The Retrospectors
The Retrospectors
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The Caesarean Frontier
24-year-old doctor Jesse Bennett successfully performed a C-section on his wife, Elizabeth, saving both her life and their daughter Maria's: 14th January, 1794, in a log cabin on the Virginia Frontier.
The attending physician's refusal to participate, leaving the scene altogether, left Bennett to make quick decisions - though this included spontaneously removing his wife's ovaries.
The groundbreaking operation remained a local legend for nearly a century, as he never publicly reported it due to concerns about disbelief and the delicacy of the matter.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why, despite the success of this operation, C-sections still weren’t routinely performed until over a century later; investigate whether earlier examples of successful caesareans had happened in Africa; and consider whether pig-spaying was an appropriate qualification for midwifery…
Further Reading:
• ‘Caesarean Section - A Brief History: Part 2’ (US National Library of Medicine): www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/part2.html
• ‘House Of The Dragon: A History Of Mediaeval Caesareans (C-Sections)’ (HistoryExtra, 2022): www.historyextra.com/period/general-history/caesarean-c-section-childbirth-history-origins/
• ‘African midwives successfully performed C-sections before it was common in Europe’ (Verify, 2023): th-cam.com/video/mto400r_T3M/w-d-xo.html
This episode first premiered in 2024, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts (url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=%2Fphtp%3A%2Fats3.plCo%2FxecXQWW&s=1-saMneAG6Jlxwm-HSpmcJnDbt8) or Patreon (url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=%2Fphta%3A%2Fptsootr%2F.cmenerRetspctosro&s=tfEv-TbMNzGzaXbO1_4ITwuG0Jc) . Thanks!
We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: (www.podfollow.com/retrospectors) podfollow.com/retrospectors (www.podfollow.com/retrospectors)
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.
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มุมมอง: 15

วีดีโอ

A Deadly Day At The Races
มุมมอง 242 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Chariot racing was a dangerous and violent sport at the best of times, but on 13th January, 532, a hooligan-led protest at the Hippodrome of Constantinople - known as ‘the Nika rebellion’ - ultimately lead to over 30,000 deaths and the destruction of half the City. Upon hearing his wife urge him that ‘royalty is a good burial shroud’, the Emperor Justinian reportedly decided to slaughter his ow...
Sinclair's Electric Dream
มุมมอง 209 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Rerun: The Sinclair C5, Sir Clive Sinclair’s disastrous entry into the EV market, launched at Alexandra Palace on 10th January, 1985. Looking like a cross between a mobility scooter and a child’s pedal car, it had no on-board storage, was too heavy to climb uphill, and a top speed of 15km per hour. But Sinclair had contracted Hoover to produce the vehicle, expecting orders of 200,000 units per ...
Introducing Income Tax
มุมมอง 9512 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Rerun: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, the American statesman Benjamin Franklin once said, but until 9 January, 1799, taxation looked very different to the way it does today, because this was the day the world was first introduced to income tax. Its introduction by British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was not one of his most popular innovati...
Let's Capture Monaco
มุมมอง 2214 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
According to legend, François Grimaldi and his brother Ranieri executed a bold plan to seize control of Monaco's iconic rock on 8th January, 1297. Disguised as Franciscan monks seeking refuge, they gained access to the fortress under false pretenses… only to reveal their true intentions by overpowering the guards and taking the stronghold. The House of Grimaldi remains the monarchy of the micro...
dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot
มุมมอง 16416 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
On January 7th, 1904 the Marconi Company sought to establish a universal distress call; proposing, ‘CQD’ for emergencies. Despite its adoption in Britain, other nations had varied distress signals, leading to a lack of international consensus. The second International Radio Telegraphic Conference in Berlin in 1906 came up with ‘SOS’ instead. The United States weren’t keen on adopting the new st...
Tonya and Nancy: Fire and Ice
มุมมอง 13319 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
In our first new episode of 2025, The Retrospectors dive into the scandal that shocked the world of figure skating, when, on 6th January, 1994, Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in the leg by a man wielding a police baton in an attempt to incapacitate her. This wasn’t just a random act of violence; it was part of an orchestrated scheme involving Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, her ex...
Best Of 2024: Richard II’s Blowout Banquet
มุมมอง 14วันที่ผ่านมา
Olly’s favourite episode of 2024 unfolds on September 23rd, 1387: the day of the most extravagant feast of the Middle Ages, featuring dishes like broth, venison, roasted swan, and boar-heads… and 12,000 eggs. It took place at the London home of the Bishop of Durham, and was given in honour of King Richard II. Just 20 years old, Richard had already developed a reputation for extravagant tastes, ...
Best Of 2024: TV’s First Soap Opera
มุมมอง 39วันที่ผ่านมา
Rebecca’s favourite episode of 2024 recalls the day ‘These Are My Children’ premiered on NBC; the world’s first televised soap opera, transmitted on 31st January, 1949. It lasted only four weeks on air, was broadcast live, and had a tiny budget, but influenced the production of the genre for decades. As dramas primarily created by and for women, soap operas typically attracted sniffy reviews fr...
Best Of 2024: The Man Who Sold The Wind
มุมมอง 15วันที่ผ่านมา
Happy New Year, Retrospectors! We’ll return with new episodes from Monday 6th January, but in the meantime the team have been choosing their favourite episodes from 2024 that are worthy of a second listen. First up, Arion has selected our conversation about “Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle”, the artwork concluded by French artist Yves Klein on 26th January 1962 - when he threw half t...
Retrospectors Quiz of the Year 2024
มุมมอง 5921 วันที่ผ่านมา
How many nickels did the first Automat take in 1902? What does ‘Opus Dei’ mean in Latin? And what WAS the title of the novelty song released by the Jamaican bobsled team in 1988? It’s Arion vs. Rebecca in our fourth annual Retrospectors Quiz of the Year! Over festive drinks and listener feedback, Olly puts them to the test in this fiendishly difficult quiz - fiendishly difficult, that is, unles...
Retrospectors Quiz of the Year 2024
มุมมอง 1521 วันที่ผ่านมา
How many nickels did the first Automat take in 1902? What does ‘Opus Dei’ mean in Latin? And what WAS the title of the novelty song released by the Jamaican bobsled team in 1988? It’s Arion vs. Rebecca in our fourth annual Retrospectors Quiz of the Year! Over festive drinks and listener feedback, Olly puts them to the test in this fiendishly difficult quiz - fiendishly difficult, that is, unles...
Meet Ebenezer Scrooge
มุมมอง 4021 วันที่ผ่านมา
Rerun: Charles Dickens’ novella ‘A Christmas Carol’ was written in just six weeks, and published on 19th December, 1843. The timeless story, which introduced the world to Ebeneezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, was conceived in part to get its author out of a sticky financial situation. Dickens’ other motive was to put into an accessible fable the poli...
Renée and Renato's Christmas Hit
มุมมอง 15221 วันที่ผ่านมา
Save Your Love became the UK’s unlikely Christmas Number One on 18th December, 1982. A blend of heartfelt crooning, offbeat British humour, and bucketfuls of kitsch, the song gained traction after Terry Wogan played it on his Radio 2 breakfast show, going on to sell around one million copies. Former Italian waiter Renato Pagliari delivered the operatic voice and dramatic presence that carried t...
The First Christmas Card
มุมมอง 4428 วันที่ผ่านมา
The First Christmas Card
When Thatcher Met Gorbachev
มุมมอง 8428 วันที่ผ่านมา
When Thatcher Met Gorbachev
Who Ate All The Mayonnaise?
มุมมอง 54หลายเดือนก่อน
Who Ate All The Mayonnaise?
Winona's Shoplifting Scandal
มุมมอง 210หลายเดือนก่อน
Winona's Shoplifting Scandal
Angry Birds Begins
มุมมอง 25หลายเดือนก่อน
Angry Birds Begins
The Dog Statue Controversy
มุมมอง 290หลายเดือนก่อน
The Dog Statue Controversy
Theirs Not To Reason Why
มุมมอง 153หลายเดือนก่อน
Theirs Not To Reason Why
Joyce Brothers - $64,000 Swot
มุมมอง 117หลายเดือนก่อน
Joyce Brothers - $64,000 Swot
Christie's First Auction
มุมมอง 39หลายเดือนก่อน
Christie's First Auction
The Earliest Dinosaur 🦕
มุมมอง 146หลายเดือนก่อน
The Earliest Dinosaur 🦕
Where's Agatha Gone?
มุมมอง 45หลายเดือนก่อน
Where's Agatha Gone?
The Enron Illusion
มุมมอง 166หลายเดือนก่อน
The Enron Illusion
Concorde - The Future of Flight
มุมมอง 107หลายเดือนก่อน
Concorde - The Future of Flight
The Cabbage Patch Riots
มุมมอง 110หลายเดือนก่อน
The Cabbage Patch Riots
Mitzvahpalooza!
มุมมอง 80หลายเดือนก่อน
Mitzvahpalooza!
The First Frat House
มุมมอง 23หลายเดือนก่อน
The First Frat House

ความคิดเห็น

  • @d46512
    @d46512 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Japan had this habit of repelling unauthorized foreigners from their island until after their defeat in a certain war.

  • @corporalmarcellus9811
    @corporalmarcellus9811 11 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Liars. Horrible people.

  • @Eddiemmmhhhmm
    @Eddiemmmhhhmm 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Lockyer got the janssen medal hahaha how crazy

  • @2011littlejohn1
    @2011littlejohn1 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

    He sounds more like Roy Orbison.

  • @lindamcmillan7618
    @lindamcmillan7618 25 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Yesmy family thought it eas part of the show rest in peace tommy

  • @Rave-agent
    @Rave-agent 25 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Yes! I fight with Google news every morning to skip the insufferable ads. Now I can let the adblocker do it automatically. Merry Christmas to you all.

  • @naplion123
    @naplion123 26 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Poor man

  • @marjoriestirk703
    @marjoriestirk703 27 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Hannah was such a lovely women. I knew her all my life. Her and my late Dad were Cousins

  • @thedarkness111
    @thedarkness111 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Wtf is this shit!?

  • @cats_crochet_crystals
    @cats_crochet_crystals หลายเดือนก่อน

    Les would have loved this, there are so many discussions on whether or not it was Elvis singing this song. He obviously did a very good job

  • @DrazzBreh
    @DrazzBreh หลายเดือนก่อน

    18 refused trial because they rejected the concept of being subject to a christian jury while simultaneously living in christian kingdoms. Fascinating

    • @jared4505
      @jared4505 21 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Do you think they killed him?

    • @sugarXstacy
      @sugarXstacy 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@jared4505they did, there were witnesses. His friends from school saw it and that’s how it was reported as Jews. They’ve also been reported doing this multiple times throughout history.

    • @sugarXstacy
      @sugarXstacy 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@jared4505it’s documented, just covered up

  • @MaxArthey
    @MaxArthey หลายเดือนก่อน

    I'd heard about her disappearance, but I never knew she actually explained what happened!

  • @Бровкова
    @Бровкова หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thanks for the breakdown! A bit off-topic, but I wanted to ask: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?

  • @telemachusepiphany9668
    @telemachusepiphany9668 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Another well done and fairly presented discussion.

  • @telemachusepiphany9668
    @telemachusepiphany9668 หลายเดือนก่อน

    A very good discussion of this. Thank you.

  • @pinkknitwit6449
    @pinkknitwit6449 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I was watching. I've never forgotten it. We thought it was part of the joke till the curtian covered him.

  • @J0sje.6890
    @J0sje.6890 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I feel for this Pope saint Celestine V. Such an introvert and very honest person. Something that is quite unique.

  • @ruudvisser712
    @ruudvisser712 หลายเดือนก่อน

    In the Dutch tv comedy series 'Pension Hommeles' (1957 - 1959) was the first interracial kiss on Dutch television in this song. I understood from my parents that it wasn't a very big deal at the time. The man is US expat Donald Jones from New York who moved to the Netherlands in 1954. The series is about a boardinghouse with several renters. Jones plays exchange student Dinky Henderson and the song became a classic: th-cam.com/video/qLp4FhDAfQk/w-d-xo.html

  • @marufyoutubeseoexpert
    @marufyoutubeseoexpert หลายเดือนก่อน

    Hello Dear, The Retrospectors , I hope you are well. I visited your TH-cam Channel. Your content is Excellent. But your Channel is not growing, Because your Content title and Description are not SEO-friendly and do not have Enough Rank tags.This is why there is no Content Coming to the top of TH-cam. As a result, your video SEO Score is very low. According to VidiQ, (your channel's video's SEO score is 19.7/ out of 100, which should be 80+). If you want, I can make it 80+ , which will help your channel grow faster. If you SEO your videos Properly then the Channel Progress will be very Fast & Subscribers and Views will Increase. If you want I can solve problems and help you rank your videos Better. If you are Interested Please Let me know. Regards, MARUF (TH-cam Video SEO Expert).

  • @SiennaArtsandCrafts
    @SiennaArtsandCrafts หลายเดือนก่อน

    Right wing? People seem to have forgotten that the Tories under Thatcher brought cruise missiles to uk, then Major sent them back thanks to CND. Give peace a chance, British nuclear bunkers are mostly shut and not deep or strong enough to save us. There is only room for less than 0.1% of our population and unless we give peace a chance all of you and everyone else is gone. I live 300m away from the biggest nuke sub and naval base in Europe in the SW and hearing them practice the siren which was made for WW2 and is on a rickety rusty tower while the amount of forces in this city right now is terrifying.

  • @kalaivanibashyam638
    @kalaivanibashyam638 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Donquoxote do flamingo😂

  • @extremel.z.s3140
    @extremel.z.s3140 หลายเดือนก่อน

    MANAGER ESQUIRE!!!!! TO WHERE IN THE WORLD HAST THOU GONE?????

    • @Goobor69
      @Goobor69 หลายเดือนก่อน

      🕦🕕🕜🕦🕚🕕🕜🕜🕕🕦🕦🕦🕦!

  • @ramonmaraguacare-d4u
    @ramonmaraguacare-d4u 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Tanza

  • @DavidHoffman7351
    @DavidHoffman7351 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This channel is so BADLY underrated TH-cam is really good at promoting s-h-1-t and hiding great content like this

  • @abraxasjinx5207
    @abraxasjinx5207 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Boo. I pay for TH-cam premium so I don't see ads. I am requesting the algorithm to stop showing me vids from this channel.

  • @orphiawilson1091
    @orphiawilson1091 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    what happened

  • @DavidReed-dx4bk
    @DavidReed-dx4bk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    TOMMY COOPER R.I.P

  • @김길동-j9z
    @김길동-j9z 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Tarzan ~ Jonny Weissmuller Jane ~ Maureen O'Sullivan

  • @jonathanhunter-y5d
    @jonathanhunter-y5d 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    WOW awesome video :)

  • @re9lthebabymonkeytorturer
    @re9lthebabymonkeytorturer 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Beer from Ohio💀💀💀💀

  • @buckroger6456
    @buckroger6456 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Loved this game back when I first played it on the Sega CD. I never did beat it since I got lost on what to do later in the island. The early game was a lot of just trying things out and slowly figuring things out.

  • @kevinwhelan9607
    @kevinwhelan9607 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Tommy Cooper brought such joy to TV audiences in the 1970s and onward- there was a kind of gentleness and kindness to it, no smirking, ie so unlike today's "comedy" scene.

  • @Zauchi
    @Zauchi 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I thought Virgin Cola was not bad.

  • @catherinecarter8987
    @catherinecarter8987 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Very sad. Tommy was so silly and a great comedian. He was much loved in the world by adults and children alike. Tommy Cooper was clean, decent, daft and funny. RIP dear Tommy ❤

  • @yvonneholmes2990
    @yvonneholmes2990 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I watched it....the snoring was respitory failure...dying

  • @Real_Steve_Sharpe
    @Real_Steve_Sharpe 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Excellent video, really informative and the narration is spot on! I think this channel has a bright future ahead ((: Well done guys!

  • @sandraelder1101
    @sandraelder1101 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    At that point in Spanish history, a lot of prose was written about spiritual matters too.

  • @JackRosetta
    @JackRosetta 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Actually it looks like CHRIST meant both. In the time spent repairing the churches that he garnered skills necessary for spreading the GOSPEL

  • @kevintrace5396
    @kevintrace5396 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Yeh great fella not forgotten.

  • @angelacooper2661
    @angelacooper2661 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Not yet fourteen, I remember it very well. He died around the same time as Eric Morecambe!

  • @sweetpotatofries99
    @sweetpotatofries99 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What's with the ad audio in the beginning?

  • @danielwillens5876
    @danielwillens5876 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thank you for sharing the origin story of the title "Head!"

  • @franknew9001
    @franknew9001 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Many years ago, I was driving from Florida to Maryland on Route 95. It was so long ago that I don't even remember what state I was in, but I needed gas, so I pulled off of the interstate and happened to see a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. It seemed like a very odd name for a store and I went in to get a few snacks for the trip home. That's my only experience with Piggly Wiggly.

  • @zealandzen
    @zealandzen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Great video.

  • @PaulFormentos
    @PaulFormentos 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    So many PID clues on here, and in the music on Abbey as well. forwards and reversed

  • @gerhardprasent3358
    @gerhardprasent3358 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Even my family and I walked the crossing years ago 😄

  • @HalLeath
    @HalLeath 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    White Volkswagen? Stolen? Then sold at auction. Now at museum. Wow

  • @koolkatfelix9500
    @koolkatfelix9500 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    A great photograph!

  • @azloii9781
    @azloii9781 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    To get to the other side

  • @rosep3933
    @rosep3933 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Rubber Soul and Revolver should have been the White Album.