The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.

The Brownsea Island Scout camp holds a significant place in the history of the Scouting movement as it was the site of the first-ever experimental camp organized by Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting. The camp took place on Brownsea Island, located in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England, from August 1 to August 9, 1907.

The idea for the camp emerged as a way for Baden-Powell to test his ideas on outdoor education and character development, as outlined in his book “Scouting for Boys,” published earlier that year. He invited a group of 20 boys from different social backgrounds to participate in the camp. These boys, aged 12 to 17, formed the core of the experimental camp.

The main objectives of the Brownsea Island Scout camp were to promote skills like self-reliance, teamwork, leadership, and outdoor survival, and to instill the values of responsibility, loyalty, and resourcefulness among the participants.

The camp’s activities were diverse and focused on elements such as camping, hiking, woodcraft, observation, and pioneering skills. Baden-Powell personally led and participated in many of the activities, setting an example for the young Scouts. The boys were divided into four patrols, and each patrol was given responsibilities, allowing them to learn and practice leadership and cooperation.

The experimental camp was a great success and set the foundation for what would become the worldwide Scouting movement. After the camp, Baden-Powell continued to develop and refine his Scouting principles, and the Boy Scout movement rapidly spread globally.

Today, Brownsea Island remains an important site for Scouting, and it is visited by Scouts and tourists from all over the world who come to see where the historic first camp took place. The island also features a small Scouting museum and offers camping opportunities for Scouts, continuing the legacy of the movement’s origins.

The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

Niki Lauda has a severe accident that almost claims his life at the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring

A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 others in Asunción, Paraguay.

Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

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A British soldier was killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England.

The Inglis Barracks bombing was a bomb attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 1 August 1988 on a British Army barracks called Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, London. The attack killed one soldier from the Royal Engineers, injured nine more and destroyed large parts of the barracks. It was the first IRA attack in England since the 1984 Brighton Bombing.

The Provisional IRA had carried out sustained bombing campaigns in England before, between 1973 and 1976 carrying out hundreds of bombings in the process killing over 60 people and injuring over 1,000. The IRA carried out sporadic attacks in England between 1977 and 1984. The bombing at Inglis barracks commenced a new sustained bombing campaign that would last until the 1994 IRA ceasefire.

The living quarters of the barracks were demolished by the blast. Construction worker Frank McParland, who was working inside the barracks, said the middle section was obliterated. The roof of the two-story red brick building was blown off. Corporal Ian Booth was rescued alive after he was trapped beneath the debris. He was saved by a radiator that fell across him and shielded him from falling masonry. Fires raged for three hours as rescuers pulled the injured from heaps of rubble and smoldering timber. Half of the barracks, the army’s main postal depot in the capital, used to lay in former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Finchley constituency.

The new London Bridge opens.

396 people are killed in a supermarket in Asunción, Paraguay.

Dahomey declares independence from France. The country later changes its name to Benin.