Scott Allsop's Blog, page 244
July 30, 2017
31st July 1970: Black Tot Day ends the Royal Navy’s daily rum ration
On the 31st July 1970, the British Royal Navy issued the last daily rum ration, or “tot”, to sailors. The end of the daily ration became known as “Black Tot Day”. A daily ration of...
July 29, 2017
30th July 1792: La Marseillaise first sung in Paris
On the 30th July 1792, a group of volunteer soldiers from the city of Marseille were the first to introduce and sing “La Marseillaise” in Paris. Written by the French army officer Claude Joseph Rouget...
July 28, 2017
29th July 1567: James VI crowned King of Scotland aged 13 months
On the 29th July 1567, James VI was crowned king of Scotland when he was just 13 months old. As the great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, he succeeded Elizabeth...
July 27, 2017
28th July 1858: First use of fingerprints as a means of identification
On the 28th July 1858 William Herschel, a British Magistrate in West Bengal in India, made the first modern use of fingerprints for identification. Although records of finger and palm prints being used as early...
July 26, 2017
27th July 1942: Allies halt Axis in First Battle of El Alamein
On the 27th July 1942, Allied forces in North Africa stopped the advancing Axis powers in the First Battle of El Alamein. Having been defeated at the Battle of Gazala in Libya the previous month,...
July 25, 2017
26th July 1745: First ever women’s cricket match played near Guildford
The first ever women’s cricket match was played on Gosden Common near Guildford in Surrey. The match was reported in The Reading Mercury and featured teams from the villages of Bramley and Hambledon. The newspaper...
July 24, 2017
25th July 1965: Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival
On the 25th July 1965, American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric band. His dramatic shift away from his traditional instruments of acoustic guitar and harmonica was said to...
July 23, 2017
24th July 1911: Machu Picchu ‘rediscovered’ by US explorer Hiram Bingham III
Often referred to as the ‘lost city of the Incas’, Machu Picchu was constructed in the middle of the 15th century but was abandoned barely a century later in 1572. Believed by modern archaeologists to...
July 22, 2017
23rd July 1914: Austria-Hungary presents ultimatum to Serbia
On the 23rd July 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia specifically designed to be rejected and lead to war between the two countries. The ultimatum was delivered at 6pm by the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to...
July 21, 2017
22nd July 1992: Pablo Escobar escapes from the luxury La Catedral prison
Pablo Escobar became involved in the fledgling cocaine smuggling industry in the early 1970s. He expanded his operations from 1975 onwards and, by the 1980s, was the leading supplier of cocaine to the United States....
