Scott Allsop's Blog, page 28

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 ...

6th September 1651: Charles II of England hides in an oak tree to escape capture by Parliamentary forces following the Battle of Worcester

With Parliamentary troops searching the surrounding woodland, Royalist soldier William Careless suggested the king should hide in an oak tree, later known as the Royal ...

5th September 1793: The Reign of Terror begins in France during the Revolution

The Reign of Terror began in France when Bertrand Barère, a member of the Committee of Public Safety, made a speech in favour of it that ended with the exclamation, “Let's make terror the order of the ...

4th September 1957: Nine Black students denied entry to Little Rock High School in Arkansas

The Little Rock Crisis gained national attention, and was only resolved when President ...