Astonishing Survival, Legendary Battles, and Shocking Modern Events You Won’t Believe Happened On This Day in History

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Wind turbines kill between 10 000 and 100 000 birds in the UK each year. Interestingly, painting one of the blades of a wind turbine black can reduce bird deaths by 70%.

On this day, January 26

1808 The Rum Rebellion takes place. It is the only successful armed takeover of the government in Australia. At the time Vice-Admiral William Bligh (he of Mutiny On The Bounty fame) was governor of New South Wales and had orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade.

1856 The Annabella, a 290-ton barque, runs aground at the entrance to Durban’s Natal bay on a sandbank known as the Lee Bank. The bank is renamed the Annabella Bank. Later, North Pier was built over the bank.

1902 Boer General Ben Viljoen and seven men are ambushed and captured by the British. A pocket book in Viljoen’s breast pocket saves him from a bullet and almost certain death.

1972 A bomb destroys the plane stewardess Vesna Vulovic is in and she survives the 10 160m fall – the world’s highest without a parachute. She awakens from a coma in hospital and immediately asks for a cigarette.

1991 Rebels overrun the Somalian capital of Mogadishu and overthrow the government.

1992 Boris Yeltsin says Russia will stop targeting US cities with nuclear weapons.

2007 Historian and raconteur par excellence, David Rattray is murdered at his Fugitive’s Drift home, near the battlefield of Isandlwana. Sunday Times Editor Mondli Makhanya, observed that Isandlwana was ‘a favourite fireside story’ among Zulus, told to youngsters for more than 120 years. He added: ‘To listen to David Rattray narrate the story of Isandlwana was akin to watching the best-scripted, best-directed and best-produced movie Hollywood’s finest studios could put out. It was goose-bump stuff.’ The man who championed post-apartheid reconciliation and who enthralled tourists and locals with his tales of the Zulu war, was shot three times by six intruders who fled empty-handed.

2014 A tourist boat capsizes off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, killing 21 people.

2020 US basketball legend Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in foggy conditions in the hills above Calabasas, southern California; considered one of the game’s greatest players.

2024 US Federal jury says Donald Trump must pay $83 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll after he denied raping her.

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