ON THIS DAY JUNE 26

1284 A piper leads 130 children of the German town Hamelin away from their homes. Records suggest that the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin was real, but the story changed over time and the mystery of what happened to the children has never been solved. The story also raises the question, if The Pied Piper of Hamelin was true, how much more truth is there in other fairy tales, some of them grim? 1409 The Roman Catholic Church goes into a double schism as Alexander V is crowned as pope in Pisa, while Pope Gregory XII sits in Rome and Pope Benedict XII in Avignon.

1806 Voortrekker Antjie Scheepers, who with Martha Trichardt and Breggie Pretorius, found a way to descend the Drakensberg after the men gave up, is born in Swellendam. A tough old bird if ever there was one, her husband died while they were on trek with Louis Trichardt and left her nine children to raise. Known for disciplining her children when they committed adultery, Trichardt tells in his notebook how one of her sons was among three young men who ran away. When they returned after a few days of hardship, he felt they had been punished enough, but not the widow Scheepers. She had her son held by two men while she whipped him.

1857 The first 62 recipients are awarded the Victoria Cross for valour in the Crimean war. 1860 The first railway line in South Africa, between Durban and the Point, is opened. 1904 The first mail boat in Durban, the Armadale Castle, anchors after crossing the newly dredged sandbar, a hazard to shipping. 1936 The Focke-wulf FW 61 helicopter flies. 1974 The barcode is first used.

1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in JK Rowling’s bestselling series, is published

2015 US President Barack Obama sings Amazing Grace as part of his eulogy for activist and state senator Rev Clementa Pinckney, who, with 8 others, was killed in a racial shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

2019 Two Florida towns pay hackers considerable ransoms to unfreeze their computer systems; Riviera Beach forks out $600 000, while Lake City hands over $500 000. | THE HISTORIAN