X-Nico

99 unusual facts about Johannesburg


1132 Hollandia

It was discovered by H. Van Gent on September 13, 1929 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

1268 Libya

The asteroid was discovered on April 29, 1930 by C. Jackson in Johannesburg.

1994 CAF Super Cup

The match took place on 16 January 1994, on neutral stadium at First National Bank Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, between Egyptian clubs Zamalek, the 1993 African Cup of Champions Clubs winner, and Al-Ahly, the 1993 African Cup Winners' Cup winner.

46 South African Brigade

46 SA Brigade is a composite brigade consisting of a headquarters in Kensington, Johannesburg and a Brigade Administrative Area at Wallmansthal.

Africa.com

The Africa.com organization has representation offices in Johannesburg, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; and New York, United States.

Ahnabith Gish

Cian Rafferty Haley was also born in Calgary but was raised in Johannesburg, SA.

Aidan Higgins

In 1960 and 1961 he worked as scriptwriter for Filmlets, an advertising firm in Johannesburg.

AirQuarius Aviation

AirQuarius Aviation was an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa, operating chartered flights and aircraft leasing contracted by companies throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Alan van der Merwe

Alan van der Merwe (born 31 January 1980 in Johannesburg) is a South African race car driver.

Alex Forbes

He later emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa, to coach children at a local private Jewish school, Yeshiva College of South Africa.

Australian cricket team in South Africa in 2005–06

The 5th One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Australia, played on 12 March 2006 at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, has been acclaimed by many media commentators as being one of the greatest One Day International matches ever played.

B. C. Forbes

After studying at the University of Dundee (then part of The University of St Andrews), in 1897 Forbes worked as a reporter and editorial writer with a local newspaper until 1901 when he moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he worked on the Rand Daily Mail under its first editor, Edgar Wallace.

Barbara Becnel

On Sunday, June 25, 2006, Becnel and Neal released Williams' ashes into a lake in Thokoza Park, located in the black township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Beat the Drum

A young South African orphan named Musa (Junior Singo) leaves his AIDS-ravaged village in KwaZulu-Natal, taking along only a drum given to him by his father, for the gritty streets of Johannesburg in search of work and his uncle.

Bilene

Noted for its calm and clear lagoon, the Uembje Lagoon, giving way to the pounding Indian Ocean beyond tall dunes, it is reported to be the closest beach destination to the city of Johannesburg in neighboring South Africa.

C. Brooke Worth

As a Field Staff Member for the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. C. Brooke Worth went to the South African Institute of Medical Research (SAIMR) in Johannesburg in the 1950s and was able to carry out a remarkable series of field studies in South Africa and Mozambique.

Celia W. Dugger

From 2008 to 2011, she and Bearak became bureau chiefs in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Charles Gore

In 1903 a college for training candidates for the Anglican priesthood (College of the Resurrection), was established at Mirfield, and, in the same year, a branch house for missionary work was set up in Johannesburg in South Africa.

Chiang Pin-kung

He was Assistant Commercial Attaché at the ROC Embassy in Japan from 1967 to 1974, Commercial Attaché at the ROC Consulate General in Johannesburg from 1974 to 1979, Economic Counsular at the ROC Embassy in South Africa from 1979 to 1981, Deputy Director-General of the Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) from 1982 to 1983, Secretary-General of the China External Trade Development Council from 1983 to 1988, and Director-General of the BOFT from 1988 to 1989.

Claude Buckenham

In four Tests, he took 21 wickets at 28 runs apiece, including five for 115 in the first South African innings of the third Test at Johannesburg.

Come Dine With Me South Africa

Episode 1 of the first series kicked off with two ladies from the South East of Johannesburg, Estie Matheus and Michelle Jordan, jointly winning and having to share the prizes and concluded with a celebrity special featuring M-Net presenter Ashley Hayden, SuperSport’s Neil Andrews, 94.7 Highveld Stereo’s Samantha Cowen and model Sashni Naidoo.

Craig Busch

In 2005, Busch arranged the exchange of New Zealand's first natively-born white tigers Tane and Aotea (born January 2005), and later Kiwi and Rongo (Born October 2, 2005) with a white lion cub named Gandor from the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve near Johannesburg.

Creatures of Impulse

At "The Three Pigeons" inn, it is a good day for some: the miser Boomblehardt has been out collecting rents from his tenants, and Sergeant Klooque, hero of Johannesburg, has just arrived at the inn on leave and may now flirt with any lady he chooses, without the need to pretend they are his relatives to get around his tyrannical Colonel.

Dennis Jensen

Dr Dennis Jensen (born 28 February 1962 in Johannesburg, South Africa), Australian politician, was elected to the Australian House of Representatives at the 9 October 2004 federal election for the Division of Tangney, Western Australia, for the Liberal Party.

Diamond District

The area is one of the primary centers of the global diamond industry (along with London — rough stones; the Antwerp diamond district in Belgium — historical but waning; Mumbai, India — increasing in significance, Ramat Gan, Israel — also growing, and Johannesburg, South Africa — the major historical source), as well as the premier center for jewelry shopping in the city.

Dudu Pukwana

In 1962, he won first prize at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants (1962 Gallo/Teal).

Durban International Airport

On 18 June 2008, a British Airways Boeing 737-400 (operated by Comair), operating as Flight 6203 from Johannesburg, skidded off the runway at Durban International Airport while landing under adverse weather conditions.

E. Neville Isdell

In 1972, he became general manager of Coca-Cola Bottling of Johannesburg, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Africa.

Economy of Lesotho

The LHWP is designed to capture, store, and transfer water from the Orange River system and send it to South Africa's Free State and greater Johannesburg area, which features a large concentration of South African industry, population and agriculture.

Edward Curtis Franklin

Franklin got invited to participate at the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Melbourne, Australia, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Emirates SkyCargo

In September 2004, the airline launched freighter services to Johannesburg and Lahore.

Ernest Griffith Price

In 1900 he married Maude Ethel Marshall, the daughter of an army Major and Justice of the Peace from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Eskom Centre

The Eskom Centre is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Garth Meade

Garth Meade (b. 1930 Johannesburg, South Africa) was a comedian and actor active in Australia from 1970.

Glynis Barber

When she was five years old, her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved to Johannesburg.

Guyra, New South Wales

The local bowling club boasts of being the highest (elevation above sea level) bowling green in the southern hemisphere, which is in fact not correct as there are several lawn bowling clubs in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is at several hundred metres higher elevation than Guyra.

Hair theft

A number of inhabitants of Johannesburg and Durban had their dreadlocks stolen by "hair jackers", carrying out "cut and runs" using anything from knives to shards of broken glass.

Helen Joseph

Places named for her include the former Davenport Road in Glenwood, Durban, the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg, a student residence at Rhodes University (Grahamstown, South Africa), and a road in Rustenberg.

Hugh Sullivan

Hugh receives a posting in Johannesburg and tries to keep it a secret but Julie tells Rachel.

Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale

Fraser was the son of William Percy Fraser, a businessman of South Africa, who played a role in the development of Johannesburg.

Innes Harold Stranger

While on an overseas trip in 1930 he was flying from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls when the aircraft developed difficulties and had to land in a jungle clearing.

International Year of Sanitation

Further development of these goals was discussed in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, with the inclusion of access to sanitation as fundamental to achieving all goals surrounding bringing an end to poverty.

Ipi Tombi

Ipi Tombi (also produced as Ipi N'tombi, both corrupted transliterations of the Zulu iphi intombi, or "where is the girl?"), is a 1974 musical by South African writers Bertha Egnos Godfrey and her daughter Gail Lakier, telling the story of a young black man leaving his village and young wife to work in the mines of Johannesburg.

Isdal woman

The photographer claimed the woman had told him that she came from a small town north of Johannesburg in South Africa, and that she had six months to see the most beautiful places in Norway.

Jasminum multipartitum

Starry Wild Jasmine is naturally found in the woodlands of the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu Natal, as well as inland as far as Johannesburg.

Joel Pollak

Pollak was born in Johannesburg, South Africa but his parents emigrated to the United States shortly after his birth.

Joop Carp

Johan Robert "Joop" Carp (January 30, 1897, Tjomal, Dutch East Indies - March 25, 1962, Johannesburg) was a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his native country at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Ostend, Belgium.

Joyce Dattner

Driven by her commitment to helping people change themselves — and in the process, change the world — Joyce Dattner has become a leading practitioner of Newman and Holzman’s approach, now used in youth development programs, private and public mental health centers, alternative school initiatives, and agencies and organizations servicing diverse populations in varied settings—from New York City to Los Angeles to Johannesburg.

Kate Otten

She has designed community libraries, the waterfront development at Tzaneen, an art therapy centre in Soweto and the museum exhibition space at the former Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill which received a commendation from the South African Institute of Architects.

Kevin Harmse

Born in Johannesburg, Harmse grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, and began his youth career training at the Roman Tulis School in Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Kine Centre

The Kine Centre is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kokan Popović

The lineup featured Belgrade musicians living in Johannesburg: Popović on rhythm guitar and vocals and Marka Benini on drums, with musicians from South Africa Derrick Skihippers (lead guitar) and Kahlan Merchant (bass guitar).

Loryma sinuosalis

It was described by P. Leraut in 2007, and is known from South Africa (the type location is Johannesburg).

Louis Botha Avenue

Louis Botha Avenue (part of Johannesburg Metropolitan Route M11) is a major street in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lujo virus

Its name was suggested by the Special Pathogens Unit of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service (NICD-NHLS) by using the first two letters of the names of the cities involved in the 2008 outbreak of the disease, Lusaka (Zambia) and Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa).

Malibongwe Drive

The change was part of an ongoing plan by the city of Johannesburg to create politically neutral names to replace "upsetting" reminders of South Africa's racial past.

Mariano Tullio Troia

Italian police claimed Troia had moved to South Africa where he was being harboured by Salvatore Morettino, a naturalised South African citizen living in Houghton (a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg), according to Western Cape police intelligence in a March 1998 briefing.

Mário Crespo

He also married Helen de Souza from Johannesburg, a South African woman with Portuguese ancestry who worked in genetics.

Mariston Hotel

The Mariston Hotel is a skyscraper and hotel in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mark Chisholm

The following season he moved to the Brumbies and made his Super 12 debut for the side that season in a game against the Cats in Johannesburg as a replacement, he went on to play in six more matches that season.

Max Metzker

Maxwell ("Max") Raymond Metzker (born 8 March 1960 in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa) was an Australian long distance freestyle swimmer of the late 1970s and early 1980s, who won a bronze medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Melanie Weisner

At the 2012 World Poker Tour in Johannesburg, South Africa, Weisner claimed her first major title, taking down the $1,000 no-limit six-max event for $41,289, defeating former EPT champion Lucien Cohen heads-up.

Mich d'Avray

Jean-Michel (Mich) d'Avray (born 19 February 1962 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a former professional association footballer who spent the majority of his playing career at Ipswich Town.

Miles Sparrowhawk

In 1936 Victor Smith entered Sparrowhawk G-AELT into the Schlesinger Race from Portsmouth to Johannesburg but had problems with oil after Salonika and eventually retired in Khartoum.

Moira Lister

Born in Cape Town to Major James Lister and Margaret (née Hogan), Lister was educated at the Parktown Convent of the Holy Family, Johannesburg.

Nagappan Padayatchi

The hall is located on the corner of Ferreira and Marshall streets in down town Johannesburg.

Never Ending Gardens

Never Ending Gardens is a division of Dream for Africa, a faith-based non-profit organization based in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, and in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa that seeks to alleviate hunger in Africa by building sustainable vegetable gardens in communities to improve their diet.

One Night in Eden

The premiere concert held in Johannesburg, South Africa was recorded in 1999 and has been released on DVD and VHS.

Phineas John

In April 1932, John travelled to South Africa, where he undertook three fights at City Hall in Johannesburg.

Pillow fight

The Johannesburg-based University of the Witswatersrand's Silly Buggers Society has held an annual Pillow Fight at the East Campus' Library Lawns since 2007.

Ralph Lazar

Ralph Lazar was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967, and has degrees in Law & Economics from the University of Cape Town, and a degree in Economics from The London School of Economics.

Raúl Castro

On 10 December 2013, Castro, in a significant moment shook hands and greeted American President Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in Johannesburg.

Raymond Keene

His tournament victories include Hastings Challengers 1966, Slater Challenge Southend 1968, Johannesburg 1973, Woolacombe 1973, Capablanca Memorial (Master Group) 1974, Alicante 1977, Sydney 1979, Dortmund 1980, Barcelona 1980, Lloyds Bank Masters 1981, Adelaide 1983 and La Valletta 1985.

Robert T. A. Innes

In 1903 he took up the position of Director of the new Meteorological Observatory in Johannesburg.

Royal Warwickshire Regiment

In 1898 the regiment fought at Atbara and Omdurman during Lord Kitchener's reconquest of the Sudan and saw service in the Second Boer War at Johannesburg, Diamond Hill and Belfast.

Sacred Heart College, Johannesburg

Sacred Heart College is a private Catholic school in Observatory, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

Sheila Gordon

Sheila Gordon, a book person born in Johannesburg, South Africa on January 22, 1927, is the author of Waiting for the Rain, The Middle of Somewhere, and Unfinished Business.

Sonja Schlesin

Schlesin died in Johannesburg in 1956 and her ashes were placed in a wall of remembrance at Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg.

Schlesin enrolled at the University College of Johannesburg which she funded with a loan that Gandhi arranged.

Southern Life Centre

The Southern Life Centre is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Standard Bank Centre

The Standard Bank Centre is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Stanton Fredericks

Stanton "Stiga" Fredericks (born 13 June 1978 in Johannesburg, Gauteng) is a South African football (soccer) player who plays as midfielder for Bidvest Wits in the Premier Soccer League and has previously represented South Africa.

State of the City address

Other international cities have also adopted the tradition; for example, the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg has delivered a State of the City Address since 2002.

Swaziland Airlink

Swaziland Airlink started operations in July 1999 with a leased Fokker F28 aircraft from RSNAC linking Matsapha Airport with Johannesburg and Dar-es-Salaam.

Swift Air Malawi

It has concentrated on domestic flights between the business and mining hubs of the country, and as of February 2012 it performed a regular shuttle service to Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport.

Sydney Maree

In 1995 he moved back to South Africa, later forming the asset management group Franklin Zamani, in Johannesburg, of which he became the CEO.

The Brother Moves On

Nkululeko, Siyabonga and Zelizwe Mthembu grew up together in the East Rand of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Upon graduating from Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape, S. Mthembu left his former band, Orangutang Bitch, and moved back to Johannesburg.

The Movement For a Democracy of Content

The Johannesburg group, founded by Afrikaans poet and activist Vincent Swart and his American wife Lillian, experienced particular success campaigning against the Apartheid government on several local issues.

Thillaiaadi Valliammai

She was born to R. Munuswamy Mudaliar and Mangalam, a young immigrant couple from a small village called Thillaiyadi in Nagappatinam near Mayiladuthurai in India to Johannesburg – the gold-city of South Africa to work for their way out of difficulty.

Tom Campbell Black

In the same year, Tom Black had entered in an air race from England to Johannesburg, South Africa, "The Schlesinger Race", flown from 29 September 1936 to 1 October 1936, the race offered a prize of £10,000 to the winner.

Trunko

The photo had been snapped by Johannesburg photographer A. C. Jones, who had visited Trunko's remains while they were beached.

Ulf Andersson

Tournaments he has won or shared first include the 1969 Swedish Chess Championship, Göteborg 1971, Dortmund 1973, Camagüez 1974, Cienfuegos 1975, Belgrade 1977, Buenos Aires 1978, Hastings 1978–79, Phillips & Drew 1980, Johannesburg 1981, Phillips & Drew 1982, Turin 1982, Wijk aan Zee 1983, Reggio Emilia 1985, Rome 1985, and Rome 1986.

Upington Airport

Upington was chosen because of its strategic position, availability of land and comparatively lower height above sea level than Johannesburg.

Usakos

It is located on the B2 (Trans-Kalahari Highway), the main road between the Walvis Bay and Johannesburg.

Véronique Tadjo

Tadjo is currently based in Johannesburg, where since 2007 she has been head of French Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.

What Happened to Burger's Daughter or How South African Censorship Works

The book was published in Johannesburg by Taurus Publications, a small underground publishing house established in the late-1970s to print anti-apartheid literature and other material South African publishers would avoid for fear of censorship.

Wickes

Wickes embarked on a joint venture in South Africa in 1994 with Federated Blaikie, which saw six Wickes branded stores open in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Yeung Ku-wan

Yeung travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa, via Singapore and later to Japan, where he stayed from 1896–1899, to expand the Revive China Society and spread its ideas.


Aerolift

Aerolift was a South African airline based in Bryanston, Gauteng, Johannesburg, operating chartered passenger and cargo flights within Africa using Soviet-built aircraft.

Afropsipyla similis

It was described by Balinsky in 1994, and is known from South Africa (it was described from Johannesburg).

Airspeed Envoy

Maxwell Findlay fatally crashed another Envoy, modified with long-range fuel tanks, in northern Rhodesia during the October 1936 Johannesburg Air Race.

Apartheid

The best-publicised forced removals of the 1950s occurred in Johannesburg, when 60,000 people were moved to the new township of Soweto (an abbreviation for South Western Townships).

Artisanal mining

350 km to the west of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand reef (the ridge that contains the gold), the mines around Barberton contain visible nugget gold in quartz veins, in addition to fine particles, that are embedded in metamorphosed late Archaean age rocks dating to 3.2-3.4 billion years ago.

Beers

De Beers, a Johannesburg-based diamond mining and trading corporation

Big Fellas

The film was shot on various locations that range from Cape Town to Cango Caves to Johannesburg.

Bruce Wilkinson

Believing that Africa should be the next focal point for evangelical efforts, Wilkinson moved to Bryanston, Johannesburg, in 2002, and started an organization called Dream for Africa, which included the launch of the Never Ending Gardens.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

She worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, as National Public Radio's chief correspondent in Africa from 1997 to 1999.

Counting Headz: South Afrika's Sistaz in Hip Hop

Counting Headz was shot primarily in and around Johannesburg, the cultural and commercial capital of South Africa.

Currie Cup

Falcons (Afrikaans: Valke) - the East Rand and other municipalities to the east and south of Johannesburg (home matches in Brakpan)

Education in South Africa

This decree was unpopular with learners and teachers alike, particularly in towns like the Johannesburg township of Soweto, where practically no-one spoke Afrikaans.

First National Bank of Tanzania

The bank is a subsidiary of the First Rand Group, a large financial services provider, with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Gandhi House

Satyagraha House, a house built for Gandhi and Hermann Kallerbach in Johannesburg

Gift Leremi

On 3 September 2007, Leremi was returning home after a CAF Confederation Cup game in Cameroon against Astres FC when he was involved in a traffic collision in Alberton outside Johannesburg.

Great January comet of 1910

The first astronomer to study the comet properly was Robert T. A. Innes at the Transvaal Observatory in Johannesburg on January 17, after having been alerted two days earlier by the editor of a Johannesburg newspaper.

Jewish Museum, Emmendingen

Emma Schwarz: Emmendingen - Gurs - Johannesburg, a Jewish woman from Emmendingen writes about her life under the Nazi regime and her later emigration with her son to South Africa.

Joburg Art Fair

Johannesburg, South Africa: Goodman-galery, Everard Read-gallery, David Krut, Warren Siebrits, Art on Paper, Rooke-galery, Gallery Momo, Art Extra.

Johannesburg Muslim School

Johannesburg Muslim School is a partly private school situated in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.

John S. Saul

He has also taught at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, alongside activist-academics such as Giovanni Arrighi (with whom he wrote Essays on the Political Economy of Africa) and Walter Rodney; at the University of Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique, alongside activist-academics such as Ruth First; and at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in South Africa.

Leeuwenhosen

Following the Netherlands-Denmark match in Johannesburg, FIFA forcibly removed 36 female fans because they wore the dresses and detained and questioned the three Dutch nationals for three hours (the other 33 were South African).

Light Horse Regiment

It is part of the South African Army Armour Formation and is based at Mount Collins in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Makua people

Although the majority of the Makua people in South Africa were settled in Bayview, some live in Wentworth, Marianhill, Marianridge, Umlazi, Newlands East and West, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Media in Pretoria

The inception of an FM broadcast service in South Africa, began on 1 September 1961 from what is now known as the Sentech Tower in Brixton, Johannesburg.

Prenuptial agreement

In 2004, the High Court of South Africa upheld a cherem against a Johannesburg businessman because he refused to pay his former wife alimony as ordered by a beth din.

Raymond Heard

in political science at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) and then spent a year at Harvard on a Frank Knox Fellowship, where his teachers included Henry Kissinger and John Kenneth Galbraith.

Rensburg

William GL Janse van Rensburg (1939–2008), mayor of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1990 to 1991

Roodepoort

Roodepoort has a growing student population due to the presence of Monash University South Africa and has seen large population growth due to Johannesburg urban sprawl.

Skopos market insight

SKOPOS Market Insight is a global market research agency and communications research company with offices based in London, Cologne, Berlin, Paris, Johannesburg and Sydney.

South African National Blood Service

The head office is in Weltevredenpark, Gauteng, near Johannesburg, but there are blood collection operations in eight of the nine provinces.

Susman Brothers

Max Sonnenberg controlled Cape Town stores, and Elie Susman controlled Transvaal stores which included Johannesburg.

The Mind in the Cave

The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art is a study of Upper Palaeolithic European rock art written by the archaeologist David Lewis-Williams, then a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Thomas Hezmalhalch

Lake and Hezmalhalch started their ministry at a rental hall in Doornfontein, a Johannesburg suburb, on 25 May 1908.

Yekaterina Lobaznyuk

She had not one, but two surgeries, since the first one in Moscow, Russia was not performed properly; the second was done in Johannesburg, South Africa, while visiting the city and country for a rehabilitation stint.