Scott Allsop's Blog, page 49

29th January 2002: The phrase ‘Axis of Evil’ used for the first time by President George W. Bush

The phrase 'axis of evil' soon became a hallmark of Bush’s foreign ...

28th January 1896: First speeding ticket for an automobile issued to British motorist Walter Arnold

Arnold faced three additional charges of using a locomotive without a horse, having fewer than three people in charge of the vehicle and for not having his name and address on the vehicle. The local magistrates found him guilty on all counts and placed a fine of £4 7s, of which one shilling plus costs, was for ...

27th January 1916: Conscription for WW1 introduced by the British Government in the Military Service Act

The Military Service Act made all single men and childless widowers between the ages of 18 and 41 liable to be called up. It received royal assent on 27 January but was met with a protest demonstration of approximately 200,000 people in London’s Trafalgar Square, while by July almost 30% of those called up to fight had failed to ...

26th January 1885: Siege of Khartoum ends when Sudanese Mahdist forces capture the city from Governor-General Charles George Gordon

General Gordon’s pleas for reinforcements for the besieged city fell on deaf ears in the British government, and the city’s plight became a symbol of imperial overreach and strategic ...

25th January 1924: First Winter Olympic Games begin in Chamonix, France

International Winter Sports Week was an incredible success, and the following year the IOC retroactively designated it as the first Winter ...

24th January 1935: The first canned beer goes on sale from the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company in Richmond, Virginia

Canned beer was an immediate success and the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company saw sales skyrocket. Other brewers soon began to adopt the new packaging, and by the end of the year over 200 million cans of beer had sold in the United ...

23rd January 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree in the USA

Blackwell graduated first in her class and became the first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United ...

22nd January 1973: The Supreme Court issues its decision on the Roe v. Wade abortion case

Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution gives women in the United States the ‘fundamental’ freedom choice in family matters, including whether or not to have an ...

21st January 1954: Launch of USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine

Nuclear propulsion enabled Nautilus to smash numerous records including those for both submerged speed and distance, and became the first submarine to transit the North Pole in August ...

20th January 1986: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day first observed as a federal holiday

President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law on 2 November ...