FEBRUARY 8

1587 The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, is horribly botched. Instead of a clean beheading, the first strike of the axe strikes the back of her skull; the second isn’t much better and leaves her head hanging by a piece of sinew. Later as her head was triumphantly held aloft, her auburn tresses were revealed to be a wig as the head fell to the ground, revealing very short, grey hair. 1834 Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev, best known for formulating the Periodic Law, and creating a periodic table of elements, is born.

1837 Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and French military officer Georges d’Anthès meet in a deadly duel which leaves the remarkable Russian poet dead.

1881 The Boers defeat the British at the Battle of Ingogo Heights, near Schuinshoogte. 1884 Cetshwayo, cousin of Shaka and the last king of an independent Zululand, dies. 1904 A surprise Japanese torpedo attack at Port Arthur starts the Russo-Japanese War. 1906 Bambatha Rebellion: 14 policemen go to arrest those who threatened a tax collector at Henley, Natal, but are forced to retreat with two of their number dead.

1920 Bolshevik troops capture Odessa, ending foreign involvement in the Russian civil war.

1931 An explosion in a coal mine in Manchuria kills 3 000 miners.

1942 Japanese armoured barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore.

1945 Imprisoned Soviet fighter pilot Mikhail Devyataev makes a daring escape from a Nazi concentration camp, on the island of Usedom, and hijacks the camp commandant’s plane to fly to freedom.

1950 The Stasi, the much-hated and feared secret police of East Germany, is established. 1969 The Allende Meteorite, ‘the beststudied meteorite in history’, breaks up in the atmosphere over Chihuahua, Mexico, scattering 2 tons of fragments.

1983 A prize stallion and Derby winner, Shergar, is kidnapped in Ireland. Never found, Lloyds of London pays out $10.6 million. 1983 A 320m-deep dust cloud envelops Melbourne, Australia, turning day to night. 1988 Natal is placed on flood alert as torrential rains lash the province.

2010 A storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers at least 36 avalanches, burying 4km of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping 2 000 travellers.

2014 A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims. | THE HISTORIAN