Scott Allsop's Blog, page 235

3rd December 1910: First neon light installed at the Paris Motor Show

On the 3rd December 1910, the first neon light went on show at the Paris Motor Show. Invented by Frenchman Georges Claude, the first neon lights were simply 35m long tubes. However, by 1912 he...

2nd December 1954: US Senator Joseph McCarthy censured by the Senate

United States Senator Joseph McCarthy was censured for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonour and disrepute.” Joseph McCarthy was elected to the Senate for the state of Wisconsin in 1946. He was...

1st December 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama

On the 1st December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama after the white section of the bus became full. Her refusal led to her being arrested...

30th November 1786: Tuscany becomes the first modern state to abolish the death penalty

Pietro Leopoldo, the ruler of Tuscany, came to power in 1765 after his father, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, died. Pietro Leopoldo later became Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, but in the years immediately...

29th November 1781: Over 132 slaves thrown from the ‘Zong’ ship

On the 29th November 1781, the crew of the slave ship Zong threw the first of at least 132 African slaves overboard in a massacre intended to allow them to cash in their insurance policy....

28th November 1893: New Zealand women vote for the first time in a national election

Every New Zealand woman over the age of 21 was able to vote in the world’s first general election in a self-governing colony. The issue of women’s suffrage in New Zealand began to gain momentum...

27th November 1095: Pope Urban II launches the First Crusade

On the 27th November 1095, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade with an impassioned speech at the Council of Clermont. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos had appealed to the Pope for support against...

26th November 1976: Sex Pistols release the punk single ‘Anarchy in the UK’

The Damned had released what is recognised as the first ever punk single a month earlier. “New Rose” may have been the first single by a punk band, but numerous groups had already built a...

25th November 1936: Anti-Comintern Pact signed by Germany and Japan

On the 25th November 1936, Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact. Although directed against the Communist International, the international organisation that sought to create a worldwide communist republic, the treaty...

24th November 1873: Joseph Glidden awarded a patent for modern barbed wire

Improved fencing systems were vital to the farmers who had headed west to settle in the Great Plains. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed honest citizens to claim up to 160 acres if they built...