Scott Allsop's Blog, page 262
February 1, 2017
2nd February 1852: First modern public toilets open in London
On the 2nd February 1852, the world’s first modern public toilets opened in London. Sited at 95 Fleet Street, next to the Society of Arts, the toilets were exclusively for gents. However, a public toilet...
January 31, 2017
1st February 1968: Viet Cong Captain Bảy Lốp executed by General Loan
On the 1st February 1968, American photojournalist Eddie Adams took a photograph of South Vietnamese National Police Chief General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém in Saigon. The photograph’s publication in...
January 30, 2017
31st January 1990: First McDonald’s opens in the USSR
On the 31st January 1990, fast food chain McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union on Moscow’s Pushkin Square. Rather than the expected 1,000 customers on the first day, some news outlets estimated...
January 29, 2017
30th January 1649: Charles I beheaded at Banqueting House
On the 30th January 1649 King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland was executed outside the Banqueting House in London. Shortly after Charles’ failed attempt to arrest the Five Members the English Civil Wars...
January 28, 2017
29th January 1856: Victoria Cross introduced by Queen Victoria
On the 29th January 1856, Queen Victoria introduced the Victoria Cross to reward “most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of...
January 27, 2017
28th January 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
On the 28th January 1986, the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. All seven members of crew were killed, which led...
January 26, 2017
27th January 1945: Auschwitz-Birkenau liberated by Soviet forces
On the 27th January 1945, Soviet soldiers from the 322nd Rifle Division liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp near the Polish city of Oświęcim. They met some resistance from the remaining Nazi troops in the city,...
January 25, 2017
26th January 1998: Bill Clinton denies ‘sexual relations with that woman’
On the 26th January 1998, United States President Bill Clinton appeared at a White House press conference and made a forceful statement that “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”. The woman was...
January 24, 2017
25th January 1890: Nellie Bly circumnavigates the world in 72 days
At 3.51pm on the afternoon of the 25th January 1890, American journalist Nellie Bly arrived in New Jersey after completing a 72 day, 24,899-mile journey around the world. Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in...
January 23, 2017
24th January 41 CE: Emperor Caligula killed by the Praetorian Guard
On the 24th January 41 CE, Caligula became the first Roman Emperor to be assassinated. Killed by a small group of Praetorian guardsmen in a cryptoporticus (underground corridor) beneath his palace on the Palatine Hill,...
