X-Nico

86 unusual facts about Johannesburg


1133 Lugduna

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.

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.

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.

Afropsipyla similis

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

Alex Forbes

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

Alfred Hollins

In 1907, 1909 and 1916 he went to South Africa to give a series of concerts at Johannesburg and Cape Town, giving the opening recital for the organ at the new Town Hall in Cape Town.

Andrew Surman

Surman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his parents had moved to from Britain, whilst his father worked for an insurance company.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

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

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.

Christian du Plessis

Born in Vryheid, South Africa, he studied in Johannesburg with Teasdale Griffiths and Esme Webb, and made his stage debut there, with the Transvaal Opera, as Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, in 1967.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do not look at the sun

It is distributed by a growing network of volunteers from locations that include New Delhi, Sydney, Johannesburg, and New York.

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'."

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.

Fire Walker

The Fire Walker is a public art sculpture in Johannesburg’s inner city.

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.

Frank Wild

He was cremated on 23 August 1939 at the Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg.

Garry Allighan

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

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.

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.

History of rugby league in South Africa

Part of this future, it was hoped, was that the nine teams located in the Johannesburg area would launch the 1963 season.

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.

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.

John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl

The Duke was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the only child of Major George Murray (1884–1940) and Joan (d.2000), the daughter of William Edward Eastwood, of South Africa.

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.

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.

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.

Lillian Browse

In 1909 the family moved to South Africa, where her father had set up as a racehorse trainer, and she was educated at Barnato Park High School, in Johannesburg in the Transvaal.

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.

Loryma sinuosalis

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

Louis Hayward

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

Louis Lane

He was also principal guest conductor 1982-1983 and principal conductor 1984-1985 of the National Symphony Orchestra of the South African Broadcasting Corporation based in Johannesburg.

Lufthansa Flight 540

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

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.

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.

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.

Milija Aleksic

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

Nils Schumann

A few weeks later he also won the 800 m race at the World Cup in Johannesburg.

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.

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.

Public art in Johannesburg

The city of Johannesburg is home to an extensive portfolio of public art.

Qkumba Zoo

Qkumba Zoo was a dance music trio from Johannesburg, South Africa, consisting of vocalist Levannah, dancer/sculptor Tziki and musician/producer Owl.

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.

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.

Sacred Heart College, Johannesburg

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

Sonja Schlesin

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

Southern Life Centre

The Southern Life 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.

The Brother Moves On

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.

Trans Air Congo

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

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.

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.

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.

Wonderboom Airport

It is believed that there is a market for passenger service, mainly Pretoria residents that do not wish to commute to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg; an estimated 25%-30% of passengers using OR Tambo are Pretoria residents.

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.


Ahnabith Gish

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

Alfredo Jaar

His work has been shown extensively around the world, notably in the Biennales of Venice (1986, 2007), São Paulo (1987, 1989, 2010), Istanbul (1995), Kwangju (1995, 2000), Johannesburg (1997), and Seville (2006).

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).

Beers

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

Brenda Kirk

She was part of the South African team that won the Federation Cup in 1972 after a victory in the final over Great Britain at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Crown of Beauty Theatre

before=Alexandra Palace
London, England (2002)

Sala Kongresowa
Warsaw, Poland (2006)

Gallagher Convention Center,
Johannesburg, South Africa

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.

DJ Roxxi

The event held at the Park Hyatt in Johannesburg profiled and introduced all 28 finalists, including Shannon Esra, Noni Gasa and Louise Carver.

Ferreirasdorp

Ferreira’s Mine stope, preserved within the Standard Bank precinct as one of Johannesburg’s first sub-surface digging mines.

Fordsburg Square

The workers did not just withdraw their labour but the a portion of the 20,000 white woprkers and the 180,000 black miners took over areas of Johannesburg and they were in control of Benoni, Brakpan suburbs of Fordsburg and Jeppe.

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.

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.

Jo-Ann Strauss

In 2010, Jo-Ann presented the opening ceremony for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa for the German television network ZDF along with Thomas Gottschalk in a live broadcast from Johannesburg on 10 June.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pat Walkden

She was part of the South African team that won the Federation Cup in 1972 after a victory in the final over Great Britain at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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.

Ron Hoffmann

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

Roodepoort

Although Roodepoort has traditionally been regarded as being part of the West Rand, it was not made part of the West Rand District Municipality, instead being integrated into the City of Johannesburg Metropolitam Municipality, following the post-apartheid reorganisation of local government in the late 1990s.

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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.

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)

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.

Thomas Hezmalhalch

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

Trans-Kalahari Corridor

The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from Walvis Bay and Windhoek in central Namibia, through Botswana, to Johannesburg and Pretoria in Gauteng province in 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.