Today In History with The Retrospectors

With a single, deliberate shot, Roger Sharpe played pinball for the council of the New York City Council chamber on 2 April 1976, theatrically overturning a 34-year ban on the game by proving it could be a game of skill. 

The city’s censorship of the game had its roots in the economic strain of the Great Depression and the moral recalibrations following Prohibition, when pinball machines, often found in arcades and bars, became associated with petty gambling and organised crime. New York’s mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, made them a particular focus of his anti-corruption campaigns, arguing that they exploited the young and the poor. His administration confiscated and publicly destroyed machines, even melting them down during the Second World War as part of the wartime metal drive. 

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track the shifting cultural attitudes of the 1970s, thanks in part to the Who’s ‘Tommy’; explain how the introduction of flippers in 1947 (notably in the game Humpty Dumpty) fundamentally pivoted pinball into a game of skill; and reveal the world record for the longest ever pinball marathon…

Further Reading:

• ‘49 Years Later: ‘Pinball’ and the Legendary Shot’ (MPI, 2025): https://thempi.org/latest-stories/49-years-later-pinball-and-the-legendary-shot/

• ‘Pinball Prohibition Explained and Why Pinball Was Once Illegal’ (Kineticist, 2024): https://www.kineticist.com/news/pinball-prohibition

• ‘Today Show: Pinball History’ (NBC, 1990): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJb2-f9jZE0

#Games #70s #Crime #NewYork #Strange

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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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One of the most famous hoaxes in broadcasting history aired on the BBC’s revered Panorama programme on April Fools Day, 1957: a segment purporting to show a “spaghetti harvest” taking place near Lake Lugano. According to the report, mild weather and the disappearance of a “spaghetti weevil” had resulted in trees unseasonably laden with strands of pasta. 

The prank originated with Charles de Jaeger, who drew on a childhood memory of being teased that spaghetti grew on trees. With the backing of Panorama’s young Editor, Michael Peacock, his team travelled to Switzerland to film convincing footage. Local participants were dressed in traditional costume and shown harvesting spaghetti from branches, laying it out to dry in the sun. The script, written by David Wheeler, leaned into agricultural imagery, subtly echoing wine harvesting, to lend the absurd premise a veneer of plausibility.

Crucial to the hoax’s success was the authoritative narration of Richard Dimbleby, one of the most trusted voices in post-war Britain. At a time when television itself was still relatively new and widely trusted, and when many Britons had limited familiarity with Italian cuisine, the idea of spaghetti growing on trees was not immediately dismissed as nonsense; even BBC Director-General Ian Jacob had to consult three reference books to confirm it was indeed a joke.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the blowback from viewers who were in equal parts credulous and insulted; consider if a public service broadcaster could mount such a successful prank these days; and ask why this segment remains so well remembered, nearly seventy years on…

Further Reading:

• ‘Inside The Bizarre 'Spaghetti Tree' Hoax Of 1957’ (All That’s Interesting, 2021): https://allthatsinteresting.com/spaghetti-tree-hoax

• ‘When A Spaghetti Tree Hoax Caused A Nationwide Uproar’ (HistoryNet, 2023): https://historynet.com/bbc-spaghetti-tree-hoax/

• ‘Panorama: The Spaghetti Harvest’ (BBC, 1957): https://www.youtubInside The Bizarre 'Spaghetti Tree' Hoax Of 1957e.com/watch?v=8scpGwbvxvI

#50s #Switzerland #TV #Funny 

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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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It became known as the ‘Skandalkonzert’: an evening of expressionist, experimental pieces at Vienna’s Great Hall of the Musikverein on March 31, 1913, which so disturbed the audience that rioting and slapping ensued, followed by a lawsuit. 

In time, it established the reputations of The Second Viennese School - a group of composers like Shoenberg and Weber, who sought to break away from the traditional tonal system and create a new form of classical music.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether it was simply the running order, not the artistic demands of the pieces, that truly upset the apple cart; reveal the extraordinary precautions Shoenberg put in place to prevent such an event recurring; and turn to Strauss for a zinger of a put-down…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Second Viennese School: Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern | The British Library’ (British Library): https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-music/articles/the-second-viennese-school

• ‘Skandalkonzert’ (ASAP History, 2020): https://asaphistory.com/2020/03/31/03-31-skandalkonzert/

• ‘Schoenberg explained in 10 Minutes’ (Samuel Andreyev, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjV3PBIWO2I

Love the show? Support us! 

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.

#Music #1900s #Austria #Jewish
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When Starbucks opened in Pike Place, Seattle, on March 30th, 1971, it was a simple shop selling whole coffee beans, tea, and spices - with no creamy macchiatos or pumpkin spice lattes in sight.

Founders Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker, mentored by Dutch coffee trader Alfred Peet, never intended the store to become a cafe. But then Howard Schultz joined as Marketing Manager. After a visit to Milan, he had an epiphany—coffee wasn’t just a drink, it was an experience. Schultz’s vision of Starbucks as a "third place"—not home, not work, but somewhere in between—helped fuel its massive international expansion.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why Schultz was frozen out of the company before buying it back; reveal why, to some extent, Starbucks now functions as a bank; and consider whether the original mermaid logo is just too racy for the 21st century…

Further Reading:

• ‘The first Starbucks coffee shop, Seattle - a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 36’ (The Guardian, 2015): https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/14/the-first-starbucks-coffee-shop-seattle-a-history-of-cities-in-50-buildings-day-36

• ‘Starbucks opens its first store in Seattle's Pike Place Market | March 30, 1971’ (HISTORY, 2024): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-starbucks-opens-seattle-pike-place-market

• ‘How Starbucks Became An $80B Business’ (CNBC, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUBeH7VQaFY

Love the show? Support us! 

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 2025.

#Business #70s #Food #US
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Julius Caesar intervened to put his lover and ally Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne on 27th March, 47 BC - cementing their position as the world’s premier Power Couple.

But Cleo's ascent to power was not just a power play. Rather, it was a desperate bid for survival - as she had been ousted from the throne by her brother's advisors, and feared assassination. 

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether Cleopatra really did woo Caesar by emerging from a ‘carpet’; explain why Ptolemy's attempt to win Caesar's favour was desperately misguided; and probe into the family issues that perhaps inevitably arise when women are made to marry their younger brothers…

Further Reading:

• ‘Egypt's last pharaoh was the 'love child' of Caesar and Cleopatra’ (National Geographic, 2020): https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2020/10/egypts-last-pharaoh-was-the-love-child-of-caesar-and-cleopatra

• ‘Cleopatra, Julius Caesar And Mark Antony: Her Love Affairs Explored’ (HistoryExtra, 2023): https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-egypt/cleopatra-love-affairs-julius-caesar-mark-antony/

• ’Ancient Empires: Cleopatra Evolves Into an Ruthless Monarch’ (HISTORY, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpFKwn7YAg0

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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