Scott Allsop's Blog, page 21

16th October 1793: Marie Antoinette executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris

Having been found guilty of treason, she was instead sentenced to death and transported to the guillotine in an open ...

15th October 1783: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier conducts the first manned hot air balloon flight

The balloon was secured to the ground to limit its altitude and range, but it successfully lifted de Rozier to a height of approximately 25 ...

14th October 1066: The Battle of Hastings fought between Duke William II of Normandy and the Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson

Harold was killed on the battlefield and, although his exact cause of death isn’t known, it signalled the collapse of the ...

13th October 1792: Cornerstone of the White House laid in Washington, D.C.

The White House was built as part of the development of the Federal City – a national capital founded under the terms of the 1790 Residence ...

12th October 1931: The Christ the Redeemer statue officially opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa created Christ the Redeemer in collaboration with French sculptor Paul Landowski, and construction of the 30 metre tall statue took nine ...

11th October 1975: Saturday Night Live is broadcast for the first time

Saturday Night Live was originally known as NBC’s Saturday Night to avoid any confusion with the ABC show Saturday Night Live with Howard ...

10th October 1903: Foundation of Women’s Social & Political Union, known as the Suffragettes

Frustrated by the lack of progress made by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies from whom the group had split, the WSPU soon became known for its militant and sometimes violent actions under the motto ‘Deeds, not ...

9th October 1410: The Prague Astronomical Clock first noted in a medieval document

Known as the Orloj, the astronomical clock was designed and built by the Imperial clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Charles University professor Jan ...

8th October 1912: First Balkan War begins when the Kingdom of Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire

The Balkan League, which consisted of the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro, was encouraged by Ottoman military defeats in Libya to seize territory from the ...

7th October 1913: Ford Motor Company introduces the world’s first moving assembly line at its Highland Park plant in Michigan

Each worker was responsible for a specific task, and the car chassis moved along a conveyor belt to bring the work to the worker. This method minimized the time workers spent moving between tasks, thereby increasing productivity and reducing ...