Feb 17 in History
1454 — At a grand banquet in Lille, Philip the Good of Burgundy takes the “Vow of the Pheasant” to promote a crusade against the Turks, who had taken Constantinople (the Eastern Roman Empire capital) on May 29 1453. The crusade never takes place.
1854 — The United Kingdom recognises the independence of the Orange Free State, which becomes a republic with the signing of the Orange River Convention in Bloemfontein on the 23rd. It is nicknamed “the model republic”.
1883 — Arthur Ashwell, a businessman from Herne Hill, London, patents the “Vacant-Engaged” lock for toilet doors. Ashwell was travelling by train from Herne Hill to Waterloo when he was inspired to conceive a solution to the embarrassing process of determining whether a public toilet is occupied or not. 1904 — The original two-act version of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly” is poorly received during its world premiere at La Scala, Milan. He adds a third act, performed to great success in Brescia on May 28. He writes three more versions, the last in 1917.
1933 — Blondie Boopadoop marries Dagwood Bumstead in Chic Young’s comic strip “Blondie” (launched on September 8 1930) after much fanfare and build-up. After a month-and-a-half-long hunger strike by Dagwood to get his parents’ blessing, as they strongly disapproved of his marrying beneath his class, they disinherited him. Left only with a cheque to pay for their honeymoon, the Bumsteads are forced to become a middle-class suburban family. 1947 — The British Royal family — King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret — arrive in Table Bay on the HMS Vanguard for their visit to South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Swaziland, Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate.
1963 — Michael Jordan, widely considered the greatest basketball player yet, is born in NYC.
1972 — Henry Ford finally gets beaten. Volkswagen Beetle No 15,007,034 rolls off the assembly line in Germany, surpassing Ford’s Model T as the most highly produced car in history. More than 21.5-million of the little cars would eventually be cranked out. 1974 — Robert K Presto, 20, a US Army private first class, steals a helicopter from Ford Meade, Maryland, flies it to Washington D.C., hovers over the White House for six minutes and lands it on the South Lawn about 100m from the West Wing. He claims he pulled off the stunt to show his skill as a pilot after being washed out of a helicopter pilot training programme due to “deficiency in the instrument phase”.
1984 — AB de Villiers, South African cricket hero, is born in Warmbaths (Bela-Bela).