Scott Allsop's Blog, page 248
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....
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...
