Scott Allsop's Blog, page 24

16th September 1979: Two families escape from East Germany in a homemade hot air balloon

Peter Strelzyk and Günter Wetzel, who had expertise in mechanics and construction, worked for nearly a year and a half to construct a balloon capable of carrying their families of four adults and four ...

15th September 1440: Gilles de Rais is arrested and later convicted as one of the world’s earliest serial killers

Gilles de Rais was found guilty of murder, sodomy, and heresy after confessing to his involvement in the murder of children and engagement in occult practices, seeking power and knowledge through alchemy and the invocation of ...

14th September 1959: The USSR sends the first man-made object to the Moon’s surface

Shortly after midnight in Moscow, the Soviets became the first to successfully send a human-made object to the ...

13th September 1848: Phineas Gage survives an accident in which an explosion propels a large iron bar completely through his head

An explosion propelled a tamping iron into Gage’s left cheek before it passed behind his left eye and exited through the top of his skull, destroying much of his brain’s left frontal ...

12th September 490 BCE: Battle of Marathon is fought during the Greco-Persian Wars (accepted date)

The Persians suffered over 6,000 casualties, while the Athenians lost only 192 men, leading to a decisive Athenian victory that saw the invaders retreat to their ...

11th September 1789: Alexander Hamilton appointed US Secretary of the Treasury

Alexander Hamilton was made the first United States Secretary of the Treasury by President George ...

10th September 1989: Hungary allows East Germans to cross the border into Austria

Hungary had been inundated with East Germans since the government began removing the border fence in ...

9th September 1956: Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show

Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, the USA’s most popular television show, for the first ...

8th September 1888: Peral, the first successful electric-powered submarine, launched by the Spanish navy

Designed by the Spanish engineer and naval officer Isaac Peral, the Peral submarine marked a significant development in naval technology as it featured a revolutionary propulsion system that used electric batteries to power a pair of 30hp electric ...

7th September 1695: English pirate Henry Every captures the Grand Mughal Fleet in one of the most lucrative pirate raids of all time

With the impressive Ganj-i-Sawai incapacitated, Every’s crew boarded the ship and looted the valuable cargo, which is estimated to have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at the ...