• 1824: Slavery is abolished in Costa Rica.
• 1899: 1st British troops reaches Durban, South Africa.
• 1944: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Russia for talks with Stalin
• 1940: Manto Tshabalala - Msimang, controversial minister of health, is born.
• 1990: Nelson Mandela returns to South Africa's notorious Robben Island and said "the emotions ran wild" when he met prisoners in the jail where he spent twenty years of his life.
• 1894: Stephanie Faure, one of the SA pioneers in reciting and drama, is born in Pretoria.
• 1906: Léopold Sédar Senghor poet, teacher, and statesman, first president of Senegal (1960-1980), and a major proponent of the concept of Negritude, is born.
• 1951: The South African Music Council is established, with Prof. F.C.L. Bosman as chairman.
• 1965: Beatles' "Yesterday" single goes #1 & stays #1 for 4 weeks.
• 1976: Nick Swardson American actor is born.
• 1941: Hoosain Ayob, director of coaching for the United Cricket Board and former teacher and headmaster, is born in Brits, Transvaal.
• 1974: Washington Capitals 1st NHL game, losing 6-3 to NY Rangers at Madison Square Garden Wash Caps begin a 37 game road losing streak.
• 1976: Test Cricket debut of Javed Miandad (Pakistan), scores 163 on 1st day.
• 1979: Lydia Jane Lipscombe, Christchurch NZ, breastroker (Olympics-96) is born.
• 2005: Lance Dyer, a South African, is arrested on the French side of the 50km long tunnel that runs under the English channel. It took him about 24 hours, with trains rushing past him at up to 334 km/h.
Compiled by: Thandi Xaba