Scott Allsop's Blog, page 64

28th July 1858: First modern use of fingerprints for identification by William Herschel in West Bengal, India

Having paid in advance for an expensive contract in which local businessman Rajyadhar Konai agreed to build a new road, Herschel chose to take the full hand print of the contractor as his commitment to honour the ...

27th July 1940: Bugs Bunny makes his cartoon debut in A Wild Hare

Bugs Bunny made his first appearance in the Merrie Melodies cartoon A Wild ...

26th July 1936: Hitler informs General Francisco Franco that Germany will support his Nationalist rebellion in Spain

Both Hitler and Mussolini were concerned about the risk of the Spanish Civil War escalating into a European-wide conflict, so at first their support for the Nationalists was small-scale and consisted mainly of transporting existing Spanish troops from Morocco to the mainland. As the war progressed their involvement ...

25th July 1909: Louis Blériot makes the first powered cross-Channel flight

French aviator Louis Charles Joseph Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air ...

24th July 1927: Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing unveiled in the Belgian city of Ypres

The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to missing British and Commonwealth soldiers from the First World War in the area around the Ypres Salient, and features more than 54,000 ...

23rd July 1943: Archibald Brown blown up by an anti-tank grenade placed under his seat

Archibald Brown was murdered by his son, who placed an anti-tank grenade under the seat of his bath ...

22nd July 1942: Wartime gasoline rationing introduced to the USA

Wartime gasoline rationing began in seventeen ...

21st July 1925: ‘Monkey Trial’ finds John T. Scopes guilty of teaching evolution

John Thomas Scopes, a substitute science teacher in Tennessee, was found guilty of teaching evolution in ...

20th July 1969: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin successfully land on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission

The words ‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed’ confirmed the safe touchdown at around 8:17pm ...

19th July 1848: The Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights begins

The first women’s rights convention in the United States began in Seneca Falls, New ...