Bored with police work, senior cop robs banks for kicks in his lunch break and becomes very good at it

Did you know?

Most maps of the world are wrong – Africa, the world’s second-biggest continent appears smaller than it really is. This is because most maps, the Mercator projection – first developed in 1569 – is still used. This method is wildly inaccurate and makes Alaska appear as large as Brazil and Greenland 14 times larger than it actually is. For a map to be completely accurate, it would need to be life-size and round, not flat.

On this day in history, January 19

1817 An army of 5 500 men, in a daring march, crosses the Andes from Argentina, to liberate Chile and Peru from Spain.

1825 Using tin cans to store food is patented.

1900 Boer General JP Snyman sends a starving group of Black women, who have been encouraged by the British to attempt a breakout, back to Mafeking under a white flag. However, Colonel Baden-Powell objects and threatens to shoot them if they advance.

1935 The world’s first men’s briefs go on sale in Chicago. They are called ‘Jockey’.

1945 Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of its 200 000 inhabitants in 1940, fewer than 900 survive the German occupation.

1978 One of the most popular cars ever, the Volkswagen Beetle leaves VW’s plant in Emden, Germany, for the last time. Some 21.5 million were built at various plants.

1981 US and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 Americans held hostage at the US embassy for 14 months.

1984 The notorious Stander gang of bank robbers rob three banks in less than an hour in Johannesburg. The gang’s leader is a bored policeman, who commits the crimes during his lunch hour and then returns as the investigating officer. At one point he was the youngest captain in the police, as well as the son of a respected general. It has been thought he was affected by his time in the army in Angola, or during township duties as a policeman. He is shot dead in Florida, US.

1990 Police baton-charge and tear gas a crowd protesting about Mike Gatting’s England rebel cricket team, at Jan Smuts Airport.

1999 A storm at Mount Ayliff, in the Eastern Cape, leaves 22 people dead and 4 000 homeless.

2001 Mexican drug lord El Chapo makes a daring escape from prison in a laundry cart.2013 Lance Armstrong finally admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories.

2017 A high-rise building collapses in Tehran, killing 20 fire fighters.

2025 Gaza war: An Israel-Hamas ceasefire comes into effect in Gaza as the first Israeli hostages are released, with the Palestinian death toll at least 46 800 (lasts until an Israeli surprise attack on 18 March).

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