Today In History with The Retrospectors

Disgruntled textile workers stormed a factory near Nottingham on March 11th, 1811, kickstarting the political movement famously known as Luddism.

Their protest was not anti-technology per se; instead it stemmed from a desire for better work opportunities and wages, amidst economic hardships exacerbated by the Napoleonic Wars. As tensions escalated, the British government deployed troops to safeguard factories and enacted laws making machine destruction a capital offence.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the fictional ‘King Lud’ became the group’s figurehead; consider how the meaning of the word ‘Luddite’ has morphed over centuries; and explain why, despite their proclivity for machine-smashing, luddites were keen WFH-ers… 

Further Reading:

• ‘What the Luddites Really Fought Against’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2011): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/

• ‘The Luddites: Your Guide To The Violent Industrial Revolution Movement’ (HistoryExtra, 2020): https://www.historyextra.com/period/industrial-revolution/who-were-luddites-facts-what-happened/

• ‘Almanac: The Luddites’ (CBS Sunday Morning, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqUezvo6oRA

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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 2024.
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The infamous French Foreign Legion was formed by King Louis Philippe on March 10, 1831, to help the French control Algeria using mercenaries who were more expendable than native young Frenchmen.

To this day a magnet for men who want a clean break from their past, the Legion famously did not ask many questions about where their recruits came from - or if they had a criminal record. 

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover if they could meet the tests to join this notorious fighting force; expose the bloody history of the legion’s ill-fated battles in Mexico; and reveal the deadly games Russian Legionnaires played in their downtime…

Further Reading: 

• ‘Why young men queue up to die in the French Foreign Legion’ (Aeon): 

https://aeon.co/essays/why-young-men-queue-up-to-die-in-the-french-foreign-legion

• ‘The Expendables’ (Vanity Fair, 2012): https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/french-foreign-legion-expendables 

• ‘French Foreign Legion: A Soldier’s Story’ (POVCAST, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC2EYK2qbnk 

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Join  🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY… 

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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.
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The hip-swivelling Hula Hoop craze swept through America within months of its 1958 debut - yet Wham-O didn’t receive a patent for it until 5th March, 1963. 

The toy had first come to the attention of Arthur K. 'Spud' Melin, the company’s co-founder, when Australian swimsuit model Joan Anderson demonstrated it in California. Appending the ‘hula’ name to it tapped into the zeitgeist for Hawaiian imagery, but manufacturing it out of inexpensive plastic tubing was a masterstroke.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain the innovative business model of Melin and his partner, Richard Knerr, which also begat Frisbee, Hackey-Sack and Slip n’Slide; discover how demonstrations in school playgrounds accelerated the trend’s virality; and learn about the novelty songs inspired by the craze… 

Further Reading:

• ‘History of the Hula Hoop - Trivia and More’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/hula-hoop-history-1991893

• ‘Unsung hero behind hula hoop invention dies aged 101’ (BBC News, 2025): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70x4w4z138o

• ‘Wham-O Frisbee & Hula Hoop Commercial’ (Wham-O, 1960s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsJ9fwhFzE8

#Toys #Business #50s #US

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. 

Edit producer: Ollie Peart.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

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Svetlana Aleluyeva walked into the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi on 9th March, 1967, and asked for political asylum. As the only daughter of Joseph Stalin, she was an unknown figure outside the USSR; panicking American diplomats: how could they grant her asylum, without warming up the Cold War?

The U.S. tried to keep her defection under wraps, but upon arriving in New York in April 1967, she held a press conference where she denounced her father as a "moral and spiritual monster" and renounced her Soviet citizenship. Her life in the West soon took a turn for the surreal: she briefly lived with the widow of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who believed Svetlana was the reincarnation of her dead daughter and arranged for her to marry her late daughter's widower. In a shocking move, she decided to return to the Soviet Union in 1984, denouncing the U.S. as materialistic and empty.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall Svetlana’s childhood as Soviet Royalty; take a whistlestop tour through her various truncated marriages; and question just how efficient KGB minders were at their jobs…

Further Reading:

• ’The Day Stalin’s Daughter Asked for Asylum in the U.S.’ (Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training, 2013): https://adst.org/2013/02/the-day-stalins-daughter-asked-for-asylum-in-the-u-s/

• ’Lana Peters: Stalin's daughter whose defection to the West did not bring peace of mind’ (The Independent, 2011): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lana-peters-stalin-s-daughter-whose-defection-to-the-west-did-not-bring-peace-of-mind-6269631.html

• ‘USSR | Joseph Stalin | Svetlana Alliluyeva interview | 1980's’ (Thames TV): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZw3sN4XeNo

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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Pioneering music-sharing platform Napster faced a pivotal legal showdown on March 6th, 2001, when - despite the company’s defence that it was merely a tool for innocent purposes - US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered the removal of all copyrighted material from the service.

Napster's legal troubles had begun with lawsuits from prominent artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre, but it was the Recording Industry Association of America's $20 billion lawsuit that spelled the endgame for the platform. Yet the swift rise and fall of the peer-to-peer software marked a paradigm shift in how music was consumed, challenging traditional notions of ownership and distribution. 

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how its youthful inventors Shawn Fanning and Shaun Parker first met; explore how its legacy lives on in the likes of Spotify; and consider how the legal precedent set by Betamax, of all things, became the technology’s downfall…

Further Reading:

• ‘Oversharing: how Napster nearly killed the music industry’ (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/31/napster-twenty-years-music-revolution

• ‘The death spiral of Napster begins’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-spiral-of-napster-begins

‘Napster Documentary: Culture of Free’ (The New York Times, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKrdsGdLVQ8

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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices