ON THIS DAY: 1 August 1720 – The infamous ‘South Sea Bubble’ began to collapse. By December, shares in the South Sea Company had plummeted from a dazzling £1,000 to a dismal £124. Often called the first financial crash and sometimes dubbed the world’s first Ponzi scheme, it devastated investors across Britain. Even Isaac Newton … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 27 July 1866 – History was made when the first working transatlantic telegraph cable came ashore at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland. While this original telegraph cable has long since become obsolete, its legacy lives on in the modern transatlantic cables that now carry telephone and internet data between continents. The journey to success … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 10 July 1962 – Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin was granted U.S. Patent No. 3,043,625 for the three-point seat belt, a life-saving invention that would go on to revolutionise automotive safety. It’s estimated that Bohlin’s design has reduced the risk of death in car crashes by 45%—a remarkable impact for such a simple … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 2 July 1839 – a courageous act of resistance took place aboard the Spanish slave ship La Amistad (whose name means, ironically, ‘friendship’). Fifty-three Africans who had been abducted from their homeland and sold into slavery in Cuba rose up against their captors in a bold bid for freedom. The captives had … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 25 June 1876 – Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer met his end at the Battle of the Little Bighorn—an event that would become famously known as Custer’s Last Stand. He was just 36 years old. The battle, a key conflict in the Great Sioux War of 1876, took place near the Little … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 17 June 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal, ‘The Exalted One of the Palace,’ died while giving birth to her 14th child. The Taj Mahal would be built as her mausoleum, and as a tribute from her adoring husband. Mumtaz Mahal was the second wife of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, until her … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 7? June, 1558 – Robert Recorde, the man who invented the mathematical equals sign (=), died in a debtors’ prison in London. Recorde was born in Tenby, He earned his degree at Oxford in 1531 and went on to teach mathematics there as well as at Cambridge. At some point, he began … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 29 May 1991 – The Port Authority operating John F. Kennedy Airport in New York commenced the slaughter of 15,000 gulls at JFK. Sharpshooters were hired to kill gulls from May to August. Between 1979 and 1993, bird strikes at JFK caused 45 aborted takeoffs and 41 damaged or destroyed aircraft engines. … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 18 May 1812 – John Bellingham was hanged for assassinating British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. On 11 May 1812, the 40-year-old Bellingham walked into the lobby of Parliament and waited for Perceval. As Perceval approached, Bellingham took out two pistols he … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 1 May 1851 – The first public flushing toilets, known as ‘Monkey Closets,’ were unveiled at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park in London. Designed by sanitary engineer and plumber Josiah George Jennings, they caused great excitement. For the cost of one penny, visitors were provided with a … Read more