Historical Events:

• 1867: The first diamond is found in South Africa. The precious stone is picked up by Jacobs's children on the farm De Kalk near Hopetown on the Orange River.
• 1879: Josias Philip Hoffman, first state president of the Orange Free State, dies.
• 1988: Shroud of Turin, revered by many Christians as Christ's burial cloth, is shown by carbon-dating tests to be a fake from the Middle Ages.
• 1999: The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Arts, Music, TV:

• 1938: Dalene Matthee, laurelled Afrikaans writer, is born in Riversdal, CP. Her best-known book, Kringe in 'n bos (Circles in a forest), has been translated into at least 15 languages.
• 1988: Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz becomes first Arabic-language writer to win Nobel Prize for literature.
• 1994: Nobel prize for literature awarded to Kenzaburo Oe
• 2003: Now in its 24th year, South Africa's longest-running film festival, the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), starts today and runs until October 26.
• 2012: Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild sells for $34 million, the highest sold artwork by a living artist.

Sports:

• 1987: West Indies score 4-360 in 50 overs in Cricket World Cup v Sri Lanka.
• 1951: W G (Billy) Quaife, cricketer (7 Tests for England, 228 runs), dies.
• 1996: Annika Sorenstam wins Betsy King LPGA Golf Classic.
• 1973: Matt Hughes, American mixed martial artist is born.














Source: historyorb.com & sahistory.org.com
Compiled by: Thandi Xaba