ON THIS DAY

APRIL 17

1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the story of

The Canterbury Tales, which would become enormously popular in medieval Europe, for the first time at the court of Richard II. The greatest contribution of The Canterbury Tales to English literature was the popularisation of the English vernacular in mainstream literature.

1662 The first two apples are picked in the Company’s Garden in Cape Town. They are said to be small and rather tart.

1838 The ‘Grand Army of Natal’, led by Robert Bigger, John Cane and John Stubbs, reaches the Tugela River and runs into Zulu warriors who overwhelm the 18 Englishmen, 400 auxiliaries and 3 000 men, killing most of them.

1902 A British delegation proposes that Boer republic representatives meet at Vereeniging to decide on their future.

1946 Syria declares independence from France.

1949 At midnight 26 Irish counties become the Republic of Ireland.

1961 CIA-backed Cuban exiles land in Cuba’s Bay of Pigs to overthrow Fidel Castro. 1969 Sirhan Sirhan convicted of assassinating Robert Kennedy, believed to be the first major incident of political violence in the US stemming from the Arab–Israeli conflict.

1970 The ill-fated Apollo 13 returns to Earth. 1980 For the last time in Africa, the Union Jack is lowered as Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe. 1984 Police officer Yvonne Fletcher is killed outside the Libyan Embassy in London.

1986 The Netherlands and the tiny Scilly Islands (off Cornwall) sign a peace treaty, ending a 335-year war, which began in 1651. 1986 The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove.

1993 Two Los Angeles police officers are convicted of violating the civil rights of Rodney King, whose beating sparked riots that only ended when the Marines were brought in. 2011 Game of Thrones, based on the books by George RR Martin, premieres on HBO

2015 Jazz composer and musician John Coltrane is awarded a posthumous Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize board. | THE HISTORIAN