ON THIS DAY, OCTOBER 15

1066 Edgar the AEtheling is proclaimed King of England, following Harold’s defeat at the Battle of Hastings, but is never crowned. 1783 The Montgolfiers make the first human ascent in a hot air balloon.

1793 Hated by the populous, Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted in a swift trial at the Palais de Justice in Paris. 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on the island of St Helena to begin his exile. 1880 Cologne Cathedral is completed,

633 years after work started.

1889 Queen Victoria issues a charter for the formation of the British South Africa Company to further the influence of the British Empire on the African continent.

1899 The Siege of Kimberley begins.

1917 Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying.

1927 DF Malan is the first South African cabinet minister to travel by air. He leaves Cape Town at 6.30am and arrives in Johannesburg, 10 hours later.

1932 Tata Airlines (later Air India) makes its first flight.

1934 The Soviet Republic of China collapses when Chiang Kai-shek’s National Revolutionary Army encircles Ruijin, forcing the Communists to begin the Long March. 1951 A Dakota air-liner, Paardeberg, crashes on Ingeli Mountain near Kokstad, killing all 17 occupants.

1956 Fortran, the first modern computer language, is released.

1961 Amnesty International is founded.

1967 The memorial commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad is opened on Mamayev Kurgan. The statue is still the tallest in Europe, at 85m in height.

1990 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for easing Cold War tensions and opening up his nation. 1993 Nelson Mandela and President FW de Klerk share the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of apartheid in favour of a non-racial democracy.

2017 About 500 wildfires occur in Portugal and Northern Spain fanned by winds from Hurricane Ophelia, killing at least 35 people. | THE HISTORIAN