Today In History with The Retrospectors

• Making The Mikado

  The Mikado opened on March 14, 1885 to immediate acclaim, and went on to become W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most famous and best-loved operetta, despite its tortured genesis.  Due to growing creative tensions and their previous show flopping, Gilbert and Sullivan’s partnership was on the rocks, so The Mikado’s success took both completely by surprise.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at why the setting of The Mikado is really Japan in name only; discuss how Gilbert found inspiration in a sword hanging on his wall; and explain why Gilbert and Sullivan almost parted ways because of a magical love lozenge…  Further Reading: • ‘A big day in history: Gilbert and Sullivan unveil 'The Mikado'’ (History Extra, 2012): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/a-big-day-in-history-gilbert-and-sullivan-unveil-the-mikado/  • ‘Arthur Sullivan - A Victorian Musician’ (Taylor & Francis, 2018): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Arthur_Sullivan_A_Victorian_Musician/VXt_DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0  • ‘The Mikado’ (BBC, 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkOWxcbzn0&t=561s  This episode originally 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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• Mata Hari: Showgirl, Seductress, Spy

  Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known to the world as Mata Hari, set the Paris stage ablaze on March 13, 1905, with a scandalous dance routine that turned her into an overnight success.  Sporting a gold jeweled breastplate and bracelets, Mata Hari’s performance was a striptease that left little to the imagination. But even the wildest imagination couldn’t envisage what lay ahead for the exotic dancer, courtesan, traitor and spy whose name became synonymous with the femme fatale. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca, and Olly discuss how she played both sides of the First World War for fools; uncover how she met her husband through a newspaper ad; and explain why she always wore a breastplate during sex… Further Reading: • ‘Mata Hari: exotic dancer, femme fatale, traitor and spy’ (History Extra, 2019): https://www.historyextra.com/period/first-world-war/mata-hari-exotic-dancer-femme-fatale-traitor-wwi-spy/  • ‘“I am ready”: Mata Hari faced a firing squad for spying — and refused a blindfold.’ (The Washington Post, 2017): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/15/i-am-ready-mata-hari-faced-a-firing-squad-for-spying-and-refused-a-blindfold/  • ‘Buckwild Facts About Mata Hari, The Exotic Dancer Who Became A WWI Spy’ (Weird History, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sh-fB_qMUg  This episode originally 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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• When The Dixie Chicks Got Cancelled

  As the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer, Natalie Maines, made an off-the-cuff remark at a London concert on 12th March, 2003, she could not have known the comments would haunt her band (now known as ‘The Chicks’) for decades.  Just days before the US invasion of Iraq, and to cheers from the British crowd, she said from the stage: “We’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” A Guardian journalist jotted it down, and when those words reached the other side of the Atlantic, all hell broke loose. Dixie Chicks CDs were steamrolled in protest, country radio stations blacklisted their songs, and the band never recovered. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly talk through the Chicks’ damage control strategy; ask whether the backlash was an organic response from Conservative Country fans, or an orchestrated, sexist campaign; and reveal how Taylor Swift has taken note of their downfall… Further Reading: • ‘The Dixie Chicks | Music’ (The Guardian, 2003): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/mar/12/artsfeatures.popandrock • ’The Chicks' 2003 George W. Bush Controversy: An Oral History’ (Billboard, 2022): https://www.billboard.com/music/country/chicks-radio-banned-george-bush-oral-history-1235087442/ • ‘Inside The Chicks’ SCANDAL in 2003 and Their GRAMMYs Comeback’ (Entertainment Tonight, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0C3TrCBAOA 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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• COPS Hits TV

  Producer John Langley had been pitching a no-frills, fly-on-the-wall documentary series following US Police Officers for six years when, in the midst of a writer’s strike, Fox finally bit. COPS made its debut on 11th March, 1989, becoming one of the longest-running shows in TV history. Langley called it ‘video vérité’; the New York Times called it ‘tabloid TV’. From the beginning, concerns about its depiction of race relations in America led to criticism that eventually brought about its cancellation - before it was reinstated on a different TV network. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how various Police departments across the States went from being resistant to being featured in COPS to actually nominating themselves for filming; consider why participants were so keen to sign release forms when they were being depicted in such a vulnerable position; and ask if the first series still seems as ‘tabloid’ as it was considered at the time…  Further Reading: • ‘Episode One: Broward County Florida - Part 2’ (Fox, 1989): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5k36VTrZcY • ‘Review/Television; 'Cops' Camera Shows the Real Thing’ (The New York Times, 1989): https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/07/arts/review-television-cops-camera-shows-the-real-thing.html • ‘John Langley: Producer who turned police work into prime reality TV’ (The Independent, 2021): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-langley-cops-reality-tv-obituary-b1875648.html This episode originally aired in 2022 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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• Birth of the Book Club

  The ‘Book of the Month Club’ was first launched, on March 10th, 1926. Its inaugural selection, ‘Lolly Willowes’ by feminist Bloomsbury author Sylvia Townsend Warner, underscores the transformative power that such clubs would go on to have (via celebrity endorsements such as Oprah and Richard & Judy): Warner leveraged her selection as a springboard for wider literary recognition in the United States. The visionary behind the Book of the Month Club, Harry Sherman, recognised the untapped potential of marketing literature to broader audiences. Leveraging his marketing acumen and passion for reading, Sherman had pioneered innovative strategies to democratise access to books, first partnering with Whitman Candy to distribute the ‘Little Leather Library’; miniature classics posted to readers alongside a box of chocolates, which became a popular gift to give soldiers during World War I. In this episode, The Retrospectors explain the importance of the Book Club’s discerning editorial panel; reveal the literary sensations first given the limelight via Sherman’s company; and consider how shifting market dynamics and the advent of digital platforms diminished the club's relevance - but then bought it back again… Further Reading: • ‘A New Reading Experience: Book of the Month Club’ (Pennsylvania Center for the Book, 2010): https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/new-reading-experience-book-month-club • ‘Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes is 'a great shout of life'’ (The Guardian, 2016): https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/dec/28/sylvia-townsend-warners-lolly-willowes-is-a-great-shout-of-life • ‘Comparing the Most Popular Book Box Subscriptions📦’ (Kailia Barbour, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFyOFVzaJog Ten minute daily episodes bringing you curious moments from this day in history, with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll: The Retrospectors. New episodes Mon-Wed; reruns Thurs-Fri. 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 2025.  This episode originally aired in 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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