception; consider how the story spread all the way to Italy; and reveal why Edgar Allen Poe was particularly unimpressed by the gag… Further Reading: • ‘The Great Moon Hoax Was Simply a Sign of Its Time’ (Smithsonian, 2015): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-moon-hoax-was-simply-sign-its-time-180955761/ • ’Belief, Legend, and the Great Moon Hoax | Folklife Today’ (Library of Congress, 2014): https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/08/the-great-moon-hoax/ • ’The Great Moon Hoax’ (The Folklorist, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azlz163nN-A This episode first aired in 2024 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 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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