Today In History with The Retrospectors

The mass suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult in San Diego County was discovered on 26th March, 1997. The tragedy came to light after a former member alerted authorities, having received a farewell videotape recorded by the group. 

Leader Marshall Applewhite had preached that a spacecraft travelling in the wake of the Comet Hale–Bopp would carry their souls to a higher level of existence. In preparation, they dressed uniformly and consumed a lethal mixture of phenobarbital and alcohol in a carefully planned sequence over several days.

That belief system had developed over decades. Applewhite, who had a religious upbringing, met Bonnie Lou Nettles in the early 1970s. Together they formed a spiritual partnership, combining elements of Christianity with ideas drawn from science fiction and New Age thought. They came to believe that they were divinely appointed messengers, tasked with guiding followers to what they described as the “Next Level”. Over time, they attracted a small but committed group, many of whom severed ties with their families and gave up personal possessions in order to join the movement.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover how the group’s gospel evolved, particularly after Nettles died of cancer in 1985; explore how the cult always used technology to recruit a larger following; and explain why Nike withdrew their Decades shoes from sale in response… 

CONTENT WARNING: mass suicide, mental illness.

Further Reading:

• ‘THE CULT THAT LEFT AS IT LIVED’ (The Washington Post, 1997): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/03/30/the-cult-that-left-as-it-lived/1e9baadb-f465-4a7a-8026-0ab7e4822139/

• Heaven’s Gate: https://heavensgate.com

• ‘Do's Final Exit’ (Heaven’s Gate, 1997): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGXDQ_8bSA

#90s #Religion #Scandal #Space

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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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Each Lady Day, the Hampshire village of Tichborne hands out bags of flour to the  locals - a tradition that began on 25th March, 1150 after Lady Marbella Tichborne, on her death-bed, suggested distributing a ‘Tichborne Dole’ to the needy. 

It’s far from the only quaint charity event still going strong in England. In the Kentish village of Biddenden each Easter Monday, locals indulge in ‘Biddenden cakes’, bearing the effigy of the Biddenden Maids - conjoined twins who also left behind an annual dole for the deserving poor. And in Hallaton, Leicestershire, villagers still participate in a chaotic rugby-like game, but with more ale and definitely more hare pies.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider what such kooky festivities tell us about mediaeval attitudes to women and the poor; recall what happened when ‘vagabonds’ dared to take advantage of these handouts; and stumble upon a new book proposal for Danny Wallace… 

Further Reading:

• ‘The Tichborne Dole’ (Historic UK, 2015): https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Tichborne-Dole/

• ‘The Strange Story of the Biddenden Maids’ (A London Inheritance, 2021): https://alondoninheritance.com/cycling-around-britain/the-strange-story-of-the-biddenden-maids/

• ‘Custom of charity of Tichbourne dole - bags of flour given to local people’ (British Pathé, 1928): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jV30X294hA

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

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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 first international women’s sports event, The Women’s Olympiad, kicked off in Monte Carlo on 24th March, 1921. A hundred athletes from five nations competed in track and field events, defying the male-dominated Olympic movement that excluded women from all sports except tennis, golf, sailing and croquet.

Created by campaigner Alice Milliat, the event showcased the skills of pioneering athletes Mary Lines, Violette Morris and Lucie Bréard - but was primarily intended to put pressure on the ‘proper’ Olympics to finally admit women into all sports - something not fully achieved for another forty years.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how rumours of ‘fainting’ women put the feminists’ cause back by decades; consider whether the IOC’s concerns regarding ‘ladylike’ pursuits were straightforward sexism; and reveal how a Paris2024 tribute to Milliat’s victory was usurped by corporate sponsorship…

Further Reading:


‘Throwback Thursday: How a French Feminist Staged Her Own Games and Forced the Olympics to Include Women’ (Vice, 2016): https://www.vice.com/en/article/xybw9k/throwback-thursday-how-a-french-feminist-staged-her-own-games-and-forced-the-olympics-to-include-women


‘Women and the Olympic Dream - The Continuing Struggle for Equality, 1896-2021 - By Maria Kaj’ (McFarland, 2022): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Women_and_the_Olympic_Dream/MBx9EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=alice+milliat&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover


‘Women's Olympic Games at Monte Carlo’ (Topical Budget, 1923): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq1BV2pcXd0

#Sport #Sexism #France

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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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Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ was released on 23rd March, 1999 - launching the singer to worldwide superstardom, and kickstarting a Latino pop boom that propelled J-Lo, Shakira, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Santana into the charts.

But he wasn’t an overnight success. He had already conquered the Latin music world, starred on General Hospital, and even nabbed the official 1998 FIFA World Cup song, giving him global exposure and setting the stage for his crossover moment.

And his big break wasn’t just luck—it was part of a carefully crafted plan to bring Latin music to the mainstream. With Livin’ La Vida Loca, Martin and his team applied the high-energy, stadium-filling formula of rock anthems like Livin’ on a Prayer to Latin sounds. When Martin first heard the demo, he immediately insisted on reworking his album to include it.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly track Martin’s showbiz career back to pre-puberty; consider the song’s dubious lyrics, in which the subject of his affections drugs and robs him; and ask why the ‘rain’ in the song’s iconic music video is actually dirty fire hydrant water…

Further Reading:

• ‘Livin' La Vida Loca’ (Library of Congress, 2022): https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Livin-La-Vida-Loca_Torres.pdf

• ‘Culture Re-View: How Ricky Martin's 'Livin' La Vida Loca' changed pop music’ (Euronews, 2023): https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/03/23/culture-re-view-how-livin-la-vida-loca-changed-pop-music

• ‘Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca (Official Video)’ (Columbia Records, 1999): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47fEXGabaY

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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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.

#Music #Latino #90s
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The bubonic plague was blamed on witches, Jews, God’s wrath, and, on 20th March 1345, in a new theory propagated by the King of France, the rare planetary alignment between Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in Aquarius.

Of course, the real cause of the Black Death lay in the microscopic world of bacteria, carried by fleas on rats. But mediaeval society, ill-equipped to comprehend the science behind the pandemic, relied on conjecture and superstition to explain the waves of death that swept through Europe.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the plague reshaped populations through persecution and migration; consider the Pope’s intervention to prevent a pogrom; and unearth a surprising origin theory for the plague - in Mongolia…

Further Reading:

• ‘Black Death is created, allegedly’ (HISTORY, 2020): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/black-death-is-created-allegedly

• ‘9 Places Connected to the Black Death’ (HistoryExtra, 2011): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/black-death-is-created-allegedly

• ‘Plague 101’ (National Geographic, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYnMXEcHI7U

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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