Historical Event:
• 1823: Johannes Casparus Lotter (45), who made two silver communion chalices for the ‘Groote Kerk’ in Cape Town, dies.
• 1842: The Brazilia arrives from the Netherlands and hastens the annexation of Port Natal.
• 1846: Henry Warden orders the British troops to be moved from Philippolis to Bloemfontein, the farm about which he has written the previous day to the governor.
• 1882: Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, announces isolation of tuberculosis germs. This invention is of great significance to tuberculosis sufferers in SA.
• 1951: Two pilots of SA Air Force’s No 2 (Flying Cheetah) Squadron, assisting the United Nations in the Korean War, blast a convoy of twelve stationary and camouflaged trucks with rocket-fire and destroy ten. In another operation, two "Flying Cheetahs" wipe out nine trucks.
• 1961: The Ciskei territorial authority is instituted.
• 1969: Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Congo, dies in Boma, lower Congo. He was born in Tshela, Leopoldville Province, in 1912.
• 1999: Allan Boesak, former Director of the Foundation for Peace and Justice, is sentenced to eight years in gaol on charges of fraud and theft.
Arts, Music, TV:
• 1855: South African author Olive Schreiner is born at Wittebergen Mission Station near Herschel in the Eastern Cape. Her best-known work, "The Story of an African Farm", appeared in 1883 under the nom de plume of Ralph Iron.
• 1924: The first work of Sita (Sara Susanna de Kock), winner of the Scheepers Prize, is published
• The word "mafia" is never mentioned in the film version of The Godfather because the actual mafia demanded it.
• Movie trailers used to play after the film.
• The budget for the Movie "Titanic" was higher than the Titanic itself.
• Bruce Lee was so fast, they actually had to run his films slower so you can see his moves.
• Movie theatre Popcorn costs more per ounce that fillet mignon in USA.
• Nigeria makes more movies every year than the US.
Sports and did you know…
• 1900: Jackie Tindall, SA rugby Springbok is born in Stellenbosch.
• 1975: Terry van der Merwe receives Springbok colours for water skiing on her 14th birthday.
• 1976: Gabriel Stephanus (Gaffie) du Toit, SA rugby player, is born in Kuils River, CP.
• In a deck of cards the king of hearts is the only king without a moustache.
• Monopoly is the most played board game in the world.
• The opposite sides of a dice always adds up to 7.
• The original design of monopoly was circular.
• Draughts (checkers) is older than chess.
• There are 1,929,770,126,028,800 different colour combinations possible on a rubik’s cube.
Source: sahistory.org.com & did-you-knows.com
Compiled by: Thandi Xaba
