Episodes

Rupert Murdoch, controversial owner of The Sun, launched “The Birthday Suit Girl”, a topless photo feature, on 17th November, 1970. Within a year, the paper’s circulation had nearly doubled to 2.5 million. Editor Larry Lamb intended his ‘Page 3 girls’ to be wholesome and clean, skating on the edge of what was acceptable in a […]

Rerun. Disneyland Paris, now Europe’s most popular theme park, initially haemorrhaged money – at a rate of around $1 million per day. But, after three hard years, it returned its first annual profit on 16th November, 1995.  This change in the park’s fortunes can be attributed to the popularity of two trains: the opening of

Sir Anthony Blunt, esteemed art historian and a favourite of the Royal family, was publicly revealed as a Soviet spy on 15th November, 1979, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher confirmed he had been part of the “Cambridge Five”, a group of double agents who secretly passed sensitive information to the Soviet Union. Despite his confession

Workers involved in tomb construction in the Valley of the Kings staged the earliest recorded strike in history on 14th November, 1157 B.C. Having not been paid their ration of food for 18 days, they set about disrupting temple life and rituals, to the shock of Pharaoh Ramses III’s administration. The workers’ struggle wasn’t solely

In this episode we uncover the incredible story of Scottish surgeon James Braid, who entered the Manchester Athenaeum on 13th November, 1841 as a skeptic of what was then known as ‘mesmerism’, or ‘animal magnetism’ – and left as perhaps the most enthusiastic proponent in Britain of what he came to call ‘hypnosis’. The performance

The French government introduced a new State religion on 10th November, 1793: the ‘Cult of Reason’, which attempted to reflect the anti-clerical attitudes of the French Revolution.  But – as with the new secular calendar that reset the year to zero and gave democratic names to the months – the general public did not take

Presidential diplomacy now routinely involves hundreds of trips on Air Force One – but, until Theodore Roosevelt travelled to inspect the Panama Canal on 9th November, 1906, no serving US President had ever ventured abroad. It was the biggest infrastructure project a President had ever undertaken, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of

Bruce Miller appeared to be the victim of a violent robbery at his salvage yard when his body was discovered on 8th November, 1999 – but he had actually been killed as part of a disturbing love triangle; one that led to his wife, Sharee Miller, being imprisoned for second degree homicide in a case

The first meteorite to crash land into Earth – and have its date recorded – impacted the hamlet of Ensisheim (in modern-day France, then Austria) on 7th November, 1492. The stone’s descent created a crater in a wheat field, captivating villagers who believed such occurrences were cosmic signs. A striking deafening noise accompanied the meteor’s

This episode first premiered in 2022, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 – where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks! In today’s episode we explore the incredible history of the at-home