Today In History with The Retrospectors

• Let's Build The Pentagon

  Construction of the Virginia headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense began on September 11th, 1941 - spookily, the same date it was attacked by al-Qaeda six decades later.  The massive five-sided building, a potent symbol of America’s military strength, became known as the Pentagon. Featuring 4 million square feet of office space, the building was designed by George Bergstrom under the supervision of Leslie R. Groves, who was later chosen to head the Manhattan Project and build the atomic bomb. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca, and Olly explain why the building’s racially segregated bathrooms were installed, but never used; reveal why, for a while, a ‘Pentagon project’ became a by-word for a white elephant; and consider whether a hot dog stand in the complex foxed the Soviets…  Further Reading: • ‘10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Pentagon’ (U.S. Department of Defense, 2019): https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1650913/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-pentagon/ • ‘Pentagon Hot Dog Stand – Arlington, Virginia’ (Atlas Obscura, 2017): https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pentagon-hot-dog-stand • ‘FOX Business reveals 'stunning' new details about Pentagon's construction’ (FOX Business, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tK6gIsMAgc 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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• France's Last Execution

  The guillotine claimed its last victim on 10th September, 1977, when murderer Hamida Djandoubi was executed in Marseille, his grim end marking the closing chapter of nearly two centuries of clinical beheading, stretching back to the French Revolution.  Overseen by France’s last official executioner Marcel Chevalier, the event was private and hushed - a far cry from the raucous public spectacles that had once drawn huge crowds. Witness accounts described Djandoubi drinking rum, smoking his final cigarettes, and even stalling for time before being led to the blade. Adding to the eerie symbolism, he was made to fix his prosthetic leg before kneeling at the block. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how beheading was initially considered a humane and egalitarian form of execution; consider the French public’s support for the death penalty throughout the seventies, even as Mitterand stood on an electoral platform to abolish it; and reveal what it all had to do with Star Wars… CONTENT WARNING: rape, murder, description of execution Further Reading: • ‘This Will Be the Last, by Monique Mabelly, Translated by Ryann Liebenthal’ (Harpers, 1977): https://harpers.org/archive/2014/02/this-will-be-the-last/ • The History of the Guillotine (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-guillotine-p2-1991842 • ‘The French Revolution’ (dir. Robert Enrico, 1989): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKNqP_kYV4 #Macabre #Crime #France #70s #Revolution 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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• Laughter, Uncanned

  'The Hank McCune Show' - an otherwise unremarkable footnote in American TV history - became the first single-camera sitcom to deploy a pre-recorded laugh track (aka ‘canned laughter’) on 9th September, 1950. The giggles and applause came courtesy of Charlie Douglass, who made a career of capturing audience reaction in his ‘laff box’, and then expertly sprinkling it across other shows, including Bewitched, The Munsters and The Flintstones.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look back at Red Skelton’s ‘pantomimes’, the origin of much of Douglass’ recorded laughter; explain why live studio audiences are sometimes even more enthusiastic clappers than pre-recorded ones; and reveal how the Bolshoi Ballet STILL employ professional audience reactionaries… Further Reading:  • ‘The invention of laughter: Charley Douglass and the laff box’ (The Verge, 2013): https://www.theverge.com/2013/12/13/5207136/Charley-Douglass-laff-box-laugh-track • ‘How we fell in and out of love with the Laff Box, the laugh track machine that changed sitcoms forever’ (ABC, 2020): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-16/history-of-the-laugh-track-laff-box-charles-douglass/12117866 • ‘How Do Laugh Tracks Work?’ (How Stuff Works, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suD4KbgTl4 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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• Making Michelangelo's David

  Now celebrated as the most famous statue in the world, Michelangelo's David was first unveiled in Florence's Piazza della Signoria on 8th September, 1504. Originally intended for the roofline of Florence's cathedral, David’s immense size and weight—over five meters tall and weighing more than five and a half tons—was relocated to the square. But its creation had been a tale of perseverance: the marble block Michelangelo used had been rejected by other sculptors for 35 years. In this episode The Retrospectors reveal that contemporary critics weren’t all awed by the masterpiece; explain why David was finally moved indoors; and compare Michelangelo’s temperament with that of his Teenage Ninja Turtle namesake… 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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• Welcome To Bavaria, U.S.A.

  oday, the small town of Leavenworth in Washington is known for its Bavarian-themed hotels, restaurants, shops and festivals, but when it was incorporated on 5th September, 1906, its main claim to fame was that it had a train line and a fledgling logging industry. After the train hub that had put it on the map in the first place was moved, Leavenworth went into near terminal decline, until some savvy townspeople got together in the 1960s to give it a themed makeover. “Bavarian” was the chosen theme, and the rest was history. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at the other themes that had been considered before Leavenworth settled on Bavarian; explain why Leavenworth guarantees incredibly Instagrammable backdrops regardless of what time of year you visit; and lament that Kinderfest decorations seem to be going up earlier and earlier with each passing year…  Further Reading: • ‘All Over the Map: How Leavenworth became the PNW’s own slice of Bavaria’ (My North West, 2019): https://mynorthwest.com/1488483/all-over-the-map-leavenworth-history/  • ‘America’s Best 'European Villages'?’ (National Geographic, 2012): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/where-are-americas-best-european-villages  • ‘Leavenworth: Your Winter Wonderland’ (Visit Leavenworth; 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTyVydTNRqI  #US #1900s #architecture  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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