ON THIS DAY NOVEMBER 25

The White Ship sinks in the

English Channel, drowning the heir to the English crown and setting the stage for The Anarchy (1135-1153).

Vasco da Gama, on his way to the East, lands near Mossel Bay, staying for a week.

A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 12m storm surge, destroying the city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt).

The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20 000 ships and thousands of people, killing about 300 000.

Police in Natal open fire on people demonstrating against the imprisonment of Mohandas Gandhi, killing two and wounding 22.

The British battleship HMS Barham, is sunk by a German torpedo during World War II.

General Jan Smuts, SA premier, makes a speech to members of the British parliament, suggesting that world peace should be entrusted to a Trio of Great Powers – the US, Russia and Great Britain.

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, opens in London to become the longest continuously running play in history.

John F Kennedy and his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, are both buried, albeit separately.

Forty-five mercenaries from

South Africa (The Memorable Order of Froth Blowers) under Colonel Mike Hoare land in Seychelles, and stage an unsuccessful coup. Those who escape hijack a passenger plane and fly to Durban, where they surrender. One is the late Peter Duffy, a press photographer with the Argus group.

Jeddah floods during the Hajj pilgrimage and 3 000 cars are swept away; 122 people perish.

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