On This Day in South Africa: What happened on 19 July?

Look at what happened on this day, 19 July in history. From various achievements and milestones throughout human history to groundbreaking inventions and events that shaped the world we live in today.

Here is a look at some of the most notable events that happened on this day

ON THIS DAY: 19 JULY

1981 | French President François Mitterrand revealed the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a set of papers that showed the Soviet Union had been stealing American technology research and development, in a private meeting with American President Ronald Reagan.

1991 | South Africa Special Forces accused of train violence.

1997 | The Troubles: After a 25-year paramilitary struggle to overthrow British control in Northern Ireland, the Provisional Irish Republican Army restarted a truce.

2012 | Syrian Civil War: The Rojava battle in northeast Syria was launched after the People’s Protection Units (YPG) easily took Kobanî.

2018 | The controversial Nationality Bill, which referred to the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, was approved by the Knesset.

ALSO READ: What happened on 18 July?

BIRTHDAYS

1964 | American basketball player, Teresa Edwards,

1973 | South African actress, Nathalie Boltt.

1979 | English footballer, Luke Young.

1981 | South African pop singer and actress, Zolani Mahola.

1984 | Canadian voice actress, Andrea Libman.

DEATHS

1989 | President of the Republic of Poland, Kazimierz Sabbat, 76.

2005 | American author and screenwriter, Edward Bunker, 72.

2012 | Bangladeshi director and playwright, Humayun Ahmed, 64.

2014 | Brazilian theologian, Rubem Alves, 81.

2019 | Dutch actor, director, and producer, Rutger Hauer, 75.

SPORTS

1930 | The first penalty kick ever in World Cup history was taken by Chile’s Carlos Vidal. The shot was saved, so the first goalkeeper to save a penalty was Alexis ‘Alex’ Thépot of France.

ENTERTAINMENT

2002 | “Movin’ Out,” a stage musical dedicated to the songs of Billy Joel, premiered in Chicago on this day.

AFRICA FACT

Egypt has the highest number of TikTok users in Africa. It has 23.73 million TikTok users.