A daily podcast that explores historical events that happened on each day of the year, covering topics from the Roman Empire to the World Wide Web. Written and presented by Scott Allsop, creator of the award-winning educational website mrallsophistory.com.
Episodes
12th November 1927: Leon Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party of the USSR
Trotsky had been a key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution of ...
11th November 1620: Mayflower Compact signed to establish the government of Plymouth Colony
The Mayflower Compact established laws and offices for the general good of the ...
10th November 1969: Sesame Street broadcast for the first time on American television
Sesame Street was first conceived in 1966 as a way to provide low-income, inner-city children with an educational foundation ready for when they began formal ...
9th November 1918: Wilhelm II abdicates as Kaiser of Germany
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia after the German Revolution took ...
8th November 1602: Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford formally opened
The restored library initially contained several thousand volumes, including manuscripts and printed books acquired by Bodley and other ...
7th November 1492: Oldest meteorite with a known date of impact
The oldest meteorite with a known date of impact crashed into a wheat field outside the Alsatian town of ...
6th November 1869: First intercollegiate American football match played between Rutgers College and the College of New Jersey
Despite the absence of regulation and structured plays, the match turned out to be fiercely competitive. While the scoring was different from modern football, Rutgers won ...
5th November 1688: William of Orange lands in England to begin the invasion that overthrows King James II in the Glorious Revolution
William initially moved towards Exeter and, as William’s advance continued towards London, James struggled to organise an effective response. He was eventually allowed to leave for France in December after which William and Mary were formally offered the throne as joint ...
4th November 1979: Iran hostage crisis begins when Iranian students storm the American Embassy in Tehran
The students seized 66 hostages, 14 of whom were released before the end of the crisis. The other 52 hostages were held for 444 ...
3rd November 1534: English Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy
The Parliament of England passed the First Act of Supremacy which made Henry VIII the head of the Church of ...
2nd November 1917: Balfour Declaration gives support to the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine
Zionists regarded the Balfour Declaration as an important recognition of their national aspirations, while many Palestinian Arabs argued that it threatened their political and national ...
1st November 1512: Michelangelo’s ceiling of the Sistine Chapel unveiled
The public saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for the first time when Pope Julius II celebrated All Saints Day ...
31st October 1913: Formal dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway in the United States
The Lincoln Highway connected New York City on the East Coast to San Francisco on the West Coast, traversing 13 states along the ...
30th October 1858: The Bradford sweets poisoning kills at least twenty people after eating peppermint lozenges containing arsenic
“Humbug Billy”, bought his stock from the confectioner Joseph Neal who made peppermint lozenges using powdered gypsum in place of some of the relatively expensive sugar, but he mistakenly added arsenic ...
27th October 1954: Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African American general in the US Air Force
His promotion to brigadier general on 27 October 1954 came six years after President Truman ordered the desegregation of the US military, and made him the first African American general in the US Air ...
26th October 1881: The gunfight at the O.K. Corral involving Wyatt Earp
The gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place between the Earp brothers and a gang of outlaws in Tombstone, ...
25th October 1854: Charge of the Light Brigade undertaken by British forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War
Due to miscommunication and a lack of clear orders Lord Cardigan led the Light Brigade, a cavalry unit consisting of approximately 670 horsemen, in a frontal assault against a fortified Russian artillery position at the end of the ...
24th October 1901: Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to deliberately go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive
Taylor had a specially constructed barrel built of oak, reinforced with iron bands, and fitted with internal padding. She survived the plunge with just some bruising and a small cut to her ...
23rd October 1739: The War of Jenkins’ Ear begins when England declare war on Spain
The writer Thomas Carlyle is credited with giving the conflict its name in his 1858 biography of the Prussian King Friedrich ...
22nd October 1895: Granville-Paris Express train crashes through a wall at the Gare Montparnasse railway station
The Granville–Paris Express train ran across the station platform in Paris, crashed through a 60cm wall, and fell 10 metres to the street below after it overran the buffer stop at the Gare Montparnasse ...
21st October 1879: Thomas Edison makes a breakthrough in his attempt to develop an incandescent electric light
The breakthrough came when the team used carbonised cotton thread as a filament. A lamp that was initially illuminated on 21st October stayed lit for more than thirteen hours, providing evidence that a practical incandescent lamp was ...
20th October 1740: Maria Theresa inherits the Austrian throne, prompting the War of the Austrian Succession
Maria Theresa inherited the Austrian throne, prompting the War of the Austrian ...
19th October 202 BCE: Roman Republic defeats Carthage at the Battle of Zama
After seventeen years, the Second Punic War was finally brought to an end with the decisive victory of the Roman general and consul Scipio Africanus over Hannibal at the Battle of ...
18th October 1967: Soviet spacecraft Venera 4 becomes the first to enter the atmosphere of Venus and transmit scientific data back to Earth
Instruments on board Venera 4 measured temperature, pressure, and the composition of the surrounding gases, with the results transmitted by radio to receiving stations on ...
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 1939: First German air raid on Britain during WW2 took place when bombers attacked Rosyth naval base in Scotland
The light cruiser HMS Southampton and the destroyer Mohawk were damaged, while sixteen Royal Navy sailors died and 44 were ...
15th October 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at his exile on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic
Napoleon was exiled to the island of St Helena, situated roughly halfway between Africa and South America, where he lived for six years before his ...
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 1908: Suffragette Margaret Travers Symons becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons when she burst into the main chamber
As she was accompanied through the Members’ Lobby, Travers Symons broke away from her escort and burst into the chamber where MPs were debating a bill regarding issues related to ...
12th October 539 BCE: Babylon falls to the Persian king Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great’s Persian forces defeated the Babylonians at the Battle of Opis before entering Babylon on 12 October, bringing the Neo-Babylonian Empire to an end. He subsequently incorporated Mesopotamia into the Persian Empire while preserving Babylon’s importance as a major ...
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 1780: The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills an estimated 22,000 people, making it the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record
At around 6am on 10 October the hurricane made landfall at Barbados in the Lesser Antilles, where it unleashed its full fury as it moved through the ...
9th October 1665: King Charles II moves Parliament to the University of Oxford to escape the Great Plague
Charles opened the fifth session of the Cavalier Parliament in the Great Hall at Christ Church College in Oxford, having left London to escape the Great ...
8th October 1480: The Great Stand on the Ugra River by Ivan III
The Great Stand on the Ugra River marked the start of the decline of the Great ...
7th October 1879: Germany and Austria Hungary form the Dual Alliance
Keen to consolidate the newly-united Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck turned to diplomacy in an attempt to ensure the status quo in ...
6th October 1927: The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, the first major “talkie” movie, premieres in New York City
The Jazz Singer demonstrated to a large audience that recorded dialogue could be incorporated successfully into a commercial feature film. It used the Vitaphone system that played large phonograph discs in synchronisation with the film ...
5th October 1962: James Bond and The Beatles each make their debut with Dr. No and Love Me Do
Two cultural icons made their first appearance when Dr No, the first of the James Bond series of films, hit cinema screens on the same day as the Beatles released their debut single ‘Love Me ...
4th October 1582: Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar
By the 16th Century a sizable drift had developed between the Julian calendar, the lunar calendar, and the real moon which the new calendar sought to ...
3rd October 1952: Britain conducts Operation Hurricane, its first test of an atomic bomb
The bomb was successfully detonated at 8 a.m., making Britain the third country to successfully develop and detonate a nuclear weapon, after the United States and Soviet ...
2nd October 1919: US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke while in office
United States President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left-hand ...
1st October 1949: Mao Zedong declares the establishment of the People’s Republic of China
The Chinese Communists in the People’s Liberation Army had been fighting the second stage of a long and costly civil war against the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek, known as the Kuomintang, since shortly after the end of the Second World ...
30th September 1960: The Flintstones broadcast for the first time as the world’s first animated sitcom
The Flintstones attracted strong ratings, demonstrating that an animated series could compete with live-action programmes in an evening schedule and establishing Hanna-Barbera as a major television animation ...
29th September 1789: Congress formally establishes the United States Army on the final day of its first session
President George Washington wrote to Congress, stating that the military was something on which the “honor, safety and well being of our Country so evidently and essentially ...
28th September 1928: Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin, laying the foundation for a revolution in modern medicine
Fleming found that a petri dish containing staphylococci bacteria had been contaminated with an unidentified fungus. The bacteria around the fungus had been destroyed, whereas bacteria that were further away ...
27th September 1825: Stockton and Darlington Railway opens as the first public railway to make regular use of steam locomotives
The railway was developed by to improve the transport of coal from inland collieries to Darlington and the port at ...
26th September 1960: Kennedy and Nixon take part in their first televised debate
The first United States presidential debate took place between John F. Kennedy and Richard ...
25th September 1066: Battle of Stamford Bridge fought between King Harold Godwinson of England and the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada
The Battle of Stamford Bridge saw both sides suffer heavy casualties but, with Harald Hardrada slain in battle, the English emerged ...
24th September 1954: Iconic AEC Routemaster London bus revealed at the Commercial Motor Show at Earl’s Court
The vehicle, designated RM1, was conceived by London Transport to replace its extensive trolleybus network with motor buses and was developed in conjunction with the Associated Equipment Company (AEC), with Park Royal involved in the construction of the ...
23rd September 1974: BBC launches Ceefax, the world’s first teletext service
Teletext was the dominant medium for accessing breaking news until the arrival of the World Wide ...
22nd September 1776: Nathan Hale hanged by the British for spying for the Continental Army during the American Revolution
Hale volunteered to gather intelligence on British troop movements and strategies but was captured, swiftly subjected to a trial by British authorities, found guilty of spying, and condemned to death as an illegal ...
21st September 1792: French First Republic begins when the National Convention formally abolish the monarchy
The Convention unanimously decreed that ‘royalty is abolished in France’ and subsequently ordered that official documents should be dated from ‘the first year of the French Republic’, establishing the Republican ...
20th September 1835: The start of the Ragamuffin War in Brazil
The Ragamuffin War began when Brazilian rebels in the southern province of Rio Grande do Sul captured Porto ...
19th September 1870: The Siege of Paris began during the Franco-Prussian War when the city was encircled by forces of the North German Confederation
The German forces reached the outskirts of the French capital on 15 September and General Helmuth von Moltke, the commander of the Prussian army, gave the order to begin surrounding the ...
18th September 1870: The Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition to the Yellowstone region sees a large geyser they named Old Faithful.
Lake, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and several geyser basins where they encountered numerous geothermal features, including the geyser that they named Old Faithful due to its regular ...
17th September 1978: Camp David Accords signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin
The talks concluded with the signing of two separate agreements – ‘A Framework for Peace in the Middle East’ and ‘A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and ...
16th September 1978: Filming begins on Monty Python’s Life of Brian after George Harrison steps in to provide funding
Claimed by its fans to be the greatest comedy film of all time, Life of Brian has courted controversy since its release due to its satirical portrayal of religion that is interpreted by some as ...
15th September 1959: Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet leader to visit the United States
At the end of the visit Khrushchev and Eisenhower agreed to continue discussions, signalling a temporary improvement in relations that became known as the ‘Spirit of Camp ...
14th September 1814: USA’s national anthem lyrics written as the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry”
On the 14th September 1814, the poem that was to provide the lyrics for the United States’ national anthem was written by 35 year-old Francis Scott ...
13th September 1501: Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David
Michelangelo’s David is considered to be one of the greatest examples of Renaissance ...
12th September 1940: Prehistoric cave paintings discovered at Lascaux, in the Dordogne region of southwestern France
The walls of the Lascaux cave contained numerous representations of animals, including horses, bulls, bison and deer that were painted approximately 15,000 years ago, during the Upper Palaeolithic ...
11th September 1978: Janet Parker becomes the last recorded person in the world to die from smallpox
Janet Parker first became ill on 11 August, but nine days passed before she was admitted to hospital and her infection was identified as ...
10th September 1919: Austria signs the Treaty of Saint-Germain at the end of the First World War
The Austrian delegation to Paris was led by the Social Democrat minister Karl Renner who had little choice but to agree to the redrawing of national borders that saw the emergence of several independent nations and the reduction of Austrian ...
9th September 1513: Battle of Flodden marks the largest battle to ever take place between Scotland and England
Around 10,000 Scots are thought to have died including twelve earls, fifteen lords and numerous other nobles and clan chiefs, removing much of Scotland’s political and military leadership in a single ...
8th September 1941: Start of the Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, ...
7th September 1940: The Nazi German Luftwaffe launches The Blitz
The Nazi German Luftwaffe launched the first of 57 consecutive days and nights of bombing raids on London in what became known as the ...
6th September 1914: First Battle of the Marne begins with a French counter-offensive against the advancing German army
On the morning of 6 September, the French Sixth Army attacked the German First Army near the River Ourcq while the French Fifth Army and British Expeditionary Force advanced into the gap between the German First and Second Armies. On 9 September, German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke ordered a withdrawal, marking the transition from mobile warfare to the long period of trench warfare that ...
5th September 1698: Peter the Great of Russia imposes a tax on beards
Peter the Great's decision to ban beards was unpopular, not only because it was a significant challenge to tradition but also because shaving a beard was interpreted by some Orthodox Christians as being ...
4th September 476: End of the Western Roman Empire when Romulus Augustulus is overthrown by the barbarian general Odoacer
Romulus’ overthrow facilitated Odoacer’s rise and the transition to the Ostrogothic ...
3rd September 1260: Battle of Ain Jalut allows the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt to permanently halt the Mongol advance
The victory halted the Mongol advance into the Levant and Egypt, preserving the Mamluks as the dominant power in the eastern Mediterranean and establishing a frontier between the Mongol-controlled lands to the ...
1st September 1604: The Sikh Adi Granth first installed at the Golden Temple
The Adi Granth, the original holy scripture of Sikhism now known as Guru Granth Sahib, was first installed at the Harmandir Sahib Golden ...
31st August 1907: The Anglo-Russian Entente is signed, forming the Triple Entente
Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Entente, which led to the formation of the Triple ...
30th August 1813: Red Stick Creek warriors attack Fort Mims in the Mississippi Territory
Approximately 700 Red Stick warriors led by William Weatherford attacked the fort. Around 250 people were killed, while at least 100 others were taken ...
29th August 1842: The First Opium War ends when Britain and China sign the Treaty of Nanking
The First Opium War formally ended when Britain and China signed the Treaty of Nanking, the first of the ‘unequal ...
28th August 1955: The murder of black teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi
Black teenager Emmett Till was murdered for allegedly flirting with and offending a white woman in ...
27th August 1916: Romania enters the First World War by declaring war on Austria-Hungary
By 1916, the Allied governments had promised Romania control of Transylvania and other territories if the Central Powers were defeated. Encouraged by the Brusilov Offensive, which had inflicted heavy losses on Austria-Hungary, Romanian leaders concluded that the moment was favourable for ...
26th August 1789: Adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man in France
The National Constituent Assembly of France adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the ...
25th August 1875: Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel
Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to successfully swim across the English ...
24th August 1814: The Burning of Washington sees British forces during the War of 1812 capture and set fire to many principal public buildings
Although it had limited strategic value in military terms, the Burning of Washington demonstrated the vulnerability of the young American republic during the War of 1812 and temporarily damaged public confidence in the government’s ability to defend the ...
23rd August 1944: King Michael of Romania leads a coup d’etat against Ion Antonescu
King Michael I of Romania led a coup d'état that removed the Nazi-aligned government of Ion ...
22nd August 1791: Start of the Haitian Revolution in the French colony of Saint-Domingue
Slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola began the Haitian ...
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