• 1647: The Dutch Indiaman, Nieuw-Haerlem, is wrecked in a storm in Table Bay.
• 1835: Durban pioneer Captain Allen Gardiner establishes the first educational institution in Natal when a school for Black children opens its doors on the Berea in Durban.
• 1853: The Rev. Wilhelm Adolph Alheit, army chaplain for the Boer forces and minister in Colesberg, Dordrecht and Ceres, is born.
• 1858: The battle of Koranaberg takes place during the Orange Free State-Basuto War.
• 1908: The Oranje-Vrouevereniging (Association of Women in the Orange Free State) is founded on Onze Rust, farm of former Pres. M.T. Steyn in the district of Bloemfontein.
• 1981: The leader of the NRP, Vause Raw, states that the country's major parties are divided and in disarray and that the NRP could lay the base for a regrouping of moderates.
• 1988: Pres. P.W. Botha issues a certificate to prevent the Windhoek Supreme Court from trying six SA Defence Force personnel for the murder of a Swapo member, Immanuel Shifidi, in 1986.
• 1998: US President Bill Clinton, on a visit to Rwanda, acknowledges that the United States and the world failed to protect Rwandans from the 1994 campaign of genocide that killed half a million.
• 1951: Frederick William Fitzsimons (80), Director of the Port Elizabeth Museum, dies in Grahamstown.
• 1973: Dorette Potgieter, SA actress, is born in Stellenbosch.
• 'Topolino' is the name for Mickey Mouse Italy
• In every episode of Seinfeld there is a reference to Superman
• You burn more calories sleeping than watching TV
• That the first MTV video played was 'Video killed the radio star' by the Buggles
• You burn more calories sleeping than watching television.
• 1943: Johannes van der Walt, SA wrestler who was known as the 'Gemaskerde Wonder' (Masked Wonder), dies in Johannesburg after being wounded by police in February.
• 1983: Cassim Mohammed Bassa, estate agent, community leader and sport activist, dies in Johannesburg where he is attending a meeting of the South African Council for the Deaf.
• The average speed of a skydiver is 200kph (124mph).
• Olympic gold medals are actually made of silver.
• Japanese golfers carry hole-in-one insurance.
Compiled by: Thandi Xaba