On This Day in South Africa: What happened on 26 December?

Here’s a look at what happened on this day, 26 December, throughout world and South African history. We remember the news, events, and people that influenced the course of history forever.

ON THIS DAY: 26 DECEMBER

2004 | Hundreds of thousands of people were killed when the tsunami devastated large areas of South and Southeast Asia, reaching as far as South Africa.

1652 | Dutch Governor, Van Riebeeck stated first butter is churned at the Cape.

2015 | During the December 2015 North American storm, Tornado Outbreak occurred in the DFW Metroplex, with notable tornadoes being EF2, EF3, and EF4. About a dozen people died of various causes, 10 of them due to EF4, which did extensive damage to the Rowlett neighborhood.

2004 | Orange Revolution: The final second round elections in Ukraine took place under intense international scrutiny.

1998 | Iraq announced its intention to shoot down US and British warplanes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones.

ALSO READ: What happened on 25 December?

BIRTHDAYS

1972 | South African lawn bowler, Colleen Piketh.

1982 | South African Professional Racing Cyclist, Robyn de Groot.

1949 | East Timorese lawyer and politician, second President of East Timor, Nobel Prize laureate, José Ramos-Horta.

1980 | American soccer player, Todd Dunivant.

1979 | Russian ski jumper, Dimitry Vassiliev.

ON THIS DAY: DEATHS

2012 | English director, producer, and screenwriter, Gerry Anderson, 83.

1999 | American singer-songwriter and producer, Curtis Mayfield, 57.

2013 | American baseball player and coach, Paul Blair, 69.

2014 | Belgian politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium, Leo Tindemans, 92.

2015 | American anthropologist and academic, Sidney Mintz, 93.

SPORTS

2006 | On this day, Australian cricketer Shane Warne became the first all-rounder to take 700 wickets after dismissing England’s Andrew Strauss.

ENTERTAINMENT

1957 | Ingmar Bergman’s film “Wild Strawberries”, was released on this day and it was one of his best films.

AFRICA FACT

Burkina Faso under Thomas Sankara conducted weekly environmental sanitation exercises to keep the street clean.