Scott Allsop's Blog, page 221

5th June 1883: First Orient Express train departs Paris

The first Orient Express train, known at the time as Express d'Orient, departed Paris. The Orient Express was created by Georges Nagelmackers, a wealthy Belgian and the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits that specialised in luxury travel. A number of biographers refer to him being inspired to create the trans-continental route after seeing George Pullman’s lavish sleeper cars in the United States. Having returned to Belgium where he began work on his vision, Nagelmackers’...

4th June 1913: Suffragette Emily Davison hit by a racehorse at Epsom Derby

On the 4th June 1913, suffragette Emily Wilding Davison was hit by King George V’s racehorse at the Epsom Derby after she stepped onto the track. She died four days later from a fractured skull and other internal injuries. Davison joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1906, and soon began to take part in their militant and confrontational activities that were designed to win the right to vote for women. She quickly developed a reputation as a particularly violent campaigner, and wa...

3rd June 1956: Rock and Roll music banned in the Californian city of Santa Cruz

Authorities in the Californian city of Santa Cruz banned rock and roll music at public gatherings. The previous evening had seen around 200 teenagers attend a concert at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium by the Los Angeles-based Chuck Higgins and his Orchestra. Higgins and an earlier band, the Mellotones, had scored a West Coast hit four years earlier with the saxophone instrumental “Pachuko Hop”. This jump blues single has since been described as one of the key releases that bridged the upbeat...

2nd June 1946: Italians vote to turn their country into a republic

On the 2nd June 1946, Italians voted in a referendum to abolish the monarchy and turn their country into a republic. The question was simple: Monarchy or Republic? More than 89% of eligible Italian citizens voted in the referendum, with 54.3% voting in favour of a republic. Italy had emerged from the Second World War as a country torn apart by conflict. The royal family was blamed by many people for allowing the growth and domination of Mussolini’s fascist regime, and was therefore also held...

1st June 1495: First written reference to Scotch whisky (distilled at @LindoresAbbey)

The royal Exchequer Rolls from Scotland recorded the first known written reference to Scotch whisky. The Scottish Exchequer was responsible for recording royal income and expenditure in Scotland. The well-preserved calfskin parchment, better known as vellum, bears an entry on 1 June 1495 that records “To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt.” The Latin term aqua vitae means ‘water of life’. In Scottish Gaelic this same phrase translates as uisge-beatha,...

31st May 1669: Samuel Pepys writes the last entry in his diary

On the 31st May 1669, Samuel Pepys wrote the final entry of his famous diary. He stopped writing due to fear that he was losing his eyesight, but went on to live for another 34 years without developing any eye problems. Pepys began writing his diary in January 1660, and since it was first published it has become an important source for historians studying the period of the Restoration.  It is also invaluable for its detailed eyewitness accounts of key events in London’s history such as the Gr...

30th May 1381: Outbreak of the Peasants’ Revolt in England

The Peasants’ Revolt was triggered when John Bampton arrived in Essex to investigate non-payment of the poll tax. Although sparked by the introduction of a new poll tax, the roots of the Peasants’ Revolt lay in the dramatic social and economic upheaval that had emerged after the devastation of the Black Death. The plague had reached England in 1348 and soon wiped out up to half of the entire population. In the aftermath the surviving peasantry had demanded better wages and conditions, so grew...

29th May 1453: The Fall of Constantinople

On the 29th May 1453 the troops of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed II successfully took control of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.  The capture of the city effectively brought the last vestiges of the Roman Empire to an end and, for many historians, also marks the end of the medieval period. The Ottomans began their siege of the city on the 6th April, but their enormous cannon was unable to break the walls and their ships were unable to cross the defensive chain th...

28th May 585 BCE: Eclipse of Thales ends the Battle of Halys between Media and Lydia

A solar eclipse during the Battle of Halys led to a truce between the kingdoms of Media and Lydia, making it the earliest historical event that can be precisely dated. The Eclipse of Thales was recorded in The Histories of the Greek historian Herodotus. He claims that the philosopher Thales of Miletus accurately predicted the eclipse in advance, marking what science writer Isaac Asimov later described as ‘the birth of science’. Herodotus writes that the Lydians under King Alyattes II and the...

27th May 1199: Coronation of King John in Westminster Abbey

On the 27th May 1199 King John was crowned at Westminster Abbey.  The previous king, his brother Richard, had died after being shot in the shoulder by a crossbow.  John ruled for seventeen years before contracting dysentery while in Kings Lynn, an illness from which he later died.  John’s reign saw him lose control of the Angevin Empire, lose the crown jewels in the mud of East Anglia, and lose significant monarchical power under the terms of the Magna Carta. John’s claim to the throne wasn’t...