June 30 in History

1908 — An explosion at an altitude of 5-10km near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia incinerates an area of 300km² in the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history. It flattens 2,000km² of forest with no reported human casualties. No crater is found and the debate continues whether it was a comet or an asteroid.

1921 — The SA Reserve Bank opens its doors for business. After the Gold Conference of October 1919, a Select Committee of Parliament recommended the establishment of a central bank to assume responsibilities such as issuing banknotes and taking over the gold held by commercial banks. This leads to the 1920 Currency and Banking Act.

1936 — Jan Spies, SA author, storyteller, radio and TV personality, is born on the farm Sekretarispan in the Mariental district, South West Africa.

1936 — The novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell is published in the US.

1937 — The emergency telephone number 999 is introduced in London following the deaths of five women in a house fire in Wimpole Street on November 10 1935. A neighbour tried to phone the fire brigade, but was held in a queue by the Welbeck exchange. Outraged, he wrote a letter to The Times. A government inquiry is held and emergency numbers worldwide are born.

1941 — Peter McLean Pollock, SA cricketer (28 Tests from 1961-70, taking 116 wickets as fast bowler at an average of 24.18), is born in Pietermaritzburg.

1956 — A United Airlines DC-7 and a Trans World Airlines Constellation collide over the Grand Canyon, killing all 128 people. This, plus other collisions and near-misses, highlights the need for better air traffic control. It results in the formation of the Federal Aviation Agency (later Administration) in 1958.

1968 — Rebecca Malope, multi-award-winning SA gospel singer, is born in Lekazi, near Nelspruit. She has sold at least 10-million albums worldwide.

1971 — A Soviet space mission ends in tragedy when the three cosmonauts (Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev) aboard Soyuz 11 are found dead inside their spacecraft upon its return to Earth after more than 23 days in space. It is estimated they died 170km above the atmosphere and are still the only humans to have died in space. 1974 — Alberta King, 69, mother of Martin Luther King jnr, is shot dead by Marcus Wayne Chenault (on his 23rd birthday) where she sits at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He says he shot King because “all Christians are my enemies”.