Retrospecticus

Retrospecticus Mobius loops in on itself as we tackle “Homer vs Lisa and the Eighth Commandment” and the democratic elections in Haiti! We’ll hear all about Haiti’s fascinating history, which is not for the weak of heart, see Columbus being a total bastard as usual, and learn both some commandment facts and a dance that’s real easy to do…

Retrospecticus celebrates a quarter century of episodes by taking a trip to the seventies in “The Way We Was” and a trip to Somalia for a return to your regularly-scheduled tale of genocide and corruption. Along the way Garreth will go full Mr Bergstrom and Tom will introduce us to the land of Steve Punt!

It’s a bumper episode of Super Retrospecticus: Turbo Champion Edition, as we tackle Homer’s last day on Earth in “One Fish…” and the release of Street Fighter 2. We’ll teach you all about compound time and tetrodotoxin, stop in with West Brom’s greatest modern forward line, and Tom will sing terrace classics in the opera style. Hadouken!!!

An action-packed Retrospecticus this time as the Gulf War starts and Bart gets hit by a car, and dies! Along the way there’s a ton of debuts, an Alliss fact, Stormin’ Norman’s great left hook, a cheap plug for Salad and a discussion of phallic imagery in the theatre of war!

Garreth and Tom both struggle with pronunciation as they tackle Beethoven and Michelangelo in “Itchy and Scratchy and Marge” and the Polish government in exile! They’ll also stumble over Russ Meyer, Winged Hussars, more royal epithets and Denis Thatcher! All this, plus Cliff Richard gets a well-deserved slagging off – unmissable!

Episode 21, and this time out we discuss “Homer Falls Down The Gorge”… I mean, “Bart The Daredevil” and Saddam Hussein’s rise to power. We cover around 8,000 years of Iraqi history, from the Sumerians to the build up to the Gulf War. Also featuring: Asterix! “Steel Justice”! Sergeant Slaughter! And a bonus amount of Rasputin and Wernher von Braun!

A huge moment in the Retrospecticus timeline as Maggie Maggie Maggie is OUT! OUT! OUT!… And we cover “Bart vs. Thanksgiving”! Featuring loadsa cool Peter Alliss facts, Karl Marx getting mistaken for a Caramac, Marilyn Manson in Milton Keynes and the debunking of a whippy myth. And all the while we ask: where’s Cersei’s elephant?

Be prepared for wrath, feuds, beer and mini golf this week as we tackle Dead Putting Society, a Simpsons episode that sees Homer lose his rag with Flanders and enter into a bet based on the outcome of their sons miniature golf tournament. In the history bit we’re looking at the birth of the World Wide Web, so expect CERN, Tim Berners-Lee and terrible acronyms a plenty!

Let Retrospecticus take you out to the baaaaall gaaaame… No, it’s not that one – it’s “Dancin’ Homer”, and the ascendance of Japan’s Emperor Akihito. Along the way we naturally stop in at an MK Dons nil-nil draw and mourn a fallen Sideshow. Plus Godzilla by the bucket load. This one is a real treat for Japanophiles!

Our new episode is packed with fun for every Joe Sixpack and Sally Housecoat! We discuss the Simpsons episode “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” and the ascendancy of Mary Robinson, the first woman to become president of Ireland. Along the way we kick the Beautiful South while they’re down and revisit Ivar the Boneless. All this and a masterclass on photocopi...

It’s a spooktacular episode as we look at ‘Treehouse Of Horror’ and the collapse of the Norwegian Government. But don’t worry, we’ll still have time for digressions such as Brock not being canon, John Schwartzwelder’s ‘The Raven’, the Viking with the least threatening nickname and a horrible feeling of vu deja…

It’s a rather hirsute episode this week as we look at the Simpsons episode Simpson and Delilah, which features Homer acquiring a supply of Dimoxinil, growing a full head of hair and gaining a promotion eighties-style. We talk about his assistant Karl and the Simpsons first gay kiss (sort of). The episode first aired shortly before Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, so for t...

Retrospecticus is BACK!!! It’s the start of season two and we’ve got “Bart Gets An ‘F'” and Transnistria to discuss. Along the way we take in our Christmas presents, camera angles in a cartoon, more Irish names than you can shake a stick it, the bad blood between the Moldovan Popular Front and the Popular Front of Moldova and the shocking return of the War of Laws!

Episode 13 is here, and put a fork in season one, it’s done! We discuss “Some Enchanted Evening” and the Burmese elections of 1990 that didn’t see Aung San Suu Kyi come to power. Along the way we’ll also dicuss QEDcon, fourth wall breaking, a song that was the scourge of nineties clothes shops, the most British-named man in the world and three ways to say “Myanm...

It’s a tongue twisting Retrospecticus this time, as Garreth discovers that “sideshow” and “slideshow” are a deadly combination in “Krusty Gets Busted”, and Tom tries to avoid Baltic names during The Singing Revolution. Plus: wacky early plans for Marge and Krusty, the least essential cultural artefact of the nineties, compound flags and the return of podca...

It’s episode eleven of Retrospecticus, and we’re discussing Bart’s (first) trip to France in “The Crepes Of Wrath”. Tom tells the story of the election of the first democratically chosen East German prime minister, which hastened the end of the Cold War. We also tackle reds under the bed, laugh at Ian Maxton-Graham’s small automobile, impart some Potsdam Confere...

This week on the show we discuss “Homer’s Night Out” and London’s Poll Tax Riots. Along the way we take in a schism in the world of international darts, a Simpsons character appearing in the flesh and whether or not anarchy was de riguer at the time (spoiler: it wasn’t). And after ten episodes, the production numbers finally get interesting! If you enjoy the show, please share!

This week on the show we discuss “Life on the Fast Lane”, an episode that sees Homer buy a bowling ball for himself as a Birthday present and Marge tempted by Jacques, a suave bowling coach with a French-ish accent. For the history we tell the story of Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines whose lavish spending and shoe collection was legendary. If you enjoy the show,...

This episode we talk about “The Telltale Head”, a Simpsons morality tale featuring bullying, stealing, terrible life advice and decapitation. For this history bit, we tell the story of the 1990 Nicaraguan election, the background of which contains revolution, counter revolution, hostage taking, dodgy CIA arms dealings, a highly successful literacy program and assassination with a rocke...

This week on the show we discuss Call of the Simpsons, the one where Homer buys an RV and eventually gets mistaken for Bigfoot. The discussion ends up meandering into a rant about Mr Blobby, so look out for that! For the history we talk about the UK and Argentina restoring diplomatic relations, but really it’s just an excuse to talk about the 1982 Falklands war, and another rant about the cu...

This week Tom and Garreth talk about Tom’s favourite episode from Series 1 of the Simpsons, “Moaning Lisa”, an episode which deals with important topics such as video boxing and Lisa Simpson going through an existential crisis. It was first aired on the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison, so naturally the history bit is about South Africa and it’s journey from apar...

Join your hosts Tom and Garreth for another episode of Retrospecticus! On this show we talk about the episode “Bart the General” and discuss the opening of the first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union. Tom corrects himself on some Panamanian flagwrong from the previous episode, Garreth tells us about a conspiracy theory on the existence of Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder, and Tom d...

In this episode of the show Garreth tackles the rather strange Simpsons episode “There’s No Disgrace Like Home”, the first to be penned by legendary Simpsons writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss. For the history, Tom tells the story of the roller coaster ride that was the life of Manuel Noriega, former military leader of Panama, murderer, cocaine trafficker and CIA agent. Please note,...

Things take a fairly dark turn this episode as we discuss Homer’s Odyssey, which begins with Homer Simpson tying a boulder around his waist and going to a river to commit suicide. Garreth tells us about the legend of John Henry, the steel-driving man. Tom lightens the mood with the story of Robert Tappan Morris, creator of the Morris worm and the first person to be convicted under the United...

It’s our first episode with a special guest! We take a look at the Simpsons episode “Bart the Genius”. Tom has a revelation about the “Staphylococci virus”, Garreth tells us about all things banana related, and we are joined by Simon Singh, author of “The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets” to talk about the maths in the episode. For the history bit,...