The African Wildcat first among felines, a terrible inscription, and God's Banker found swinging, on this day in history

On this day in history: June 19

1829 British Prime Minister Robert Peel introduces the Metropolitan Police Act to establish a unified police force for London. London coppers have since been known as Bobbies, in acknowledgement of Sir Robert.

1913 The Natives Land Act is passed in South Africa: confining blacks to hopelessly overcrowded reserves and depriving them of the right to buy land outside the reserves.

1917 The British Royal Family, which has had strong German ties, renounces its German names and titles and instead adopts Windsor.

1921 Hailstones kill 200 people in Hunan Province, China.

1941 Soviet anthropologist Michael Gerasimov opens the tomb of Timurid Empire founder Timur and allegedly finds the inscription that whoever opens the tomb shall ‘unleash an invader more terrible than I’. Three days later Germany invades Russia.

1921 After nearly three days in space and 48 orbits of Earth, the first woman in space, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, 26, returns to Earth. At an altitude of 20 000 feet, she ejects from her Vostok craft and parachutes safely back, as all early cosmonauts had to do. On the trip she spent more time in space than all of the US Mercury astronauts. She never returned to space.

1981 The heaviest known orange – a 2.5kg monster – is exhibited in Nelspruit.

1982 The body of ‘God’s Banker’, Roberto Calvi is found hanging from a London bridge. He got his nickname because of his close ties to the Vatican.

1991 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar surrenders to police.

2017 The African wildcat is proven to be first among cats when the first full genetic study of them shows felines they were first domesticated 9 000 years ago and that they are descended from the African wildcat.

2023 UN adopts first-ever legally binding international treaty to govern the high seas.

2024 At least 550 people are reported to have died on the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as temperatures top 51.8ºC.

2024 Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in for a second term as the country’s government in Pretoria, at the head of a coalition government.

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