Best Scott Allsop Podcasts (2025)

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28th April 1967: Muhammad Ali, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, refuses induction into the United States Army

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Ali's refusal to be inducted led to him being stripped of his boxing titles and later convicted of draft evasion for which he was sentenced to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and a ban from boxing. He remained free on bail while the case was under ...By Scott Allsop

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27th April 1945: Benito Mussolini, the former Fascist dictator of Italy, captured by Italian partisans in northern Italy

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Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans near the village of Dongo whilst attempting to flee to Switzerland, and was executed the next ...By Scott Allsop

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26th April 1865: John Wilkes Booth, who had assassinated Abraham Lincoln, shot after refusing to surrender

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He was dragged out of the barn where he had been hiding and died three hours ...By Scott Allsop

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25th April 1859: Construction begins on the Suez Canal at the northern Egyptian port town of Port Said

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The canal was designed as a sea-level waterway stretching approximately 120 miles across the Isthmus of Suez, and its completion in 1869, ten years after work began, significantly reduced travel time between Europe and ...By Scott Allsop

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24th April 1932: Mass trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District protests against limited access to open countryside

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The Kinder Mass Trespass involved approximately 400 people walking to the Kinder Scout plateau in deliberate defiance of the landowners, in a protest in favour of the right to ...By Scott Allsop

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23rd April 1516: The Reinheitsgebot beer purity law first introduced in Bavaria

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Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria signed the Reinheitsgebot, a law to ensure the purity of beer that specified a limited number of ...By Scott Allsop

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22nd April 1915: Poison gas used effectively in the First World War at the Second Battle of Ypres

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Over five thousand French Algerian, Moroccan and territorial troops died within ten minutes of the chlorine gas being ...By Scott Allsop

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21st April 1526: First Battle of Panipat marks the beginning of Mughal rule in India and the end of the Lodi dynasty

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Babur, a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, had established a power base in Kabul but the victory at Panipat gave him control of Delhi and Agra, allowing him to establish the foundations of what would become the Mughal Empire in ...By Scott Allsop

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20th April 1965: Houston Astrodome’s skylight windows painted to reduce glare from the sun

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Painting the windows of the Astrodome significantly improved the situation for the players, but in turn led to the grass inside dying from a lack of light. It was replaced with an artificial alternative, which became known as ...By Scott Allsop

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19th April 1775: The Battles of Lexington and Concord mark the beginning of the American Revolutionary War

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As the British troops arrived in Lexington, they encountered a small group and, although the exact events that unfolded are unclear, a shot was fired that initiated the first skirmish of the American Revolutionary ...By Scott Allsop

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18th April 1942: The Doolittle Raid marks the first American air operation to strike the Japanese mainland

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The Doolittle Raid saw sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers demonstrate Japan’s vulnerability to air raids, and forced the Japanese military to divert resources to homeland ...By Scott Allsop

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17th April 1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion launched by Brigade 2506

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The Bay of Pigs Invasion was launched by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade ...By Scott Allsop

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16th April 1746: The Battle of Culloden takes place near Inverness, Scotland, ending the Jacobite Rising of 1745

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Culloden was the last pitched battle fought on British soil and the defeat ended Jacobite hopes of restoring the Stuart monarchy to the ...By Scott Allsop

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15th April 1861: President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to suppress the growing insurrection in the southern states

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Lincoln’s call for volunteers was part of his effort to maintain the authority of the federal government after several southern states seceded from the ...By Scott Allsop

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14th April 70 CE: Titus begins the Siege of Jerusalem

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The future Roman Emperor Titus began the Siege of Jerusalem, during which the Second Temple was burned and ...By Scott Allsop

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13th April 1953: Project MK-Ultra human experimentation program granted approval by Allen Dulles, Director of the CIA

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MKUltra was established during the Cold War to explore ways to manipulate human behaviour using drugs, hypnosis, psychological conditioning, and other ...By Scott Allsop

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12th April 1917: The Canadian Corps successfully capture Vimy Ridge

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The Canadian Corps successfully captured Vimy Ridge in the First World ...By Scott Allsop

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11th April 1951: U.S. President Harry S. Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur of his commands in Korean and Japan

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On 11 April 1951, Truman announced that he had removed MacArthur from his command and replaced him with General Matthew Ridgway, emphasising that military leaders must follow policies set by civilian ...By Scott Allsop

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10th April 1971: US table tennis team ushers in ping pong diplomacy

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The United States table tennis team heralded the era of ‘ping pong diplomacy’ by becoming the first official American delegation to visit China in 20 ...By Scott Allsop

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9th April 1860: First known audio recording made by French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville on his phonautograph

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Scott developed the phonautograph, which used a horn to collect sound waves and direct them onto a membrane, and made a recording of a fragment of the song “Au Clair de la Lune” on 9 April ...By Scott Allsop

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8th April 1904: Times Square in New York given its name

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Times Square in New York was given its name shortly after the offices of The New York Times moved to the ...By Scott Allsop

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7th April 1739: Legendary British highwayman Dick Turpin executed in York after being convicted of horse theft

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Turpin committed numerous highway robberies and soon became one of the most notorious criminals of his time, though he was ultimately executed for horse ...By Scott Allsop

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6th April 1917: The USA declares war on Germany in WW1

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The United States entered the First World War after Congress declared war on the German ...By Scott Allsop

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5th April 1621: The Mayflower returns to England from the settlement at Plymouth, having carried the Pilgrim fathers to America

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To the ship’s crew the voyage to the New World was just a delivery contract between the Pilgrims and the ship’s master, Christopher ...By Scott Allsop

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4th April 1841: US President William Henry Harrison dies 32 days after taking office, ending the shortest presidency in US history

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Shortly after his inauguration, Harrison developed a cold that worsened into pneumonia from which he died. As well as becoming the first U.S. president to die in office this also marked the shortest presidency in US ...By Scott Allsop

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3rd April 1882: American outlaw Jesse James shot dead by fellow gang-member Robert Ford

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As James stood on a chair and turned to clean a dirty picture frame in his house, Robert Ford shot him in the back of the head from virtually point-blank ...By Scott Allsop

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2nd April 1877: Zazel performs the first recorded human cannonball act at the Royal Aquarium in London

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The human cannonball act was developed by "The Great Farini" and performed by 17-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter, who was propelled over 6 metres at a show in the theatre of London’s Royal ...By Scott Allsop

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1st April 1918: Royal Air Force formally established in the United Kingdom by merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service

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At the time of its formation, the RAF had around 20,000 aircraft and more than 300,000 personnel with its primary mission being to provide air support to ground and naval operations, conduct strategic bombing, and defend Britain from aerial ...By Scott Allsop

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31st March 1889: The Eiffel Tower officially completed and inaugurated in Paris for the Exposition Universelle

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The tower’s construction began on 28 January 1887 and took just over two years to complete, after which Gustave Eiffel led a group of government officials and members of the press to the top where he raised the French tricolour ...By Scott Allsop

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30th March 1856: The Crimean War officially ends with the Treaty of Paris

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The Crimean War began in October 1853, having been triggered by disagreements between Russia and the Ottoman Empire regarding Russia’s right to protect the Orthodox Christian minority in the Ottoman-controlled Holy ...By Scott Allsop

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29th March 1973: The last regular American troops withdraw from South Vietnam

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The withdrawal of the last regular American troops from South Vietnam ended eight years of direct US military involvement in ...By Scott Allsop

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28th March 1979: British Prime Minister James Callaghan loses a vote of no confidence by a single vote

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By early 1979 Callaghan’s government had lost its majority in the House of Commons and, with the government weakened, the Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, tabled a motion of no ...By Scott Allsop

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27th March 1963: Dr Richard Beeching, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, publishes his report to cut thousands of miles of railway lines

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Not all the recommendations were implemented, but the subsequent Beeching Cuts resulted in the closure of 2,128 stations, thousands of miles of track, and the loss of up to 70,000 ...By Scott Allsop

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26th March 1830: The Book of Mormon first went on sale at E. B. Grandin’s book store

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The Book of Mormon is a key sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that was published by Joseph Smith, the founder of the movement, when he was twenty-four years ...By Scott Allsop

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25th March 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their first “Bed-In for Peace” at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam

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For a week, Lennon and Ono remained in bed, dressed in white pyjamas, while allowing journalists and photographers into their room to spread their anti-war ...By Scott Allsop

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24th March 1944: The ‘Great Escape’ takes place from Stalag Luft III, a German prisoner-of-war camp in Lower Silesia

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Prisoners had worked in shifts to dig a tunnel known as "Harry" that was over 100 metres long and equipped with ventilation systems and ...By Scott Allsop

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23rd March 1540: Waltham Abbey in Essex became the last abbey to be dissolved under Henry VIII

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Abbot Robert Fuller surrendered the abbey and its property on 23 March 1540, and within just a few years all the buildings except for the parish nave had been demolished or had collapsed due to ...By Scott Allsop

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22nd March 1895: The Lumière brothers stage their first film screening in Paris

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Put on for an audience of 200 invited attendees at the “Society for the Development of the National Industry”, the reaction to the moving black-and-white pictures caught the brothers by ...By Scott Allsop

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21st March 1871: Otto von Bismarck formally appointed first Chancellor of the German Empire

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Under Bismarck’s leadership, domestic policies sought to consolidate German unity and reduce opposition to the new state while foreign policy focused on maintaining stability in Europe and preventing conflicts that could threaten the new empire, by establishing a system of alliances that isolated ...…

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20th March 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte begins his Hundred Days as ruler of France following his escape from Elba

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Napoleon sought to consolidate his rule by promising reforms and peace in Europe, but the powers of the Seventh Coalition including Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia declared him an outlaw and he was defeated at the Battle of ...By Scott Allsop

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19th March 1882: First stone laid for the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

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The first stone of Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia basilica was ...By Scott Allsop

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18th March 1921: Kronstadt Rebellion ends following a final assault by Bolshevik forces

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On 7 March 1921, the Red Army launched an attack on Kronstadt across the frozen Gulf of Finland. The battle lasted for nearly two weeks, with heavy casualties on both ...By Scott Allsop

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17th March 1861: Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy under the rule of Victor Emmanuel II

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The Italian parliament convened in Turin to proclaim the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy under Victor Emmanuel II, previously King of Sardinia, who was declared the first King of ...By Scott Allsop

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16th March 1190: The Jewish population of York massacred in a pogrom

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Anti-Semitic attacks spread across England and reached York in March ...By Scott Allsop

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15th March 1848: Hungarian Revolution of 1848 begins in Pest, marking the start of a nationwide movement against Habsburg rule

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Inspired by revolutionary movements in France and other parts of Europe, Hungarian reformers sought a constitutional government. However, by August 1849 the Hungarian forces were overwhelmed and the revolution was ...By Scott Allsop

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14th March 1958: Perry Como awarded the first gold record by the RIAA

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Gold records were originally presented to artists by their own label, primarily as a form of self-congratulatory ...By Scott Allsop

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13th March 624: Battle of Badr sees the first major engagement between the early Muslim community of Medina and the Quraysh tribe of Mecca

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The Quraysh, despite their numerical superiority, were unprepared for the determined resistance they encountered, leading to to around 70 men, including key Quraysh leaders, being killed while many others were captured. The surviving Quraysh retreated to Mecca, marking a decisive victory for Muhammad and his ...…

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12th March 1938: Nazi German troops cross the border to annex Austria in an event known as the Anschluss

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German forces entered Austria without resistance and incorporated Austria into Germany, after which a referendum was held that showed overwhelming support for the ...By Scott Allsop

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11th March 1918: First confirmed case of Spanish Flu identified at Camp Funston in Kansas

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Within 18 months the disease had become a pandemic that infected up to a third of the entire world’s ...By Scott Allsop

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10th March 1762: The execution of Jean Calas prompts debates on religious intolerance and judicial injustice in France

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Jean Calas was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by breaking on the wheel, but the case had been marred by inconsistencies and a lack of conclusive evidence that prompted Voltaire to argue Calas had been a victim of religious prejudice and a flawed judicial ...By Scott Allsop

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