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Today in History: January 1st

───   08:00 Thu, 01 Jan 2015

Today in History: January 1st | News Article
Historical Events:

• 1861: President-elect of the United States Abraham Lincoln.
• 1922: Coal Miners Strike on the Rand.
• 1970: 13 year-old South African Native mineworker is published in a newspaper.
• 1972: Policewomen are enlisted as full members of South African Police Force for the first time.
• 1986: South Africa closes its borders with Lesotho.
• 1941: Johannes Frederik Janse van Rensburg (Hans) is appointed as leader of the Ossewabrandwag (OB), an Afrikaner cultural movement, opposed to SA's participation in WW2.
• 1896: Wilhelm Röntgen announces his discovery of x-rays.
• 6000: 1st reversible date since 11/11/1999.

Arts, Music, TV:

• 1844: 1st edition of New Rotterdam's Daily (3x per week)
• 1906: Dr Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, poet and writer and first Black South African to receive a doctorate in literature, is born in Groutville, Natal.
• 1967: Bosman de Kock is appointed director of the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal (PACT).
• 1978: Donald Woods, editor of the East London Daily Dispatch, escapes to Lesotho through the Caledon River on his way to London.
• 1948: 1st color newsreel filmed (Pasadena, California).
• 1953: The first TV detector van, used to track down users of unlicensed television sets, begins operation in the UK.

Sports:

• 1894: South African Amateur Athletic Union is founded in Johannesburg.
• 1902: 1st Rose Bowl game (Pasadena, California) (U of Mich-49, Sanford-0).
• 1916: 1st football game in Rose Bowl (Washington State-Brown).
• 1968: Motorcycle Daredevil Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump Caesar's Palace Fountain.
• 1986: Iowa's All-American running back, Ronnie Harmon, fumbles the ball 4 times in his last game-the Rose Bowl.














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

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