ON THIS DAY SEPTEMBER 24

1660 Jan van Riebeeck writes to Otto Jansz on Robben Island, asking about the number of sheep on the island, if he needs more, and telling him to care for the island’s lighthouse. 1879 Tay Bridge River disaster – high winds blow girders from the bridge over the Tay Firth in Scotland just as a train is crossing it. The train plunges into the water, killing 75 people. 1929 One of the most famous pilots during the interwar period, American Jimmy Doolittle, makes one of the most important contributions to flying by performing the first ‘blind’ flight, proving that full instrument flying from take-off to landing is possible. He was the first to test the now universally used artificial horizon and directional gyroscope. Doolittle later leads America’s first raid on the Japanese mainland, leading a flight of bombers off aircraft carriers. 1950 The Chinchaga fire in western Canada becomes the largest recorded fire in North American history, sending smoke to Europe. 1950 Operation Magic Carpet sees all Jews from Yemen move to Israel.

1952 An underwater volcano, south of Japan, erupts beneath a Japanese research vessel, destroying the ship with the loss of its crew of 31 (and the nine scientists studying the seismic activity).

1952 Fast food restaurant chain KFC opens. 1957 US President Dwight Eisenhower sends paratroopers to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

1960 The USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched. 1966 World champion boxer Dingaan Bongani ‘The Rose of Soweto’ Thobela is born.

2008 Thabo Mbeki resigns as SA president. 2014 The Mars Orbiter Mission makes India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first nation to do so on its first attempt. 2015 1 100 people are killed and 934 hurt after a stampede during Hajj in Saudi Arabia. 2020 David Attenborough breaks Jennifer Aniston’s record as the fastest person to reach 1 million followers on Instagram. At 94 years young, the naturalist’s follower count races to seven figures in four hours 44 minutes, says Guinness World Records.

2021 Notorious gangster Jitender Maan Gogi is shot dead in a court in Delhi, India, by men posing as lawyers. | THE HISTORIAN