May 24 in History

1830 — “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, the nursery rhyme by Sarah Josepha Hale, is published as a poem.

1870 — Jan Christiaan Smuts, lawyer, statesman (prime minister of the Union of South Africa , 1919-24 and 1939-48), military leader and philosopher, is born near Riebeeck West, Cape Colony.

1899 — Suzanne Lenglen, “La Divine” of French tennis, is born in Paris. Her 1914 World Hard Court Championships title makes her the youngest major champion in tennis history at 15 years and 16 days old. She wins Wimbledon six times (1919-23 and ’25), the French Open twice (1925 and ’26) and Olympic gold in 1920. The French Open women’s champion receives La Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

1930 — Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, landing in Darwin at the end of her 16,000km flight which started at Croydon Airport, Surrey, on May 5.

1941 — The German battleship Bismarck sinks the pride of the British Navy, battlecruiser HMS Hood, with 1,418 men aboard in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Three men survive and are rescued two hours later. Bismarck, severely damaged, tries to reach France but is sunk by relentless British attacks on May 27. Only 114 of the 2,065 men aboard survive. 1941 — Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter, author and visual artist, is born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, US.

1942 — Aron (Ali) Bacher, SA cricketer (12 Tests,

679 runs — 1965-70) and administrator, is born in Johannesburg.

1956 — The first Eurovision Song Contest (called Eurovision Grand Prix) is held in Lugano, Switzerland. 1972 — The only successful hijacking of an SAA flight: Captain Blake Flemington, piloting a Boeing 727-100 from Salisbury to Johannesburg, is forced by a Lebanese diamond agent and a Libyan policeman (armed with dynamite and a pistol) to return to Salisbury. Here, they refuel and 12 hostages remain on board. The hijackers believe they are flying to the Seychelles, but Flemington is in fact heading for Blantyre, Malawi. Here, nine hostages escape via the cockpit while Flemington and two others remain. The hijackers start fighting for possession of the dynamite fuse, the three captives escape, Malawi security forces open fire on the plane, the hijackers surrender, are jailed for two years but released after a year.

1991 — Eritrean rebels free Asmara from Ethiopian rule. Days later they help Ethiopian rebels take Addis Ababa and end Mengistu Haile Mariam’s 17-year dictatorship. 1993 — Eritrea gains independence, a move endorced by Ethiopia’s President Meles

Zenawi as reward for the 1991 support.