ON THIS DAY

169BC The menorah is lit to rededicate the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after two centuries of foreign rule and religious oppression and a seven-year revolt. The menorah burns for eight days without the sufficient fuel needed to do so, birthing the holiday Hanukkah. 1065 Westminster Abbey is consecrated in England. 1700 Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel lays the first bricks of an octagonal church, the tower of which still forms part of the Groote Kerk in Cape Town. 1849 M Jolly-Bellin discovers drycleaning, he accidentally upset lamp containing turpentine & oil on his clothing & sees cleaning effect. 1879 Tay Bridge disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75. 1901 Commandant Gideon Scheepers is found guilty on several charges by a British court martial and sentenced to death. He professes his innocence to the end.

1903 The French Congo is split into Ubangi-Shari, Chad, Gabon, and Middle Congo.

1908 Earthquake strikes Messina, Italy, killing nearly 80,000.

1909 Albert Kimmerling, a visiting Frenchman, is the first person to fly in SA. He reaches a height of 6m at East London.

1921 The Rand Revolt begins with a strike by miners after announcements of wage reductions on the coaland goldmines necessitated by the depression following WWI.

1921 The beginning of the Rand Rebellion in Southern Africa; the rebellion started as a strike by white mineworkers on and became an open armed rebellion against the state

1943 Soviet authorities launch operation Operation Ulussy, beginning the deportation of the Kalmyk nation to Siberia and Central Asia.

1950 Chinese troops cross 38th Parallel, into South Korea.

1972 Martin Bormann’s skeleton is found in Berlin (Hitlers deputy)

1976 Winnie Mandela banished in South Africa

2009 Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.

2012 Vladimir Putin signs into law a ban on US adoption of Russian children

2014 Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard. | The Historian