Scott Allsop's Blog, page 2

25th August 1835: The Great Moon Hoax begins to appear in The New York Sun newspaper as a series of articles

The articles that formed the “Great Moon Hoax” stated that famed astronomer John Herschel had observed animals resembling bison, goats, and even humanoid bat-like creatures on the Moon alongside forests, oceans, pyramids, and ...

23rd August 1942: Battle of Stalingrad enters its most intense phase with a bombing campaign by the German Luftwaffe

While the broader Battle of Stalingrad began on 17 July, it wasn’t until 23 August that the city itself was attacked. Over 1,000 German aircraft dropped bombs in one of the Eastern Front’s most intense aerial ...

20th August 1975: NASA launches Viking 1, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and transmit images of the surface back to Earth

Viking 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 20 August 1975 and took nearly 11 months to reach ...

19th August 1934: The first All-American Soap Box Derby held in Dayton, Ohio

Held in Dayton, Ohio, on a track measuring 1,980 feet, the first All-American Soap Box Derby attracted 362 participants and more than 40,000 ...

17th August 1945: Animal Farm by George Orwell published in the United Kingdom

Subtitled “A Fairy Story,” the Animal Farm used a farmyard allegory to critique totalitarianism, particularly the rise and betrayal of the ideals of the Russian Revolution, which caused several publishers to initially reject the book, with concerns that it would harm wartime relations with the ...

15th August 1965: The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium in New York City, in front of a crowd of over 55,000 people

The Beatles were first flown by helicopter to a nearby helipad and then driven to Shea Stadium in an armoured van where they performed a 30 minute set on a stage set up on the infield, far from the attendees in the ...

13th August 1521: Aztec Empire ends with the Fall of Tenochtitlan to Spanish forces led by Hernán Cortés

The Aztec defence was led by the Emperor Cuauhtémoc but, despite determined resistance, the defenders were gradually overwhelmed and Cuauhtémoc was captured while trying to flee the ...

12th August 1981: IBM announces the release of the 5150, the first IBM Personal Computer

The IBM PC quickly became a commercial success and a standard in the emerging personal computer industry, establishing a broad market based on the IBM model that accelerated the spread of home ...

11th August 1929: Babe Ruth becomes the first Major League Baseball player to hit 500 home runs

The ball sailed over the right-field fence to land in Lexington Avenue that ran alongside Cleveland’s League ...

10th August 1961: United States begins Operation Ranch Hand to destroy trees and crops during the Vietnam War

Operation Ranch Hand was part of a strategy by the U.S. to counter the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces by targeting agricultural areas and forest cover with chemicals such as Agent ...