Scott Allsop's Blog, page 245
July 20, 2017
21st July 1970: Construction of Egypt’s Aswan High Dam is completed
On the 21st July 1970, construction was completed on the Aswan High Dam in Egypt. Taking just over ten years to build, the High Dam cost nearly $1 billion. However, it’s estimated that this cost...
July 19, 2017
20th July 1807: The world’s first internal combustion engine is patented in France
Napoleon granted a patent for the Pyréolophore to Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude. Nicéphore Niépce had fled France during the Revolution as he was the son of a wealthy lawyer who was suspected of...
July 18, 2017
19th July 1799: Discovery of the Rosetta Stone reported in Egypt
On the 19th July 1799, an announcement was made of the discovery of a slab of rock covered in carvings by French Lieutenant Pierre-François Bouchard in the area around Fort Julien near the Egyptian town...
July 17, 2017
18th July 1976: Nadia Comăneci scores the first ever Olympic gymnastic ‘perfect 10’
Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci scored the first ever perfect 10 in Olympic history on the uneven bars at the Summer Games in Montreal. The International Federation of Gymnastics introduced a code of points to regulate...
July 16, 2017
17th July 1918: Romanov family shot dead by the Bosheviks
In the early hours of the 17th July 1918 the Russian Imperial Romanov family were shot dead in the basement of the Ipatiev House in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. Their death took place during...
July 15, 2017
16th July 622: Start date of the Islamic calendar
The Islamic calendar was dated to start with the first new moon after the Prophet Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina. The calendar begins with the Prophet’s Flight as this is a key event...
July 14, 2017
15th July 1834: The Spanish Inquisition disbanded
On the 15th July 1834 the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, otherwise known as the Spanish Inquisition, was disbanded. Originally established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, the Spanish Inquisition came under...
July 13, 2017
14th July 1881: American outlaw Billy the Kid shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett
American outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty and spent his early life in New York. By 1873...
July 12, 2017
13th July 1793: Jean-Paul Marat stabbed to death in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday
On the 13th July 1793, the radical French journalist Jean-Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday. Marat, the second of nine children, had left home at sixteen in search of...
July 11, 2017
12th July 1561: The consecration of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow
Moscow’s Trinity Church, later renamed Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat and better known as Saint Basil’s Cathedral, was consecrated. Ivan the Terrible had originally constructed a series of...
