Snakes, Cannibals, Kidneys and Coups: What Makes This Day Unforgettable
English human rights activist Deo Kato achieved something big on this day back in the day.
Image: File
Did you know that?
Snakes flick their forked tongues to ‘taste” airborne particles, helping them sense their environment.
On this day in history, December 23
1888 Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear after arguing with fellow painter Paul Gauguin and gives it to a friendly prostitute at a local brothel.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Laboratories by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley, which sparks a worldwide revolution in electronics.
1948 Seven Japanese military and political leaders, including Hideki Tojo, Japan’s prime minister, are executed in Tokyo for war crimes.
1952 Biologist and physician Alain Bombard, 25kg lighter, arrives in Barbados after 65 days and 4 400km at sea, proving that a person could survive with almost no provisions.
1954 The first successful kidney transplant is performed, in Boston.
1972 An earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, killing more than 10 000.
1972 The remaining 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days trapped in the mountains, having survived by cannibalism.
1985 Five civilians die and 40 are injured when MK cadre Andrew Zondo’s bomb explodes at an Amanzimtoti shopping centre.
1987 Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager set a new world record of 216 hours of continuous flight around the world without refuelling. Their aircraft, Voyager, travelled 40 211km.
1996 Four women are ordained as priests in Jamaica – the first in Anglican history.
2002 A US Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.
2003 The PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, in Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, kills at least 234 people.
2007 Officials agree to abolish the Kingdom of Nepal and replace it with a federal republic.
2008 A coup d’état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.
2016 UN Security Council adopts a landmark resolution demanding a halt to all Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
2024 Ugandan-English runner and human rights activist Deo Kato (37) completes his trek from Cape Town to London, England to highlight the story of human migration. The 132 45km journey took 518 days.
DAILY NEWS