Scott Allsop's Blog, page 230

20th February 1472: Orkney and Shetland Isles given to Scotland as a wedding dowry

The Northern Isles, which consist of the two island groups of Shetland and Orkney, have been inhabited since prehistoric times but were formally annexed by the Norwegian king Harald Hårfagre in around 875 after he subdued the Vikings who used the islands as a base from which to raid Norway and Scotland. The islands remained under Norwegian control for almost 600 years, despite increased Scottish interest from the 13th century onwards. Scottish influence began to grow following the death of Jo...

18th February 1885: Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” published in the United States

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, under his pen-name Mark Twain, had previously published the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in which the character of Huckleberry “Huck” Finn is introduced for the first time. Eight years after its release, the sequel was published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and was followed by the American version two months later. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was originally published without the definite article at the start of its title, is set in the anteb...

16th February 1937: Organic chemist Wallace Carothers is awarded a patent for nylon

The DuPont company’s organic chemist Wallace Carothers received a patent for linear condensation polymers, the basis of the material better known as nylon. Carothers joined DuPont from Harvard University, where he had taught organic chemistry. He was initially reluctant to move due to concerns that his history of depression would be a problem in an industrial setting, but DuPont executive Hamilton Bradshaw persuaded him otherwise and he took up his role in February 1928. Having thrown himself...

14th February 1990: Voyager 1 creates the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image of Earth

Pale Blue Dot, the most distant photograph ever taken of Earth, was created by the Voyager 1 space probe. Voyager 1 was launched in September 1977 to study the outer Solar System including flybys of Jupiter and Saturn. Having completed the mission for which it had been created in November 1980, the spacecraft was allowed to continue its flight and leave the Solar System. Carl Sagan, the astronomer and author, was a member of the Voyager imaging team and suggested that Voyager 1 should take a...

12th February 1924: First performance of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was performed for the first time at a concert by Paul Whiteman and his Palais Royal Orchestra called An Experiment in Modern Music. Whiteman had previously worked with Gershwin when he conducted the original performance of Blue Monday, a one-act ‘jazz opera’ composed by Gershwin with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva. Although it was a Broadway flop, Whiteman was impressed by Blue Monday and had a conversation with Gershwin in which they discussed the idea of composer...

10th February 1355: St Scholastica’s Day Riot began in Oxford between ‘town and gown’

Tensions between university students and the locals of Oxford had been building for some time before violence broke out. The townspeople were frustrated with the University’s privileges, while students felt that local businesses exploited them by charging higher prices for rents, goods, and services. On 10 February 1355 a group of students were drinking in the central Swindlestock Tavern. When they complained to the landlord about the quality of the drinks he had brought them, he responded wi...

8th February 1904: Russo-Japanese War triggered by Japanese torpedo attack on Port Arthur

Port Arthur was a fortified naval base in the south of Manchuria that had been leased to Russia since 1898. After crushing the Boxer Rebellion as part of an eight-nation coalition, Russia infuriated Japan, which claimed parts of Manchuria within its own sphere of influence, by refusing to remove its troops. Japan was willing to recognise Russian dominance in Manchuria in return for access to Korea, but an agreement could not be reached and Japan broke off diplomatic relations on 6 February 19...

HistoryPod Extra: Centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918

On 6 February 1918 the Representation of the People Act received Royal Assent, marking the start of female suffrage in Great Britain. The bill had been passed in the House of Commons by 385 votes to 55 and gave women over the age of 30 who owned property the right to vote. While it therefore denied the vote to a large number of women, it was still a watershed moment in the history of gender equality in the UK. A traditional explanation for parliament supporting the bill is that it acted as a...

6th February 1778: France and the US sign the first treaties that recognise American independence

France and the United States signed the first two treaties ever negotiated by the American government, and which formally recognised the independence of the United States. Keen to exact revenge on Britain for the Seven Years’ War, France had begun to send secret military aid to the American Continental Army even before the Continental Congress declared independence. With French finance and equipment coming in through the fictitious Roderigue Hortalez and Company, founding Father John Adams be...

4th February 1555: John Rogers became the first Protestant martyr under ‘Bloody’ Mary I of England

John Rogers became the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I after he was burnt at the stake. John Rogers was educated at Cambridge, after which he became a Catholic priest. As the Reformation began to take hold, Rogers questioned his vocation and subsequently resigned his ministry. He moved to Antwerp in 1534 where he met William Tyndale who had published his English translation of the New Testament a few years earlier. Tyndale was instrumental in converting Rogers to Protestantism, a...