This Week in History: 3-9 August

Jean van der Poel, Schweizer-Reneke, Koeberg, museum service, The Beatles, Afrikaans poetry, National Union of Mineworkers …

3-9 August August in history:

3 August 1986 – Jean van der Poel dies in Cape Town

4 August 1901 – Lord Methuen, British general, destroys the village of Schweizer-Reneke

5 August 1965 – Prime Minister opens SA’s first atomic reactor

6 August 1870 – Frederick William Fitzsimons, pioneer of SA’s school museum service, is born in Ireland

8 August 1966 - Beatle records are banned by the SABC, due to John Lennon’s previous ‘Jesus’ comments

7 August 1795 – Oldest example of written Afrikaans appears in a poem

9 August 1987 – The National Union of Mineworkers start South Africa’s longest wage strike