Best Scott Allsop Podcasts (2025)

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31st August 1854: Cholera outbreak in London’s Broad Street leads to John Snow’s investigation into germ-contaminated water

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Physician John Snow investigated the outbreak by mapping cholera cases in the area, which showed a clear concentration of cases around the public water pump on Broad ...By Scott Allsop

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30th August 1918: Bolshevik leader Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, survives an assassination attempt

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The assassination of Lenin was attempted by Fanya Kaplan, a member of the anti-Bolshevik faction of the Socialist Revolutionary ...By Scott Allsop

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29th August 1831: Michael Faraday performs his first experiment leading to the discovery of electromagnetic induction

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Faraday constructed an apparatus consisting of two coils of wire wound around opposite sides of an iron ring, and when he connected one coil to a battery a galvanometer detected a brief current induced in the second ...By Scott Allsop

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28th August 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

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Taking place on the centenary of President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, in which he declared the freedom of slaves, ‘I Have a Dream’ was the sixteenth of eighteen speeches given by different orators that day and is regularly described as one of the best speeches of the 20th ...By Scott Allsop

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27th August 1928: The Kellogg-Briand Pact to renounce war signed by 15 nations including Germany, France and the United States

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At the time it was optimistically hoped that the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact would stop any future wars, but the impact of the Great Depression in the 1930s led nations such as Japan and Italy to launch invasions of Manchuria and Abyssinia ...By Scott Allsop

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26th August 1914: Battle of Tannenberg begins in the early weeks of the First World War between Russian and German forces

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Exploiting intercepted Russian radio messages, which had not been encrypted, the Germans were able to anticipate the Russians’ movements and concentrate their forces effectively. By 30 August, Russian resistance ...By Scott Allsop

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25th August 1835: The Great Moon Hoax begins to appear in The New York Sun newspaper as a series of articles

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The articles that formed the “Great Moon Hoax” stated that famed astronomer John Herschel had observed animals resembling bison, goats, and even humanoid bat-like creatures on the Moon alongside forests, oceans, pyramids, and ...By Scott Allsop

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24th August 79: The eruption of Mount Vesuvius wipes out numerous Roman settlements including Pompeii and Herculaneum

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Beginning at around 1pm on 24 August, Mount Vesuvius sent gas, volcanic ash, and pumice into the stratosphere for up to 20 hours. This was followed by a pyroclastic flow that carried gas and molten rock down from the volcano and which then buried the previously fallen ...By Scott Allsop

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23rd August 1942: Battle of Stalingrad enters its most intense phase with a bombing campaign by the German Luftwaffe

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While the broader Battle of Stalingrad began on 17 July, it wasn’t until 23 August that the city itself was attacked. Over 1,000 German aircraft dropped bombs in one of the Eastern Front’s most intense aerial ...By Scott Allsop

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22nd August 1485: King Richard III killed at the Battle of Bosworth as the forces of Henry Tudor bring the Plantagenet dynasty to an end

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The Stanley family surrounded and killed Richard III after the king chose to break ranks and target Henry Tudor ...By Scott Allsop

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21st August 1911: Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa stolen from the Louvre in Paris

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Vincenzo Peruggia served just six months in jail for the robbery, and was hailed by many Italians as a nationalist hero for returning the Mona Lisa to her real home although it was later returned to ...By Scott Allsop

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20th August 1975: NASA launches Viking 1, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and transmit images of the surface back to Earth

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Viking 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 20 August 1975 and took nearly 11 months to reach ...By Scott Allsop

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19th August 1934: The first All-American Soap Box Derby held in Dayton, Ohio

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Held in Dayton, Ohio, on a track measuring 1,980 feet, the first All-American Soap Box Derby attracted 362 participants and more than 40,000 ...By Scott Allsop

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18th August 1612: The trials of nine Lancashire women and two men known as the Pendle Witches begin

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The trials of the Pendle Witches are not only some of the most famous but also some of the best recorded witch trials in British history, and represent two per cent of all British witches to face trial over three ...By Scott Allsop

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17th August 1945: Animal Farm by George Orwell published in the United Kingdom

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Subtitled “A Fairy Story,” the Animal Farm used a farmyard allegory to critique totalitarianism, particularly the rise and betrayal of the ideals of the Russian Revolution, which caused several publishers to initially reject the book, with concerns that it would harm wartime relations with the ...By Scott Allsop

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16th August 1819: An estimated 15 protestors are killed in the Peterloo Massacre at St Peter’s Field in Manchester

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The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter’s Field in Manchester, when a group of over 60,000 protesters were charged by ...By Scott Allsop

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15th August 1965: The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium in New York City, in front of a crowd of over 55,000 people

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The Beatles were first flown by helicopter to a nearby helipad and then driven to Shea Stadium in an armoured van where they performed a 30 minute set on a stage set up on the infield, far from the attendees in the ...By Scott Allsop

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14th August 1980: Lech Walesa leads a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk and triggers the formation of the Solidarity trade union

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Within two years up to 80% of the entire Polish workforce had joined Solidarity or one of its sub-organisations, and they regularly used strikes to achieve political ...By Scott Allsop

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13th August 1521: Aztec Empire ends with the Fall of Tenochtitlan to Spanish forces led by Hernán Cortés

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The Aztec defence was led by the Emperor Cuauhtémoc but, despite determined resistance, the defenders were gradually overwhelmed and Cuauhtémoc was captured while trying to flee the ...By Scott Allsop

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12th August 1981: IBM announces the release of the 5150, the first IBM Personal Computer

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The IBM PC quickly became a commercial success and a standard in the emerging personal computer industry, establishing a broad market based on the IBM model that accelerated the spread of home ...By Scott Allsop

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11th August 1929: Babe Ruth becomes the first Major League Baseball player to hit 500 home runs

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The ball sailed over the right-field fence to land in Lexington Avenue that ran alongside Cleveland’s League ...By Scott Allsop

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10th August 1961: United States begins Operation Ranch Hand to destroy trees and crops during the Vietnam War

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Operation Ranch Hand was part of a strategy by the U.S. to counter the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces by targeting agricultural areas and forest cover with chemicals such as Agent ...By Scott Allsop

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9th August 1974: Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States of America while facing impeachment due to the Watergate Scandal

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Nixon announced his resignation in a televised speech on 8 August and it took effect from noon the next ...By Scott Allsop

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8th August 1786: Mont Blanc was successfully climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard

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Jacques Balmat, a local mountaineer and crystal hunter, and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard, a physician from Chamonix, set out on the evening of 7 August 1786 and made their way up Mont Blanc via what is now known as the Grands Mulets ...By Scott Allsop

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7th August 1964: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by the United States Congress

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The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution granted powers to President Johnson to use American military force to assist countries in Southeast Asia that were facing so-called ...By Scott Allsop

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6th August 1945: The United States drop an atomic bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ on the Japanese city of Hiroshima from the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay

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The bomb exploded 1,900 feet above Hiroshima as planned, with the equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT. Virtually all buildings within a mile of the blast were ...By Scott Allsop

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5th August 1914: The Battle of Liège begins, marking the first major engagement of the First World War

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The bombardment of the city's ring of forts by Germany's 'Big Bertha' howitzer caused extensive damage, and one by one, the forts were rendered inoperable. By 16 August, the forts had ...By Scott Allsop

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4th August 1789: The August Decrees result in the National Constituent Assembly of France voting to abolish the feudal system

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The decision to end the privileges enjoyed by the nobility and clergy came in the early stages of the French Revolution, during a special session of the National Constituent Assembly of France and resulted in the August ...By Scott Allsop

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3rd August 1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera on the voyage that takes him to the Americas

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Palos de la Frontera holds the official title as the starting point of Columbus’ transatlantic ...By Scott Allsop

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2nd August 1940: No. 303 Squadron, one of two Polish RAF squadrons in the Battle of Britain, formed at RAF Northolt

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No. 303 Squadron, which was composed primarily of Polish airmen who had escaped to Britain after the defeat of Poland, claimed the largest number of aircraft shot down of any RAF squadron during the Battle of ...By Scott Allsop

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1st August 1944: Warsaw Uprising begins in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War

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The operation, codenamed "W Hour," was launched by the Polish underground resistance movement, primarily the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), with the objective of liberating Warsaw from Nazi occupation before the arrival of Soviet ...By Scott Allsop

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31st July 1790: The first U.S. patent was awarded to Samuel Hopkins

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The first U.S. patent was awarded to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement ‘in making Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and ...By Scott Allsop

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30th July 1916: German agents trigger a major explosion at the Black Tom munitions depot in New Jersey to stop supplies to the Allies

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It was later revealed that German agents had infiltrated the site and deliberately ignited the munitions to prevent them from reaching the Allies as part of a broader German campaign of espionage and sabotage on American soil before the U.S. entered the war in ...By Scott Allsop

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29th July 1976: David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam, committed his first known murder in the Bronx, New York City

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David Berkowitz was responsible for a series of attacks often involving young women with dark hair, and usually while they were in parked cars late at ...By Scott Allsop

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28th July 1939: Ornate Anglo-Saxon helmet uncovered at the Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk, England

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The Sutton Hoo helmet featured a distinctive full-face design, including a nose, eyebrows, and moustache, as well as decorative panels showing scenes of warriors and ...By Scott Allsop

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27th July 1942: Allied forces in North Africa stop the advancing Axis powers in the First Battle of El Alamein

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The First Battle of El Alamein continued for nearly 4 weeks and saw both sides launch attacks and counter-attacks, eventually ending in stalemate with both sides taking time to reorganise and ...By Scott Allsop

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26th July 1945: Britain, the USA, and China issue the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan

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The Japanese government did not immediately respond formally to the declaration. As a result, the United States proceeded with plans to use atomic ...By Scott Allsop

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25th July 1965: American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival

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Having come to prominence in the early 1960s with songs that chronicled the social situation in the USA, Dylan’s dramatic shift away from his traditional instruments of acoustic guitar and harmonica was said to have, ‘electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the ...By Scott Allsop

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24th July 1847: Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley to begin the foundation of Salt Lake City, Utah

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After travelling more than 1,000 miles across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, the party of 148 Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley led by Brigham ...By Scott Allsop

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23rd July 1914: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia specifically designed to be rejected and lead to war between the two countries

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The ultimatum was delivered at 6pm on 23 July by the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Belgrade, with a deadline of 48 hours within which the Serbian government had to respond. The accepted all but one of the ...By Scott Allsop

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22nd July 1793: Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first recorded person to cross North America north of Mexico

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On 22 July, after travelling more than 3,000 miles, Mackenzie and his party reached the Pacific tidewaters at Dean Channel, near present-day Bella Coola, British ...By Scott Allsop

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21st July 1861: First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the American Civil War, takes place in Virginia

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Union troops, facing increasing resistance and mounting casualties, began to retreat in what soon turned into a disorganised ...By Scott Allsop

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20th July 1807: The world’s first internal combustion engine is patented in France

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Napoleon granted a patent for the Pyréolophore to Nicéphore Niépce and his brother ...By Scott Allsop

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19th July 1545: The Mary Rose, a Tudor warship of the English navy, sinks in the Solent in full view of King Henry VIII

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According to contemporary accounts, the Mary Rose had just fired a broadside at the French navy, and was turning when she keeled over and ...By Scott Allsop

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18th July 1938: ‘Wrong Way’ Douglas Corrigan lands in Ireland from New York, despite filing a flight plan to Long Beach, California

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Corrigan later claimed that a navigational error, caused by a faulty compass and poor weather conditions, had led him to fly east to Ireland instead of west to ...By Scott Allsop

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17th July 1918: Russian Imperial Romanov family shot dead by Bolsheviks in the basement of the Ipatiev House in the city of Ekaterinburg

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The Romanov family were all shot or stabbed by bayonets, and their bodies were taken away in a truck and disposed of in a forest twelve miles north of the ...By Scott Allsop

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16th July 622: Start date of the Islamic calendar

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The Islamic calendar was dated to start with the first new moon after the Prophet Muhammad and his followers migrated to ...By Scott Allsop

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15th July 1099: First Crusade ends when Crusader forces capture the city of Jerusalem, after a siege lasting several weeks

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After two days of fighting, the Crusaders breached Jerusalem's defences and entered the city, leading to intense fighting in the streets and buildings that led to a large-scale massacre of the city’s Muslim and Jewish ...By Scott Allsop