ON THIS DAY
IN HISTORY
1506 The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.
1824 The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.
1833 Groot Constantia, which shipped wine to Napoleon in exile on the island of St Helena, concludes another sale with a VIP – this time with the King of France, Louis-Philippe.
1879 A British supply column moving up the North Coast towards Eshowe is attacked by about 5 000 Zulus as they cross the Nyezane River. The attack is beaten off.
1879 Cetshwayo’s impis wipe out British troops at Isandlwana in one of the worst disasters in British military history, stabbing 1 272 soldiers to death. They then descend on the trading post at Rorke’s Drift, but the 130 defenders manage to hold off the 3 000 to 4 000 attackers. A record 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders.
1905 Tsarist soldiers open fire on a crowd who want to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II, killing 140-240 people. This event, Bloody Sunday, sparked the 1905 revolution and helped turn the tide against the autocracy.
1915 A train plunges off the tracks into a deep canyon in Mexico, killing 600 people.
1927 Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match (Arsenal v Sheffield United).
1943 Australians and Americans defeat the Japanese army in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna-Gona in New Guinea.
1946 Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the CIA.
1970 The Boeing 747, the world’s first “jumbo jet”, enters commercial service.
1971 The results of an informal poll among white sportsmen show that of 101 sportsmen questioned, 79 were in favour of mixed sport, 17 were not, and five had no comment.
1984 The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularise the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during a Super Bowl XVIII TV commercial.
1999 Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.
2005 For the fifth time in a row a South African wins the Rotax Grand Final World karting championship. Wesleigh Orr took the race. | THE HISTORIAN