The meltdown of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine occurred. The accident was caused by a system test that ultimately led to explosions, releasing radioactive contaminants that spread across Europe and the Soviet Union. Two plant workers died in the explosion, and 28 people died within weeks due to acute radiation syndrome. 350,000 people … Read more
Sales by Candle, as reported in The Times at the New York Coffee House, Sweeting’s Alley, announced the availability of the following goods by auction: 30,000 fine parchment beaver skins, 1,000 beaver coats, and 30,000 ‘Deer in the Hair and Shaved’ [this means the deer skin has been cleaned of flesh]. Sales by candle were popular in … Read more
The Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom was founded. It amalgamated the Royal Flying Corps (April 13, 1912 – April 1, 1918) and the air arm of the Royal Naval Air Service (July 1, 1914 – April 1, 1918). The newly created RAF was the result of the Smuts Report, prepared by South African … Read more
21 women and 18 men were found dead at 18341 Colina Norte in Rancho Santa Fe, California. All were members of a cult named Heaven’s Gate, and they had committed suicide by drinking vodka laced with phenobarbital and apple sauce. The cult leaders, Peep (Marshall Herff Applewhite) and Bo (Bonnie Lu Nettles), were convinced that … Read more
In Saigon, Vietnam, a celebration was organised to commemorate two sisters who, in 43 AD, led an uprising to banish their Chinese occupiers. The Trưng sisters hailed from a tribal, Lạc Việt aristocratic family in a district that is now part of modern-day Hanoi. When Trưng Trắc’s husband was executed for opposing the Han regime, … Read more
An advertisement appeared in The Times asking for an oyster dealer ‘who does not wash his hands in the same water as the oysters, and who is not fronted when civilly asked to wash them before he uses them to open the oysters’. Nowadays we associate oysters with champagne and luxury. But in the nineteenth century they … Read more
Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, escaped. In April 1814, Napoleon had signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which allowed him to choose an island to rule. Elba, with its 86 square miles and a population of only 12,000 residents, was his chosen destination. It was not a prison, as … Read more
Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish physician and microbiologist, discovered benzylpenicillin (penicillin G), an antibiotic originating from the mould Penicillium rubens, a species of fungus. Penicillium rubens was first discovered in 1923 by French microbiologist Philibert Melchior Joseph Ehi Biourge. However, in 1928, Fleming stumbled upon that one of his bacterial cultures, which he was experimenting with, was contaminated … Read more
Mary, Queen of Scots, cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. Mary was implicated in the Babington Plot, which involved the attempted assassination of Elizabeth. She was convicted of treason by a court of 36 noblemen, including The Lord Burghley, William Cecil; George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury; and Francis … Read more
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in the grounds of Birla House (renamed Gandhi Smriti) in New Delhi, India, on his way to conducting a multi-faith prayer meeting. His assassin, Nathuram Godse, a Chitpavan Brahmin from Pune in Maharashtra, was a Hindu nationalist who thought Gandhi was too accommodating in the Partition of India and Pakistan. Godse … Read more