Africa
19th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1940 Michael Gambon (actor – Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter)
Died:
1745 Jonathan Swift (author – Gulliver’s Travels)
On This Day:
1960 Mauritania granted independence (by France)
Have good Friday, 19th October
9th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1940 John Lennon (musician – The Beatles)
Died:
1967 Che Guevara (Marxist revolutionary)
On This Day:
1962 Uganda becomes independent (from Britain)
Have a good Tuesday, 9th October
30th September – On This Day In History
Born:
1980 Martina Hingis
Died:
1955 James Dean (cultural icon and actor)
On This Day:
1958 Guinea becomes independent (was French Guinea, controlled by France)
Have a good Sunday, 30th September
29th September – On This Day In History
Born:
1758 Horatio Nelson (British admiral, Hero of Trafalgar)
Died:
2010 Tony Curtis (actor)
On This Day:
1966 Botswana gains independence (from Britain – was Bechuanaland)
Have a good Saturday, 29th September
24th September – On This Day In History
Born:
1896 F Scott Fitzgerald (author – The Great Gatsby)
Died:
1991 Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss – author of children’s books)
On This Day:
1973 Guinea – Bissau declares independence (from Portugal)
Have a good Monday, 24th September
23rd September – On This Day In History
Born:
1930 Ray Charles (singer & pianist)
Died:
1939 Sigmund Freud (father of psychology)
On This Day:
1979 Somali constitution is approved by its president
Have a good Sunday, 23rd September
In A Burning Sea
how often were we wrapped in coolness on the floor
the smell of turpentine and fire
the canvases white to our empty eyes
night’s indifference
and the moon a smile somewhere outside
out of sight
days decompose like seasons beyond the panes
leaves of rain, a face, a cloud, this poem
I wanted to leave my imprint on you
to brand you with the flaming hour
of being alone
no fire sings as clear
as the silver ashes of your movements
and your melancholy body
I wanted to draw that sadness from you
so that you might be revealed
the way a city opens
on a bright landscape
filled with pigeons and the fire of trees
and silver crows also out of sight in the night
and the moon a mouth that one can ignite
and then I wished that you could laugh
and your body bitter
my hands of porcelain on your hips
your breath such a dark-dark pain
a sword at my ear
how often were we here
where only silver shadows stir
only through you I had to deny myself
through you alone I knew I had no harbor
in a burning sea
– Breyton Breytonbach
