5 days ago
A passionate speech in praise of Nelson Mandela on the eve of what would have been his 100th birthday
1453 End of the 100 Years War between England and France (it was just called that, it lasted 116).
1836 The ship Doncaster is wrecked west of Cape Agulhas and is lost with all hands.
1878 Nqwiliso, tribal chief of West Pondoland and eldest son of Ndamase, signs a treaty, ceding sovereign rights and shipping in the Umzimvubu River mouth to the Cape.
1917 Under mounting pressure, Britain's King George V renounces all his German connections and changes the royal family's name from the alien Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more acceptable Windsor. Anti-German feeling was running particularly high at the time with German Gotha bombers pounding England and killing civilians. When he heard the news, German leader Kaiser Wilhelm, a man apparently blessed with a sense of humour despite all his difficulties, is said to have suggested that Shakespeare's play, The Merry Wives of Windsor should be renamed, The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
1918 Russia's Czar Nicholas II, his wife and their children are murdered by Bolsheviks.
1944 Two ammunition ships explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320 people.
1945 Allied leaders meet in Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany and the terms of surrender for Japan.
1950 The SABC starts the first national news service in the country.
1998 A Papua New Guinea earthquake triggers a tsunami, which kills 2 700 people.
2007 An Airbus crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo, Brazil, killing 199 people.
2014 A Malaysia Airlines plane is shot down over Ukraine. All 298 people on board die.
2015 Scientists solve the mystery of sleeping sickness in Kazakhstan villages – uranium mining increased carbon monoxide in the air.
2018 Former US president Barack Obama gives a passionate speech during the 16th annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Johannesburg, honouring Madiba on the eve of the 100th anniversary of his birth, and warning of 'strongman politics'.
2023 Powerful Typhoon Talim makes landfall on China's Guandong coast, forcing the evacuation of 230 000 people.
DAILY NEWS
