On this day in history, August 1

Significant and interesting snippets of news with a South African angle, from this day in history.

Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs wins the men's 100m sprint final from South Africa's Akani Simbine during the Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Picture: AFP

Published Aug 1, 2023

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Significant and interesting snippets of news with a South African angle, from this day in history.

69 AD The Batavians in Germania Inferior (the Netherlands) revolt against Rome.

1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay, Egypt.

1800 The Acts of Union 1800 are passed which merge the Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1876 Sekhukhune, king of the Bapedi, successfully resists the Boers during a protracted land ownership dispute.

1900 The first Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant guide to encourage road travel and thus boost tyre sales.

1914 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

1914 Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey and others found the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica with aim of creating a black-governed nation in Africa.

1918 British troops enter Vladivostok, Russia.

1936 The official launch of the SABC.

1941 The first Jeep is produced.

1954 The Natives Resettlement Act comes into being, empowers the government to remove Blacks from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg.

1976 Reigning world F1 champion Niki Lauda of Austria suffers a near fatal crash during the German Grand Prix.

1982 Heavy Israeli air attacks on Beirut.

1992 British athlete Linford Christie (32) becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold medal, edging out Namibian Frankie Fredericks in Barcelona.

1996 George RR Martin publishes the epic fantasy novel Game of Thrones, the first in his series A Song of Ice and Fire.

2004 A supermarket fire kills 396 people in Asunción, Paraguay.

2008 Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions die on K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.

2020 Egypt tells Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens, after Musk tweets that they were.

2021 Marcell Jacobs becomes first Italian athlete to win the coveted 100m sprint in 9.80 seconds at the Tokyo Olympics.

2022 The first grain ship leaves the Ukrainian port of Odessa, in a UN-brokered deal, breaking a months-long Russian blockade, ostensibly to help alleviate a global shortage. Later in the year, Russia says no to extending the grain deal, claiming nearly 80% of the grain is going to Western nations that are behind sanctions on Russia, while the remaining 20% reaches poor countries in Africa and Asia, which was where the shipments were mostly meant to go.