X-Nico

92 unusual facts about 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.

2013 Soweto Open

It took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 29 April – 5 May 2013 for the men's event and 6–12 May 2013 for the women's event.

Achille Mbembe

His work has also examined Johannesburg as a metropolitan city and the work of Frantz Fanon.

Afropsipyla similis

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

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.

Arte Sustenibile UNO

The exhibition was designed by referring to the definition of sustainability that was established by United Nations Organization at the two world conferences at Rio (Earth Conference, 1992) and Johannesburg (Rio +10, 2002).

Big Fellas

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

Blood Knot

Blood Knot is an early play by South African playwright, actor, and director Athol Fugard, performed first, but only one time, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1961, with the playwright Fugard and Zakes Mokae playing the brothers Morris and Zachariah.

Carl Hertz

He also showed films to his audiences in Australia and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Celia W. Dugger

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

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.

Cup of Zimbabwe

Due to sponsorship, the competition has undergone a number of name changes: from its creation in 1962 until 1998, the cup was known as the Castle Cup, after its sponsor, the Johannesburg-based Castle Lager.

David B. Dunn

From 2002 to 2005 he served as Principal Officer at the Consulate General in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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.

Derold Page

Derold Page (born South Africa 1947) After working in Johannesburg as an interior designer, he went into fashion design in 1972.

Doveton Sturdee

According to Anna Smith in her book "Johannesburg Street Names" (Juta, 1971), Sturdee Avenue in Rosebank, Johannesburg (South Africa), is "believed that it commemorates Admiral Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee (1859–1925) of World Ward 1 fame. The Town Engineer in writing to the township-owners on 3 November 1919 stated that Sturdee was in the 'Falklands Battle'."

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.

Egoli

eGoli is the alternative, Zulu name for Johannesburg, South Africa.

Emirates SkyCargo

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

Eskom Centre

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

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.

Fordsburg Square

This square in Johannesburg is the location of a battle between striking miners and the South African police, army and air force.

Garry Allighan

After the affair, he moved to South Africa, where he became principal of the Premier School of Journalism in Johannesburg.

Garth Meade

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

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.

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.

Hannah Botha

Hannah Botha (born in Dwarsderbos on 17 January 1923; died in Johannesburg on 16 April 2007) was a South African TV and film actress known for roles in Nommer Asseblief, Agter Elke Man and most recently the soap-opera Egoli: Place of Gold.

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.

Henry Lyster Jameson

After developing pulmonary tuberculosis, he went to South Africa, where he worked for the Natal Education Department and later lectured at the Technical College in Johannesburg.

Hugh Sullivan

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

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.

Jason Johannisen

He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but moved to Perth with his family when he was eight years old.

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.

Joel Pollak

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

Joseph Silver

Joseph Silver (1868-1918) also known as the "King of Pimps", was a man who terrorized women in Johannesburg, South Africa during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

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.

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).

KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel

KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel (Also known as the Johannesburg Sun Tower) is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, 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).

Lilian Baylis

They toured for some time but eventually settled in Johannesburg, where Baylis earned a good living as a music and dance teacher.

Lindsey Hermer-Bell

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lindsey Hermer-Bell moved to Canada in 1977.

Lockheed L-1649 Starliner

ZS-DVJ (c/n 1042), currently in Trek Airways colours, is at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg and is continuously threatened by the airport authorities to be scrapped if it isn't removed from the airport grounds.

Louis Botha Avenue

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

Louis Hayward

Born in Johannesburg, Louis Hayward lived in South Africa and was educated in France and England, including Latymer Upper School in London.

Lufthansa Flight 540

The flight was operating the final segment of its Frankfurt–Nairobi–Johannesburg route.

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.

Mariston Hotel

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

Marlene Behrmann

She received a B.A. in speech and hearing therapy from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1981; an M.A. in speech pathology from the University of Witwatersrand in 1984, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Toronto in 1991.

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.

Milija Aleksic

He later emigrated to South Africa, and played for Wits University, before taking up employment at the Golfer's Club in Johannesburg.

Molly Harrower

Dr. Harrower was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the daughter of James Harrower and Ina White, while they were visiting.

Neville Heath

He was shipped home, but on his way he escaped the guard and headed for Johannesburg where he joined the South African Air Force, eventually rising to the rank of Captain.

Percival Vega Gull

Two early production Vega Gulls were entered into the Schlesinger Race from England to Johannesburg, South Africa.

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.

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.

Revive China Society

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.

Robert T. A. Innes

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

Roberts International Airport

In the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the airport became Pan Am's principal African hub, with a non-stop service from New York JFK connecting at Robertsfield to such destinations as Dakar, Accra, Abidjan, Lagos, and Conakry, among others, and continuing on to Nairobi and even at times Johannesburg, so that for many years virtually every Pan Am passenger to Africa passed through Robertsfield.

Ron Hoffmann

Between 1989 and 2001, he held numerous sub-Ambassadorial postings at Canadian missions in The Hague, Johannesburg, Beijing and London.

Sir Edward Hulse, 6th Baronet

His body was discovered in his bedroom in Johannesburg on the morning of 30 May 1903 having committed suicide with his revolver.

Sonja Schlesin

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

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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.

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.

The Brother Moves On

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

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.

Trunko

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

Trust Bank Building

Trust Bank Building is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Upington Airport

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

Venkatesananda Saraswati

Venkatesananda Saraswati (29 December, 1921 in Tanjore, South India–2 December, 1982 in Johannesburg, South Africa), known previously as Parthsarathy, was a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati.

Véronique Tadjo

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

Wal Campbell

Campbell was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to John William Wallace Campbell, an Australian Boer War veteran, and Antonette Cholette, née Bleckmann.

Washington International Renewable Energy Conference

One of the major accomplishments of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, was the recognition that renewable energy is a critical component of sustainable development, energy security, climate change, and air quality.

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.

World Doctors Orchestra

The concerts were on February 9, 2012 at Baxter Theatre Centre, Cape Town, on February 11, 2012 at the The Miracle, Elandsdoorn and February 12, 2012 at the Linder Auditorium, Johannesburg in co-operation with the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival with soloist Maria du Toit, clarinet, and the Ndlovu Youth Choir (director Ralf Schmitt).

WorldCamps

The children at Sizanani come from the townships of Johannesburg, the nation's largest city.

Zulu Love Letter

Thandeka, a young black journalist, lives in fear of Johannesburg’s past.


Africa.com

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

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).

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.

Blood Knot

The play was most recently performed in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010 as part of Mandela Day celebrations, with Michael Brando playing the lead role of Morris.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Crown of Beauty Theatre

before=Alexandra Palace
London, England (2002)

Sala Kongresowa
Warsaw, Poland (2006)

Gallagher Convention Center,
Johannesburg, South Africa

David Koloane

The artist David Nthubu Koloane was born on 5 June 1938 in the township of Alexandra, a suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa.

Deyan Nedelchev

Deyan is the only Bulgarian singer to record an album with Polygram, with whom he had a 3-year contract based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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.

Endre Szász

He had several exhibitions all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art (Mexico City), Auschwitz Museum (Poland), the Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest), and also exhibited in Madrid, Copenhagen, Brussels, Berlin, Rome, Oslo, Johannesburg, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Budapest, Amman (Jordan) and Tokyo.

Fasken Martineau

Fasken Martineau is an international business law firm with more than 770 lawyers and offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Québec City, London, Paris, and 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.

Global Leadership Adventures

Global Leadership Adventures was founded by Fred Swaniker as a precursor to the African Leadership Academy, based in Johannesburg, South Africa but became a separate entity in 2004.

Institute of International Education

Current REACs are located in the following cities around the world: Lima, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Budapest, Kyiv, Bratislava, Amman, Accra, Johannesburg, Lahore, Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur.

Isango Portobello

Isango has since performed The Magic Flute - Impempe Yomlingo in Dublin, Chichester, Canterbury, Tokyo, Singapore, Johannesburg, Rotterdam and Paris.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Royal Observatory

Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope (merged with the Republic Observatory, Johannesburg, formerly the Union Observatory, to form the South African Astronomical Observatory in 1972)

Sacred Heart College, Johannesburg

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

Sandringham High School, Johannesburg

The school is situated in middle-to-upper-class Johannesburg suburbia, and during the Apartheid years it reflected a traditional British style of education, with school uniforms and corporal punishment.

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.

Soweto Open

It was held at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in the Soweto urban area of Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2009 to 2011.

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.

Trans Air Congo

Late 1997 saw the airline having to move temporarily to Johannesburg in South Africa to avoid a civil war.

Trevor Huddleston

In 1943, Huddleston went to the CR mission station at Sophiatown (Johannesburg, South Africa).

Westpark Cemetery

The cemetery's main Military Plot contains the Johannesburg Cremation Memorial to 69 Commonwealth service personnel cremated at Johannesburg's Braamfontein Crematorium during the same war.

World Health Summit

Makarere University of Uganda was admitted as the first M8 Alliance member from Africa in 2013, though foundation member Monash University has a campus in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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.

Yongcheol Shin

He was a visiting professor at the SungKunKwan University, Seoul, and Wits University, Johannesburg.