On this Day: Madiba presents the World Cup to the Springboks, and Durban pioneer Dick King returns with help

1842 Dick King returns by boat to Port Natal after a 10-day horse-ride to Grahamstown to fetch help in the fight against the Boers.

1916 The deadly first Battle of the Somme begins, killing more than a million troops. Many South African soldiers die.

1982 Speedbird 9, a British Airways Boeing 747, flies into a cloud of volcanic ash from Indonesia’s Mount Galunggung, causing the failure of all four engines. After some anxious moments, the engines are restarted. Pilot Eric Moody makes an announcement that has been described as a masterpiece of understatement: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

1995 Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar the Web Ellis trophy after the underdog Springboks win the final of the Rugby World Cup. Madiba attends in a Bok jersey in a powerful gesture of reconciliation. A SAA Boeing 747 flies low over Ellis Park with ‘GOOD LUCK BOKKE’ painted on it.

1999 The Springboks beat England 44-21 in Paris in the World Cup quarter-finals. Flyhalf Jannie de Beer sets a world record with five drop-goals, five penalties and two conversions.

2010 In tennis’s longest match, American John Isner defeats France’s Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon after 11 hours, 5 minutes.

2018 Women get to drive in Saudi Arabia.

2021 Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condo in Miami collapses, killing 98.

2022 In a landmark judgment, the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, eliminating the right to choose abortion.

2023 Wagner Group mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin rebel against Vladimir Putin’s government, march towards Moscow. Only a last-minute deal saves the day.

2024 Sudan has the largest number of displaced children in the world after a year of civil war, with nearly four million facing acute malnutrition, according to the UN.

2024 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange reaches a deal with the US; pleading guilty to criminal charges but allowed to go free, after five years in a UK prison.

DAILY NEWS