Scott Allsop's Blog, page 221

1st May 1952: Mr Potato Head goes on sale for the first time

On the 1st May 1952, Mr Potato Head first went on sale.  The idea for making a “funny face man” using a vegetable and plastic body parts was first proposed by George Lerner from Brooklyn in the 1940s.  In 1951 he successfully sold the idea to a breakfast cereal manufacturer who planned to include the accessories in their cereal packets, but when the Hassenfeld brothers – the founders of Hasbro – met with Lerner later that year they agreed to buy the concept back off the cereal company and to...

30th April 1963: The Bristol Bus Boycott against discriminatory recruitment begins

A boycott against the Bristol Omnibus Company in England was launched due to their racist employment policy. Around 3,000 people of West Indian origin lived in the city of Bristol in 1963, predominantly around the St Pauls area. There was not yet any legislation against discriminating on racial grounds so it was common in both housing and employment, while so-called “coloureds” often suffered violence at the hands of gangs of white Teddy Boys. In 1955, the same year as the Montgomery Bus Boyc...

29th April 1975: USA leaves Vietnam in Operation Frequent Wind

On 29th April 1975, America began Operation Frequent Wind – the evacuation of over 1,000 American civilians and a further 6,000 "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon.  The largest ever helicopter evacuation lasted for 19 hours and involved 81 helicopters shuttling the evacuees to US Navy ships moored in the South China Sea. With North Vietnamese troops closing in on the capital by March 1975, the US had already evacuated 45,000 people by April 29th.  However, with fixed-wing evacuations impossible...

28th April 1789: The crew of HMS Bounty mutiny against Captain William Bligh

23-year old Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian led a mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty. Bounty had departed England in late 1787 to collect and transport saplings of the breadfruit tree from Tahiti to various British colonies in the West Indies as a cheap source of food for slaves on the plantations. The ship, a three-masted cutter, was commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh who had previously accompanied Captain James Cook on his third and final voyage. Bounty arrived in Tahiti on...

27th April 1509: Entire republic of Venice excommunicated by the Pope

On the 27th April 1509, Pope Julius II excommunicated the entire republic of Venice.  Having been elected pontiff six years previously, Julius II was determined to reclaim Italian territory that had been gradually taken by Venice throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Having joined together with France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire to form the League of Cambrai in December 1508, the Papacy was ready to mount military action to seize control of the Romagne region from Veni...

26th April 1478: The Pazzi family launch their failed plot against the Medici family

The Pazzi family in Florence launched their unsuccessful plot to overthrow the Medici family with an assassination attempt against the brothers Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici. The Pazzis had been a powerful and influential family since the 13th century. Yet by the early 1400s their successful banking network, and the status that came with it, had been overshadowed by that of the Medici family who had grown to dominate Florentine political and economic life. The Pazzi Conspiracy saw family me...

25th April 1792: First execution using the guillotine

The 25th April 1792 saw the world’s first use of the guillotine as a method of execution.  Nicolas Jacques Pelletier, a French highwayman found guilty of killing a man during one of his robberies, was the guillotine’s first – but by no means last – victim. Pelletier’s status as a common criminal was significant.  Prior to the French Revolution, beheading as a form of execution had been reserved for the nobility.  Commoners were usually subjected to longer and arguably more painful deaths thro...

24th April 1916: The Easter Rising begins in Dublin

The Easter Rising began in Dublin, with the aim of securing an independent Irish Republic. The armed insurrection by Irish Republicans began on Easter Monday 1916, meaning that the date of the annual commemoration changes each year due to Easter being based on the lunar calendar. Organised by the seven members of the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising brought together over 1,200 men and women from the Irish Volunteers and other organisations to overthrow British...

23rd April 1985: Coca Cola replace formula with ‘New Coke’

On the 23rd April 1985 the Coca-Cola Company introduced "the new taste of Coca-Cola", when they replaced the original Coca-Cola formula with a new version.  Marking the first major formula change in 99 years, ‘new Coke’ is widely heralded as one of the biggest marketing failures in history.  However, the short-term problems arising from its introduction were far outweighed by the sales boost achieved when the company reintroduced the old formula as ‘Coca-Cola Classic’. The new formula was int...

22nd April 1884: Thomas Stevens begins the first round-the-world cycle ride

Thomas Stevens departed San Francisco on a large-wheeled Ordinary, also known as a penny-farthing, to become the first person to cycle around the world. Stevens was born in England and emigrated to the USA when he was seventeen years old. A contemporary magazine describes him as having worked a railroad mill in Wyoming before securing a job at a Colorado mine where he had the idea of cycling across the United States. Having already developed a love of cycling, Stevens bought a 50-inch Columbi...