Today In History with The Retrospectors

• Vanessa Williams vs. Miss America

  The first Black Miss America, Vanessa Williams, was crowned in Atlantic City on 17th September, 1983, with the usual fanfare. But within ten months, she had returned her crown, following a nude photo scandal. She had already received hate mail and even death threats - some from racist whites who hated seeing a Black Miss America, others from Black critics who felt her light skin and blue eyes played into white beauty standards. But then, without her consent, Penthouse announced it would publish explicit photos of Vanessa taken years earlier when she was an aspiring teenage model.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Williams rebuilt her career from scratch, via Disney, Broadway, hit songs, and movies; discover the moment the pageant formally apologised to her, after 32 years; and trace the overt and covert racism in Miss America’s long history… BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE: because today members of Club Retrospectors have an extra bonus bit where we peruse the infamous 15th anniversary edition of Penthouse, and recall earlier attempts to install a Black Miss America… Further Reading: • ‘On Saturday night Vanessa Williams became the first black woman crowned Miss America’ (UPI, 1983): https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/09/18/On-Saturday-night-Vanessa-Williams-became-the-first-black-woman-crowned-Miss-America/9839432705600/ • ‘Why Vanessa Williams Gave Up Her Miss America Crown’ (TIME, 2015): https://time.com/3961120/miss-america-scandal-vanessa-williams/ • ‘Miss America 1984: Crowning Moment’ (NBC, 1983): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwBmoNXrr0w 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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• The First Student Newspaper

  The Cornell Daily Sun - the oldest continuously independent college daily newspaper in the United States - published its first issue on 16th September, 1880. It featured some campus sports reports, some horrible amateur poetry, and even some jokes. It wasn’t until seven years later that a British University caught up with its own equivalent: The Student, at Edinburgh University; although it did have celebrity founder Robert Louis Stevenson up its sleeve. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the difference between UK and US student journalism; speak to the Sun’s current Editor about how she can possibly do her degree at the same time as running a daily paper; and discover what an Autophone was... Further Reading: • ‘About The Sun’ (The Cornell Daily Sun): https://cornellsun.com/about/ • ‘About The Student’ (Edinburgh Student Newspaper): https://studentnewspaper.org/about • ‘The Cornell Daily Sun: A Documentary: Part 4 (Oliver Bundy, 2007): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIucgSBrWKk For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/Retrospectors We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors This episode first aired in 2021 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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• Digging the Trenches

  The start of World War I featured officers in white gloves, leading troops in neat lines, and cavalry charges complete with sabres and lances. But this changed on 15th September, 1914 - when soldiers began digging into the earth, laying the groundwork for the trench warfare that would come to define the conflict. By that November, trenches covered 400 miles along the Western Front, in two opposing lines that were often as close as 50 metres, with "No Man’s Land" in between—a deadly strip of land covered in barbed wire. Soldiers lived in constant fear of artillery, sniper fire, and brutal night raids. The trenches were muddy, disease-ridden, and teeming with rats and lice. Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the physical and psychological toll of trench life; explain how flamethrowers, ‘trench clubs’ and even helmets all became more popular over the course of the conflict; and discover that the process of rotation meant soldiers were in the trenches only for short bursts, yet long enough to leave lasting trauma… Further Reading: • ‘First trenches are dug on the Western Front | September 15, 1914’ (HISTORY, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-trenches-are-dug-on-the-western-front • ’Trench tactics: how was war fought in the WW1 trenches?’ (History Extra, 2023): https://www.historyextra.com/period/first-world-war/trench-warfare-ww1-tactics-what/ • ‘Conditions in Trenches - Dan Snow's Battle of the Somme’ (Discovery UK, 2012): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvYIIuxh2kY This episode was first published 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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• Barrett ❤️ Browning

  The secret wedding of poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning on September 12th, 1846, was witnessed by just two people. Elizabeth was so nervous about the ceremony, held at Marylebone Parish Church, that she needed smelling salts to calm her.  Barrett was already an acclaimed poet, while Browning was relatively unknown at the time. But their correspondence, comprising almost 600 letters exchanged over less than two years, is considered one of literature’s great romances.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the Brownings’ marriage inspired their greatest works; probe into Browning’s pet name for Barrett, ‘the Portuguese'; and consider whether, contrary to all appearances, Browning may have had sinister intentions for his new wife…  Further Reading: • ‘Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Life, Poetry, Relationship & ‘How Do I Love Thee?’’ (HistoryExtra, 2021): https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/elizabeth-barrett-browning-who-life-love-poetry-relationship-robert/ • ‘What we can learn from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's years in lockdown’ (The Guardian, 2021): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/15/what-we-can-learn-from-elizabeth-barrett-brownings-years-in-lockdown •’The life and work of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’ (The British Academy, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkSWGqMDBEY #Literature #Victorian #Romantic #Wedding #UK 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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• 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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