February 21 » An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.
June 28 » An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 miners.
August 16 » Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
August 17 » Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
August 27 » Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:02 to 09:40), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
September 22 » Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
Day of death November 4, 1978
The temperature on November 4, 1978 was between 7.0 °C and 11.9 °C and averaged 9.3 °C. There was -0.1 mm of rain. There was 0.2 hours of sunshine (2%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the south-southwest. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
February 8 » Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
February 19 » Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.
March 9 » President Soeharto inaugurated Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java.
April 17 » Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d'état in Afghanistan.
May 12 » In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order.
June 25 » The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I7842.php : accessed January 27, 2026), "Christoffel Jacobus Dreyer (1896-1978)".
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