ON THIS DAY
NOVEMBER 7
1492 The Ensisheim meteorite, the oldest with a known date of impact, strikes the Earth around noon in a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France.
1665 The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.
1800 It becomes illegal for women in Paris to wear trousers without a permit from the police. Incredibly, the law was only annulled in 2013.
1871 The British flag is officially hoisted in the diggers’ camps after the annexation of the Griqua territory 10 days before.
1872 The cargo ship Mary Celeste sails from Staten Island for Genoa; it never arrives and is mysteriously found abandoned four weeks later.
1900 The Royal Canadian Dragoons win three Victoria Crosses at the Anglo-Boer War Battle of Leliefontein.
1901 The National Scouts Corps of doubtful repute, consisting of surrendered Boers who were willing to fight on the side of their erstwhile enemies, is formed under British command. They were allocated to various British units as scouts, but after the war were ostracised by the whole community.
1907 Jesús García saves the entire town of Nacozari, Mexico, by driving a burning train full of dynamite 6km away before it could explode. His heroics cost him his life. Revered as a national hero, many streets, plazas and schools across Mexico are named after him.
1908 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reportedly killed in San Vicente Canton, Bolivia.
1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power in St Petersburg, capture the Winter Palace and overthrow the provisional government.
1918 The influenza epidemic spreads to Western Samoa, killing 7 542 (about 20% of the population) by the end of the year.
1941 The Soviet hospital ship Armenia is sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that over 5 000 people died in the sinking.
2000 The US Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country’s largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.
2004 Hendrik Ramaala wins the men’s title at the New York Marathon, becoming the second South African to win the race, after Willie Mtolo’s triumph in 1992.
2017 Opera soprano Audrey Luna sings highest-ever note at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, A above high C.