Significant and interesting snippets of news, with a South African angle, from this day in history
622 The beginning of the Islamic calendar – Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (the Hijra).
1439 Kissing is banned in England in an attempt to stop the spread of the Black Death.
1661 The first European banknotes are issued in Sweden. China was the first to use them.
1901 The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies’ Commission to investigate British concentration camps, set up during the Anglo-Boer War. The camps are found to have been poorly built and maintained, unclean, and overcrowded, leading to the spread of disease. At least 25 000 children and women die in the camps. International opinion turns against the British, leading British General Kitchener changing and ceasing the practice of imprisoning women and children in the camps.
1935 The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1969 Apollo 11 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the first manned mission to land on the moon.
1999 Scion of the powerful Kennedy clan, John F Kennedy jr dies when his plane crashes off affluent Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, killing him, his wife and sister-in-law.
2006 The first of the Gripen Swedish fighter planes, bought under the controversial arms deal, is taken by road to Ysterplaat Air Force Base from Cape Town Harbour.
2013 Twenty-seven children are die and 25 are hospitalised in India after eating lunch contaminated with insecticide.
2019 Musician Jonny Clegg, 66, dies at home in Johannesburg fromh pancreatic. A songwriter, a dancer and anthropologist, Clegg‘s music touched many with its vibrant blend of Western pop and African Zulu rhythms. His unique music style had an impact by embracing different cultures and enhanced the social cohesion of young South Africans. He received a number of awards, including being called a ‘Knight of Arts and Letters’ by the French Government in 1991. Clegg was also nominated as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In addition, he had various doctorates bestowed upon him, and was further honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga.