Scott Allsop's Blog, page 73

3rd June 1989: Tiananmen Square protesters fired on by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army

Official figures reported 241 deaths as a result of the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests but unofficial estimates, including one by the US Ambassador at the time, place the figure at more than twice ...

2nd June 1962: Chile and Italy meet in the World Cup’s violent ‘Battle of Santiago’

Chile and Italy met in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, which resulted in ‘the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the ...

1st June 1495: First written reference to Scotch whisky (distilled at @LindoresAbbey)

The royal Exchequer Rolls from Scotland recorded the first known written reference to Scotch ...

31st May 1669: Samuel Pepys writes the final entry of his famous diary that records the period of the Restoration

Pepys had begun writing his diary in January 1660. Since being published in 1825 it has become an important source for historians studying the period of the Restoration. He stopped writing due to a fear that constant writing by candlelight was damaging his ...

30th May 1381: Outbreak of the Peasants’ Revolt in England

The Peasants’ Revolt was triggered when John Bampton arrived in Essex to investigate non-payment of the poll ...

29th May 1453: Sultan Mehmed II conquers Constantinople and defeats the Byzantine Empire

The troops of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed II successfully took control of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine ...

28th May 585 BCE: Eclipse of Thales ends the Battle of Halys between Media and Lydia

A solar eclipse during the Battle of Halys led to a truce between the kingdoms of Media and Lydia, making it the earliest historical event that can be precisely ...

27th May 1199: King John of England crowned at Westminster Abbey in London

John ruled for seventeen years before contracting dysentery while in Kings Lynn, an illness from which he later ...

26th May 1940: Start of the Dunkirk evacuation

Operation Dynamo, better known as the evacuation of Dunkirk, ...

25th May 1961: US President John F. Kennedy announces his plans for a manned moon landing before the end of the decade

Kennedy's $24 billion of investment did work, and Apollo 11 achieved Kennedy's goal by landing on the moon on 20 July ...