The 'on this day in history' podcast, with a new episode every single day. Featuring historical events that range from the Roman Empire to the World Wide Web, HistoryPod proves that there is always something to be remembered 'on this day'. Written and presented by Scott Allsop, creator of the award-winning www.mrallsophistory.com
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Yellowstone became the first national park in the world after President Ulysses S. Grant signed The Act of Dedication ...Por Scott Allsop
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The Waco siege began in Texas after agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided the Branch Davidian ...Por Scott Allsop
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27th February 1900: Labour Representation Committee founded, marking the start of what would later become the British Labour Party
The Labour Representation Committee aimed to secure parliamentary representation for labour candidates, funded by trade unions. Ramsay MacDonald was appointed secretary, and six years later it adopted the name Labour ...Por Scott Allsop
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26th February 1935: Daventry Experiment proves the ability of using radio waves to detect aircraft, heralding the development of radar
Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins conducted an experiment using a BBC shortwave radio transmitter located near Daventry, Northamptonshire, and a receiving station was set up in a field around 6 miles away that consisted of two receiving antennae attached to CRT monitoring equipment installed in a van. A Handley Page Heyford bomber was instructe…
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25th February 1932: Adolf Hitler gains German citizenship, having been stateless for seven years and unable to run for public office
Numerous attempts to secure him German citizenship were attempted over the next few years, but it wasn’t until 1932 that a solution was found when Dietrich Klagges, a Nazi Party member who was serving as the Minister of the Interior for the Free State of Brunswick, arranged for Hitler to be appointed as an administrator for the state’s delegation t…
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Having previously served as a senator and later military governor for the state of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson was chosen by Abraham Lincoln to be his running mate in the election of ...Por Scott Allsop
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Although Cuba retained sovereignty over Guantanamo Bay, the arrangement ensured that the United States maintained a strategic military presence in the Caribbean. The 45 square mile area was selected as most suitable for a naval base and coaling station due to its deep-water harbour and strategic location on Cuba’s south-eastern ...…
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The last invasion of Britain by a hostile foreign force began when French troops under the command of the Irish-American Colonel William Tate landed near the Welsh town of ...Por Scott Allsop
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21st February 1804: World’s first recorded locomotive-hauled railway journey takes place at the Penydarren Ironworks in South Wales
On 21 February 1804, Richard Trevithick’s steam locomotive successfully pulled a load of ten tons of iron, as well as several passengers and workmen, along a 9.75 mile route from Penydarren Ironworks in South Wales in just over 4 ...Por Scott Allsop
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The Northern Isles, which consist of the two island groups of Shetland and Orkney, have been inhabited since prehistoric times but were formally annexed by the Norwegian king Harald Hårfagre in around 875 after he subdued the Vikings who used the islands as a base from which to raid Norway and ...Por Scott Allsop
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19th February 1942: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, allowing the military to place Japanese Americans in internment camps
Executive Order 9066 was issued two months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and primarily targeted Japanese Americans, leading to their forced relocation and internment during World War ...Por Scott Allsop
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, under his pen-name Mark Twain, had previously published the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in which the character of Huckleberry “Huck” Finn is introduced for the first ...Por Scott Allsop
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17th February 1936: ‘The Phantom’ comic strip published for the first time, widely regarded as the first costumed superhero
The Phantom's distinctive appearance of a skin-tight purple costume, domino mask, and striped trunks became iconic, influencing later superheroes in comic book ...Por Scott Allsop
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The DuPont company’s organic chemist Wallace Carothers received a patent for linear condensation polymers, the basis of the material better known as ...Por Scott Allsop
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15th February 1965: Canada officially adopts its national flag of a red maple leaf on a white square between two vertical red bars
A special parliamentary committee reviewed over 5,900 submissions, ultimately settling on a design created by historian George F. G. Stanley that featured a stylized red maple leaf with 11 points, with the red and white derived from Canada’s official ...Por Scott Allsop
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Pale Blue Dot, the most distant photograph ever taken of Earth, was created by the Voyager 1 space ...Por Scott Allsop
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The destruction of Dresden was extensive, with vast areas of the city reduced to rubble. While some argue the attack was a necessary military operation to disrupt German supply lines and weaken morale, others contend that the scale of destruction and the civilian toll were disproportionate, particularly given the advanced stage of the war and Germa…
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The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen to honour the role of St. Louis in the westward expansion of the United States. It was officially opened to the public on June 10, 1967, coon becoming one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States, attracting millions of visitors each ...…
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11th February 1979: The Iranian Revolution overthrows Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran
The overthrow of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi brought the 2,500 year old monarchy in Iran to an end and ushered in a theocracy overseen by the Ayatollah ...Por Scott Allsop
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10th February 1940: First Tom and Jerry cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Puss Gets the Boot was created by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1941. This led to the studio deciding to continue producing cartoons with the characters, which were soon renamed Tom and ...Por Scott Allsop
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Volleyball was invented by William G. Morgan, the Director of Physical Education at the YMCA in Holyoke, ...Por Scott Allsop
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8th February 1950: The Stasi formally established in East Germany as the Ministry for State Security
The Stasi used blackmail, intimidation, and imprisonment, as well as psychological manipulation, to target perceived dissidents. By the time the organisation’s activities ended following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Stasi was regarded as one of the most effective intelligence agencies of the Cold War ...…
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7th February 1964: The Beatles arrive in the United States for their first appearance on national television
The band landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport on 7 February to be greeted by 3,000 screaming ...Por Scott Allsop
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Sir Stamford Raffles, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen in modern Indonesia, had identified Singapore as an ideal location for the British East India company due to its natural harbour and strategic position along the Straits of ...Por Scott Allsop
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Although now largely inaccurate as a result of the inherent delay in the encoding, transmission, and decoding of digital radio broadcasts, the Greenwich Time Signal pips are still a part of many BBC radio ...Por Scott Allsop
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4th February 1703: Forty six of the Forty-Seven Rōnin commit seppuku after avenging the death of their master
47 of Asano Naganori's former samurai plotted to avenge their lord’s death from seppuku after he attacked Kira ...Por Scott Allsop
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3rd February 1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper killed in a plane crash known as ‘The Day the Music Died’
Their private plane took off at 12:55am on 3 February, but managed to fly only 6 miles before crashing amidst deteriorating ...Por Scott Allsop
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A potential diphtheria epidemic in Alaska was avoided after a dogsled relay transported vials of antitoxin 674 miles in five and a half days in “Great Race of ...Por Scott Allsop
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On the 1st February 1968, American photojournalist Eddie Adams took a photograph of South Vietnamese National Police Chief General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém in ...Por Scott Allsop
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31st January 1918: Battle of May Island damages and sinks Royal Navy vessels during accidental collisions in thick fog
The Battle of May Island was not an actual battle but rather a peacetime disaster caused by miscommunication and navigational errors near the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth in Scotland during World War ...Por Scott Allsop
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On the twelfth anniversary of Charles I’s execution, Cromwell’s remains were subjected to a ceremonial trial and then hanged in chains at Tyburn. The body was subsequently decapitated, and the head displayed above Westminster Hall at the Palace of ...Por Scott Allsop
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29th January 1886: Karl Benz patents his Motorwagen, widely regarded as the world’s first automobile
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was powered by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine that produced approximately 0.75 horsepower, enabling the vehicle to reach speeds of around 16 kilometers per ...Por Scott Allsop
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Charles VI of France danced in the Bal des Ardents in which four people died after their costumes caught ...Por Scott Allsop
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27th January 1967: The Outer Space Treaty that is the basis for all space laws opened for signatures
The Outer Space Treaty, which provides the basic framework on international space law, was opened for signatures in the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United ...Por Scott Allsop
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26th January 1998: US President Bill Clinton tells a White House press conference he “did not have sexual relations” with Monica Lewinsky
Seven months elapsed before Clinton was called before a grand jury, where he admitted he and Lewinsky had had a relationship that was ‘not ...Por Scott Allsop
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Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr was the director of research at DuMont Laboratories in New Jersey where he was exploring the use of cathode ray tubes in television ...Por Scott Allsop
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Three Praetorian Guards cornered Caligula in a cryptoporticus beneath his palace on the Palatine Hill and stabbed him to ...Por Scott Allsop
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23rd January 1795: French cavalry capture 14 Dutch warships at Den Helder during the War of the First Coalition
On the night of 23 January, a contingent of French cavalry, supported by infantry, was able to approach the Dutch ships across thick ice on ...Por Scott Allsop
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22nd January 1506: Pope Julius II formally establishes the Pontifical Swiss Guard as the personal bodyguard of the Pope and the Vatican
Recognizing the military prowess of Swiss mercenaries, Pope Julius II obtained funding from the wealthy German merchant Jakob Fugger to fund a contingent of soldiers to ensure his safety, protect Vatican property, and assist in military engagements when ...Por Scott Allsop
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Alderman Timothy Sullivan proposed the ordinance that made it illegal for proprietors or managers of hotels, restaurants, and other public places to allow women to smoke on their premises. Despite public opposition, the New York City Board of Aldermen voted for it ...Por Scott Allsop
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20th January 1949: Shirley Temple given a tear gas fountain pen by J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, during the inauguration of Harry Truman
Temple's years in the limelight had made her a target for death threats, kidnapping threats, and extortion threats. As a result she formed a close relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, who gave her a tear-gas fountain pen while they watched the inauguration procession from his office ...…
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19th January 1883: World’s first electric lighting system using overhead wires activated in Roselle, New Jersey
Designed by Thomas Edison and his team, the system included a central steam-powered generator that supplied electricity to a store and the railroad station, alongside 40 houses and 150 ...Por Scott Allsop
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Wilhelm was formally declared the German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles on 18 ...Por Scott Allsop
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The Battle of Monte Cassino began when Allied forces launched the first of four attacks against the Gustav Line in ...Por Scott Allsop
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The coronation ceremony was an elaborate event designed to emphasize Ivan’s authority and the sanctity of his rule, and he followed it by pursuing a series of reforms and expansionist policies aimed at consolidating his power and strengthening the ...Por Scott Allsop
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21 people were killed and a further 150 were injured after 2.3 million gallons of molasses swept through North End in Boston, Massachusetts after a storage tank ...Por Scott Allsop
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14th January 1973: Elvis Presley makes the first solo headline satellite broadcast in Aloha From Hawaii
Elvis Presley became the first solo entertainer to broadcast a live performance via satellite with Aloha From ...Por Scott Allsop
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The riots spread throughout Constantinople and buildings, including the Hagia Sophia and parts of the imperial palace, were set on fire. Much of the city was left in ...Por Scott Allsop
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Dr James Hiram Bedford became the first human to be cryonically ...Por Scott Allsop
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The British plan involved a three-pronged advance into Zululand, with the main column, led by Lord Chelmsford, heading toward the Zulu capital at ...Por Scott Allsop
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