On this day in history, October 17

Did you know

Bluetooth was named after Harald Bluetooth, a 10th-century Viking king who united disparate Danish and Norwegian tribes. In the 1990s, an Intel engineer named Jim Kardach suggested It as a temporary project name, drawing a parallel between the king’s unifying efforts and the technology’s goal of uniting various wireless communication standards. The he logo is derived from Nordic runes representing Harald’s initials, H and B.

On this day, October 17

1091 A tornado strikes the heart of London, causing untold death and destruction.

1662 King Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for £40 000.

1814 The London Beer Flood occurs when a 7m-high wooden vat of fermenting porter (a dark style of beer) bursts, destroying another vessel and the brick rear wall of Meux & Co’s Horse Shoe Brewery. The 4.5m-high wave swept into the surrounding streets, where it destroyed two houses and killed 8 people.

1849 One of music’s earliest superstars, Chopin, regarded as one of history’s finest composers and pianists, dies. Plagued by illness throughout his short life, fellow composer Hector Berlioz put it in a nutshell, saying of Chopin: ‘He was dying all his life’.

1851 A report in the Durban Observer notes that at a meeting of citizens in the Durban Government School Hall a motion is called for the introduction of indentured labour (the very first Indians, who numbered four), were brought to Natal in 1849).

1887 The Star newspaper’s birthday. It appears for the first time in Johannesburg as The Eastern Star after beginning life in Grahamstown under that title on January 6, 1871. It was moved to the Witwatersrand 16 years later by its owners, brothers Thomas and George Sheffield. In 1889, the name Eastern Star was changed to the one currently in use.

1907 Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service.

1933 Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany.

1943 The Burma railway is completed, which includes the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai, built by Allied slave labour.

1983 SADF commandos bomb the ANC office in Maputo, Mozambique, and injure 5 people.

1989 A magnitude 6.9 earthquake shakes central California, killing 63 people.

1998 A petrol pipeline explodes in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, killing about 1 200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging the petrol.

2008 Iran’s attempt to create the world’s largest sandwich (1 500m) fails when crowds eat it before it can be measured.

2023 India’s Supreme Court rules against legalising same-sex marriage and adoption for queer couples.