ON THIS DAY

NOVEMBER 8

1519 Conquistador Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration.

1679 Commander Simon van der Stel camps on the bank of the Eerste River and calls the place Stellenbosch.

1789 Whiskey is first distilled from corn by Elijah Craig in Bourbon, Kentucky.

1797 Mutiny breaks out in Table Bay among sailors of the Royal Navy over low pay and conditions of service. Officers were lured aboard one vessel, where they were seized. The mutineers demanded the officers be court martialled for maltreatment of their crews. Instead, the authorities played for time, going through the formalities of the trial of one captain. When he was acquitted, drunken sailors tried to storm the Castle. Alarmed citizens evacuated the town and it was several days before order was restored.

1887 The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is established.

1895 While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.

1899 President Steyn takes General Snyman to task for a cattle raid against Chief Montshiwa, admonishing him that it was not advisable to alienate the local people for the sake of a small herd of livestock.

1923 In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt – the Beer Hall Putsch – to overthrow the German government.

1939 Also in Munich, Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

1940 The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians.

1942 Allied forces begin landings in North Africa.

1950 A US F-80 Shooting Star shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft dogfight in history.

1973 The right ear of John Paul Getty III, scion to the Getty oil family, is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay $2.9 million.

1974 British peer the Earl of Lucan disappears and is never seen again after his nanny is found murdered in London.

1999 Bruce Miller is killed at his junkyard near Flint, Michigan. His wife Sharee Miller, who convinced her online lover Jerry Cassaday to kill him, was convicted of the crime – the world’s first Internet murder.

2005 Angry commuters in Vereeniging torch four carriages because trains weren’t running owing to cable theft.