ON THIS DAY

JUNE 22

1535 Cardinal John Fisher is beheaded for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. 1611 While searching for the Northwest Passage, explorer Henry Hudson, his young son and loyal men, is set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers. 1633 Galileo Galilei is forced by the Pope to recant his Copernican views that the Earth orbits the Sun (Vatican only admits it was wrong in 1992). 1685 The first grant of land in Table Valley is registered in the name of Hieronymous Cruse. 1783 A poisonous cloud from Laki volcano, which spewed 120 million tons of sulphur dioxide (three times Euprope’s 2006 output) into the sky above Iceland reaches Le Havre, France. It caused a thick haze over Europe and caused thousands of deaths worldwide. 1839 Three Cherokee leaders are assassinated for signing a treaty which led to the Trail of Tears – the forced removal of Cherokee from their lands. 1874 Game of lawn tennis is introduced. 1897 Electricity comes to Durban. 1904 The first of 62 000 Chinese labourers arrive in South Africa. 1906 Bambata Rebellion leader Sigananda dies in the jail at Nkandla. 1940 France is forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany, in the same railroad car in which Germany was forced to sign an armistice in 1918. 1941 Despite warnings of a great terror should his tomb be disturbed, just that happens to the grave of Mongol warlord Tamerlan, and Germany invades the USSR in Operation Barbarossa – the largest military operation in history. Some 26.6 millions Russians would die and the tide of the conflict would only turn at Stalingrad, which co-incided with Tamerlan’s reburial. 1946 Speaking at a prayer meeting, Gandhi calls on the government to stop “hooliganism” by Whites. 1969 Ohio’s Cuyahoga River catches fire due to pollution and Cleveland earns the moniker, “The mistake on the lake”. 1986 Diego Maradona scores his Hand-of-God goal – the goal of the century – as Argentina march to World Cup title. 1999 Former Mpumalanga premier, Ndaweni Mahlangu causes a storm within political circles with his statement, “It is acceptable for politicians to lie”. |

The Historian