ON THIS DAY FEBRUARY 26

1531 An earthquake in Portugal kills tens of thousands of people, flattening much of Lisbon.

1616 Galileo is banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the Earth orbits the sun.

1815 Napoleon escapes from imprisonment on Elba and he and his supporters set out to re-conquer France

1844 A violent earthquake hits Cape Town although there is not much to destroy. Previous recorded quakes, caused by the Milnerton Fault, occurred in 1811, 1809, 1695 and 1620.

1852 The English steamship, the Birkenhead, carrying troops to the Frontier Wars runs aground off Danger Point, Gansbaai, and sets the nautical precedence of “women and children first”. Owing to there being too few lifeboats, the chivalrous soldiers – showing remarkable discipline – stand back, allowing the women and children to escape almost certain death. Rudyard Kipling’s poem about the event came to describe courage in the face of hopeless circumstance. Only 193 people survived the sinking. Of the remaining 458, most sacrificed their lives so that others might live. 1910 Mahatma Gandhi supports the African People’s Organisation’s resolution to declare the Prince of Wales’ day of arrival in South Africa a day of mourning, in protest against the South Africa Act’s disenfranchisement of Indians, coloureds and Africans. 1918 German planes bomb Venice, Italy, during World War I. 1936 Adolf Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche’s Volkswagen (people’s car). 1960 A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after take-off, killing 34 of the 52 people on board. 1991 Coalition planes have a field day, bombing Iraqi forces retreating from Kuwait during the Gulf War, killing hundreds and creating the so-called “Highway of Death”. 1995 Barings Bank collapses after rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion while speculating. 2001 The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan. 2013 A flexible battery capable of being charged wirelessly and folded and stretched is developed. 2018 Cold weather nicknamed “the Beast from the East” hits Europe, killing seven, and covers Pompeii, in Italy, in snow.