south africa
16th December – On This Day In History
Born:
1770 Ludwig van Beethoven (composer)
Died:
1980 Colonel Sanders (founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken)
On This Day:
1838 Battle of Blood River (Zulu armies defeated by the Voortrekkers in Natal, South Africa)
Have a good Sunday, 16th December
5th December – On This Day In History
Born:
1901 Walt Disney (animator, co-founder of Walt Disney Company)
Died:
2013 Nelson Mandela (South African president and inspirational statesman)
On This Day:
1872 The Mary Celeste is found – her crew mysteriously missing
Have a good Wednesday, 5th December
Isandlwana
Scarlet coats, and crash o’ the band,
The grey of a pauper’s gown,
A soldier’s grave in Zululand,
And a woman in Brecon Town.
My little lad for a soldier boy,
(Mothers o’ Brecon Town!)
My eyes for tears and his for joy
When he went from Brecon Town,
His for the flags and the gallant sights
His for the medals and his for the fights,
And mine for the dreary, rainy nights
At home in Brecon Town.
They say he’s laid beneath a tree,
(Come back to Brecon Town!)
Shouldn’t I know? — I was there to see:
(It’s far to Brecon Town!)
It’s me that keeps it trim and drest
With a briar there and a rose by his breast —
The English flowers he likes the best
That I bring from Brecon Town.
And I sit beside him — him and me,
(We’re back to Brecon Town.)
To talk of the things that used to be
(Grey ghosts of Brecon Town);
I know the look o’ the land and sky,
And the bird that builds in the tree near by,
And times I hear the jackals cry,
And me in Brecon Town.
Golden grey on miles of sand
The dawn comes creeping down;
It’s day in far off Zululand
And night in Brecon Town.
– John McCrae
22nd November – On This Day In History
Born:
1986 Oscar Pistorius (paralympic athlete, convicted for shooting his girlfriend)
Died:
1916 Jack London (author – Call Of The Wild)
On This Day:
1976 Algeria puts its constitution into effect
Have a good Sunday, 22nd November
20th November – On This Day In History
Born:
1923 Nadine Gordimer (author & Nobel Prize winner)
Died:
1910 Leo Trotsky (author – War And Peace)
On This Day:
1917 Ukraine declares itself a republic
Have a good Tuesday, 20th November
1st November – On This Day In History
Born:
1935 Gary Player (Golfer – 9 times majors winner)
Died:
1972 Ezra Pound (poet)
On This Day:
1939 The first jet fighter (Heinkel HE 178) is demonstrated, to the German War Ministry
Have a good Thursday, 1st November
7th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1931 Desmond Tutu (South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner)
Died:
1849 Edgar Allan Poe (poet)
On This Day:
1919 KLM, the worlds oldest still operating airline, is established
Have a good Sunday, 7th October
