Scott Allsop's Blog, page 233

18th November 1987: 31 people killed in the Kings Cross fire on the London Underground

The worst fire in the history of the London Underground killed 31 people at Kings Cross St Pancras station. King’s Cross St Pancras is a major intersection on the London Underground network. Numerous deep platforms...

17th November 1558: Queen Elizabeth I’s reign begins

On the 17th November 1558, Elizabeth I succeeded her half-sister Mary to become queen of England. The last of the Tudor dynasty, Elizabeth’s reign is seen by many as a ‘golden age’ in English history....

16th November 1990: Milli Vanilli stripped of Grammy Award for not singing on their album

German pop duo Milli Vanilli were stripped of the Grammy Award for Best New Artist after it emerged that they did not sing any of the vocals on their debut album. Milli Vanilli was founded...

15th November 1917: Clemenceau appointed Prime Minister of France

On the 15th November 1917, Georges Clemenceau was appointed Prime Minister of France for the second time. His appointment was something of a surprise, especially as it was made by President Raymond Poincare with whom...

14th November 1960: Ruby Bridges, first African-American to desegregate an elementary school

Bridges was born in 1954, the same year that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional. Although the...

13th November 1002: St Brice’s Day Massacre

On the 13th November 1002, the St Brice’s Day Massacre took place when king Æthelred the Unready “ordered slain all the Danish men who were in England”. Although it is believed that there was considerable...

12th November 1927: Leon Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party of the USSR

Trotsky had been a key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He soon became one of the members of the first Politburo that was founded to manage the transition to a communist state, alongside...

11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed

On the 11th November 1918, fighting on the First World War’s Western Front ended when representatives from the Allies and Germany signed the Armistice of Compiègne. Named after the location in which it was signed,...

10th November 1871: Henry Morton Stanley locates Dr David Livingstone in Africa

Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh-American journalist and explorer, allegedly greeted the missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone with the phrase, “Dr Livingston, I presume?” David Livingstone was born in 1813 and, having completed training as a...

9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall

In the evening of the 9th November 1989, the East German government opened the Berlin Wall after central committee spokesman Guenter Schabowski mistakenly announced that GDR citizens could cross into West Berlin with immediate effect....