Scott Allsop's Blog, page 93

17th October 1814: London Beer Flood kills eight people when nearly one and a half million litres of beer sweep out of the Horse Shoe Brewery

Once the beer began to pour into the street, it quickly began to fill the cellars of nearby houses in which families lived, killing eight ...

16th October 1846: First public demonstration of ether anaesthesia

The first well-publicised public demonstration of inhaled ether anaesthesia was given at the Massachusetts General ...

15th October 1764: Edward Gibbon first considers The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Gibbon’s six volume history traces the collapse of the Roman Empire from the rule of the Five Good Emperors until the end of ...

14th October 1962: U-2 spy plane captures images of Cuban missile sites

A U-2 spy plane captured images of the construction of a missile site on Cuba, triggering the Cuban Missile ...

13th October 54: The Roman Emperor Claudius dies, supposedly after being poisoned

Ancient sources state that the Emperor Claudius as poisoned, although who administered the poison - and on whose orders - continues to be fiercely debated by ...

12th October 1810: First Oktoberfest takes place in Munich to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen

The decision to repeat a horse race from the original celebration the following year led to the establishment of the annual festival at which beer halls and carnival stalls soon began to ...

11th October 1521: King Henry VIII of England given the title Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X

The Pope granted the Latin title Fidei defensor to Henry after he published a book in which he defended Catholic doctrine against the criticisms levelled at it by Martin Luther in his Ninety-five Theses during the early stages of the Protestant ...

10th October 1957: Eisenhower apologises to Ghanaian minister for racism in Delaware restaurant

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologised to Ghanaian finance minister Komla Agbeli Gbedemah after he was refused service in a Delaware ...

9th October 1967: Execution of Marxist revolutionary icon Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara in Bolivia

Guevara was shot nine times in a way designed to make the injuries look like they had been caused during a battle with the Bolivian ...

8th October 1829: Robert Stephenson’s steam locomotive Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials to produce locomotives for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

By the end of the competition Rocket was the only engine to complete the full course without suffering any damage, securing Stephenson the contract to manufacture locomotives for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway that opened the following ...