Scott Allsop's Blog, page 80

20th February 1959: Jimi Hendrix plays his first live concert and is fired from the band after the first set

The band, whose name has sadly been lost, were auditioning Hendrix to join them but after an exuberant first-set performance opted not to invite him back on stage for the second ...

19th February 1985: EastEnders, the BBC’s flagship soap opera, broadcast for the first time

EastEnders was first broadcast on 19 February 1985 as part of new BBC One controller Michael Grade’s ‘relaunch’ of the channel. The first episode secured an audience of 17 ...

18th February 1930: Nellie Jay, better known as Elm Farm Ollie, becomes the first cow to fly and be milked in an aeroplane

Elm Farm Ollie gave a total of 24 quarts (23 litres) of milk which was then packed into paper cartons and dropped by parachute to the crowds at the St Louis International Air ...

17th February 1864: An enemy ship sunk by submarine for the first time when H. L. Hunley attacks USS Housatonic

H. L. Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy ship when it attacked the Union Navy warship USS ...

16th February 1923: Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings

Having secured permission from the Department of Antiquities of Egypt to open the sealed door, Carter came face-to-face with the enormous gilt shrine containing Tutankhamun ...

15th February 1949: The first archaeological excavation at the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The first professional archaeological excavation began in the Qumran Caves, the location of the Dead Sea ...

14th February 1929: St Valentine’s Day Massacre of seven men with connections to Chicago’s North Side Gang

Although nobody was ever brought to trial for the St Valentine's Day Massacre, it is generally accepted that the gangsters were gunned down on the orders of South Side Gang boss Al ...

13th February 1542: Execution of Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII

Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, was executed in the Tower of ...

12th February 1429: Battle of the Herrings in the Hundred Years’ War fought between French and English forces near the French village of Rouvray

The English arranged carts containing barrels of herring into a defensive wagon fort, with sharpened stakes similar to those used at the Battle of Agincourt positioned around the ...

11th February 1812: Elbridge Gerry signs the first bill to authorise ‘gerrymandering’

Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a bill that redrew electoral boundaries in the first example of ...