A ‘royal bastard’ settles in Knysna, remember the Alamo, tennis is invented and the world’s most expensive air crash – these are some of the things that happened back in the day on February 23
1455 The Gutenberg Bible is printed. It is the first book printed with movable type, a revolutionary new design which allows relative ease of printing, speeding up the spread of literacy.
1804 George Rex, allegedly the illegitimate son of King George III and his mistress, Hannah Lightfoot, auctions his house in Cape Town and settles at Melkhoutkraal, Knysna.
1836 The 13-day Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas. Mexican General Santa Anna eventually kills the entire garrison, including American folk heroes David Bowie and Davy Crockett.
1854 The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
1874 Inspired by athleticism of the ancient Greeks, Welsh Major Walter Winfield patents a game called sphairistike (from the Greek, the art of playing ball) to help fill the need for gentle outdoor activities for the middle-classes and is credited as the inventor of lawn tennis.
1886 The Times of London publishes the world’s first classified advert.
1903 Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the US in perpetuity.
1905 The Rotary Club, the world’s first service club, is formed in Chicago. There are numerous examples in South Africa.
1916 French artillery turn their sights on the village of Samogneux and, with unusually accurate and deadly fire, wipe out the entire French 72nd division, and men from other units. In all, 16 224 soldiers die from ‘friendly fire’.
1942 Japanese submarines reportedly shell California.
1944 The USSR begins deporting Chechen and Ingush peoples from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
1945 During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of US Marines summit Mount Suribachi and plant the American flag, signalling the conquest of the island.
1954 The first mass inoculation against polio occurs in the first major victory against the crippling virus.
1991 US President George HW Bush gives Iraq a 24-hour deadline to withdraw from Kuwait.
2008 A US Air Force B-2 bomber crashes on Guam, making it the most expensive air crash in history (the aircraft cost $1.2 billion).