ON THIS DAY AUGUST 26

1346 Edward III’s English longbows decimate Philip VI’s army at the Battle of Crécy.

1789 The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is approved by France.

1883 The catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa begins its final, paroxysmal, stage. It would affect global climates.

1885 The British annex Tembuland to the Cape.

1916 Centre of German East African government falls to General Jan Smuts.

1922 The Japanese cruiser Niitaka is driven onto rocks during a storm at Kamchatka; 284 die.

1929 The first official commercial air service in South Africa is introduced.

1945 Japanese diplomats board the battleship USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.

1966 The South African Border

War starts with the battle at Omugulugwombashe.

1970 The liner SA Vaal rescues a Joburg man, Joseph Honeywill, 11 hours after he fell overboard from the ship near the Canary Islands.

1974 A Defence Bill is passed laying down penalties for any person or organization inciting avoiding military service.

1985 Athlete Zola Budd breaks the world 5 000m record.

1990 NUM general secretary Cyril Ramaphosa and president James Motlatsi are arrested in Newcastle, Natal, for an “illegal” march through the town’s centre.

1996 The Supreme Court convicts former police colonel Eugene de Kock of six killings during his service as commander of a police unit, based at Vlakplaas.

1999 Penny Heyns beats the world record the sixth time in three weeks by winning the 200m breaststroke in the Pan-Pacific Games in Sydney, in 2 minutes 24,42 seconds.

2013 All 25 000 applicants to the University of Liberia fail their university entrance exam.

2015 Two journalists are shot dead on live TV by a former co-worker in Moneta, Virginia.

2018 Emmerson Mnangagwa is sworn in as President of Zimbabwe.