Germany World War I fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, AKA the feared 'Red Baron', notches up the first of his many kills.
Image: Wikipedia
1825 Sir Donald Currie, shipping magnate and donor of the Currie cups for cricket, rugby, soccer, swimming and waterpolo, is born in Greenock, Scotland.
1832 About 2 000 slave owners meet in Cape Town to complain about new rules, claiming that the working conditions for slaves at the Cape are already better in many respects than the conditions of factory workers in Britain.
1859 Joshua Norton declares he is, “Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America”.1860 The Alfred Dock in Table Bay is officially opened by Prince Alfred Ernest Albert (16), second son of Queen Victoria, after whom several places and towns in SA are named.
1916 One of the most widely known fighter pilots of all time, German ace Manfred von Richthofen –The Red Baron – makes the first of his 80 kills. In his autobiography, he writes: ‘I honoured the fallen enemy by placing a stone on his beautiful grave.’ Shot down and killed in 1918, he was given a full military funeral by allied troops after crashing behind enemy lines. A superb pilot, he achieved many of his successes later in the war against a numerically superior enemy, who flew aircraft that were, on the whole, better than his own.
1968 Zulu king Cyprian Bhekuzulu KaDinuzulu dies in Nongoma. He is succeeded by his son Goodwill Zwelithini, who reigns until 2021.
2004 The Paralympic Games open in Athens, with Amakrokokroko table tennis star Rosabelle Riese leading the team.
2022 Cheetahs re-introduced to India from Namibia, after going extinct 70 years ago, at Kuno National Park in Madya Pradesh state.
2024 Al-Qaeda jihadists attack the international airport complex outside Mali’s capital, Bamako, leaving 60 people dead.
2024 Handheld pagers belonging to members of armed group Hezbollah explode across Lebanon killing nine people and injuring 2 800. Hezbollah holds Israel responsible.
2024 Myanmar confirms at least 226 people have died because of Typhoon Yagi, with flooding affecting over 631 000, including in the capital Naypyidaw.
2024 Norway becomes the first country where electric cars outnumber petrol vehicles, aided by tax rebates.
DAILY NEWS