Scott Allsop's Blog, page 48

3rd January 1911: The Siege of Sidney Street gunfight takes place in London’s East End

The police officers in charge sought permission from the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, to bring in Scots Guards from the nearby Tower of London to ...

2nd January 1959: USSR launches Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon

Luna 1, also known as Mechta (Russian for "Dream"), was planned to crash into the Moon before which its range of instruments and communication were intended to study cosmic rays, solar wind, magnetic fields, and ionizing ...

1st January 1739: Discovery of Bouvet Island, the world’s most remote island

The fact that Bouvet island, with a total area of just 19 square miles, lies almost 1,000 miles from the nearest uninhabited land makes the chance discovery even more ...

31st December 1600: The East India Company officially established with a charter from Elizabeth I

Formally titled "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies," the East India Company was established to capitalise on the lucrative spice ...

30th December 1916: “Mad Monk” Grigori Rasputin murdered by Russian nobles

On the night of 29 December, 1916, Rasputin was invited to the home of Prince Felix Yusupov. The exact details of what transpired are shrouded in legend and mystery, but the most commonly-accepted version of events is based on Yusupov’s own ...

29th December 1937: Constitution of Ireland comes into effect as the longest continually operating republican constitution in the E.U.

The 1937 Constitution of Ireland was born out of a desire to fully assert Irish independence following the Statute of Westminster 1931, which granted parliamentary autonomy to the six British ...

28th December 1958: ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ in the NFL Championship Playoff

The game of American football was the first to be decided in sudden-death ...

27th December 1845: Manifest Destiny introduced in a newspaper column by John L. O’Sullivan

Manifest Destiny was a belief that the United States had a divinely-inspired right to expand across North America, and that this expansion was ...

26th December 1825: The Decembrist Revolt takes place in Russia against autocratic Tsarist rule

The Decembrists were driven by ideals of constitutionalism, liberal reforms, and a desire for a more participatory government but were defeated when Nicholas I ordered a cavalry charge and subsequent artillery attack using ...

25th December 1776: George Washington crosses the Delaware with a column of the Continental Army

As night fell amidst a harsh winter storm, Washington and approximately 2,400 soldiers began the treacherous river crossing at McConkey’s ...