Scott Allsop's Blog, page 223

11th April 1961: The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Israel

On the 11th April 1961, the trial of Nazi SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann began in Israel. Eichmann was known as the architect of the Final Solution, the man who coordinated the transportation of Jews from across Europe to Death Camps in the East. At the end of the Second World War, Eichmann had fled Europe in an attempt to escape being tried for war crimes. Eventually arriving in Argentina with his family, he lived for a number of years under the assumed name Ricardo Klement. However, a...

10th April 1971: US table tennis team ushers in ping pong diplomacy

The United States table tennis team heralded the era of ‘ping pong diplomacy’ by becoming the first official American delegation to visit China in 20 years. Relations between America and China had soured in the aftermath of the Communist Revolution, and grew worse as a result of the Korean War in which the countries fought on opposing sides. Relations were so poor that, by the time the two countries travelled to Nagoya in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in 1971, they had n...

9th April 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant

On the 9th April 1865, after four years of Civil War, approximately 630,000 deaths and over 1 million casualties, Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. This triggered a series of other surrenders across the south, and marked the beginning of the end of the American Civil War. Prior to the surrender, Lee’s army had been forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, and was retreating with the hope of joining with ot...

8th April 1904: Times Square in New York given its name

Times Square in New York was given its name shortly after the offices of The New York Times moved to the area. Having once belonged to the prominent real estate investor John Jacob Astor, the second half of the 19th century saw the area around the modern Times Square become the centre of the New York carriage business. The establishment of the American Horse Exchange by the prominent businessman William Henry Vanderbilt fuelled this development which led to the area being named Longacre Squar...

7th April 1498: Savonarola meets to take part in a trial by fire

On the 7th April 1498, a group of Franciscan monks met their Dominican rivals in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence to take part in the first trial by fire in 400 years. The belief was that God would intervene to protect the rightful side from the flames as they walked over them. But the trial never went ahead. The Dominican friar Savonarola had built a powerful following in Florence with his passionate sermons against vices and luxuries that tempted people to sin. The previous year he had...

6th April 1896: The first modern Olympic Games take place

On the 6th April 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens. Known as the father of the modern Olympics, Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin had organised a congress two years earlier in which the host city was chosen and the International Olympic Committee founded. American James Connolly won the first final for his 13.71m triple jump, leading the USA’s 14 competitors to win a total of 11 events between them. The most successful individual competitor was the German Carl Schuhmann who wo...

5th April 1621: The Mayflower returns to England

On the 5th April 1621, the Mayflower – the boat that carried the Pilgrim fathers to America – returned to England from the settlement at Plymouth. The story of the Mayflower usually focuses on its journey to New England, with the ship itself being a central character in the story of European settlers in North America. However, the ship itself was nothing special. By 1620 the Mayflower was already reaching the end of its working life. It had been a cargo ship, regularly making short journeys t...

4th April 1968: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee

On the 4th April 1968, Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 39. The previous day he had delivered his final public speech, known as the “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” address, in which he made direct reference the many threats against his life. King was standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorrain Motel in Memphis when he was hit by a single bullet that shattered his jaw and several vertebrae. Despite being rushed to St. Jo...

Celebrate three years of HistoryPod with this bonus episode!

If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, you’ll know that as the writer and host of HistoryPod, I’ve released a daily ‘on this day in history’ episode every day since 3rd April 2015. That’s a lot of episodes, and I’m enormously grateful to all of you who listen, subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. Earlier this year I was delighted to learn that HistoryPod is officially the most popular daily history podcast on iTunes, although to be honest there aren't very many daily history podcast...

3rd April 1882: Outlaw Jesse James shot by Robert Ford

On the 3rd April 1882, the American outlaw Jesse James was shot dead by fellow gang-member Robert Ford.  His death became a national sensation – James had been a famous Confederate guerrilla fighter during the Civil War, and had become America’s most wanted criminal in the years since. As a train robber, James and his gang rarely robbed passengers.  This may have led to their popular association with the legend of Robin Hood – stealing from the rich to give to the poor.  However, there is no...